Chill in fermenter before pitching?

[Japansen]

I'm living in Africa for a couple years and my hose water temp is about 85-90 degrees, sometimes more. I've only brewed my first batch after a 15+ year hiatus and was successful in using my copper coil and then lifting the brewpot into an ice bath. I got the temp down to about 80 before transferring to the fermenter and pitching. I did see a fair amount of StarSan get sucked back into through the airlock as it cooled and so I'm trying to come up with better ways to chill the beer better to avoid having airlock liquid end up in the wort..

With more ice, I could get the temp down a bit, but I'm not wholly comfortable lifting a brewpot full of beer. I only had 4 gallons last time as well, so once I figure out my boil off, I'd have 20% more liquid in the pot, ie more issues with lifting.

I'm considering going with some PET bottles that have been scrubbed cleaned, frozen and then sanitized but I'm still leery of putting them in my wort unless absolutely necessary. I am using untapped Ale Pale fermenters and I'm think it would be better to use the coil to cool as much as possible and then transfer via autosiphon or pump to the fermenter and then chill that some more. I'd put the lid on and put in ice (more surface volume in contact with the cold water in a fermenter) for a bit, then open it, pitch the yeast, and close it up for good with the airlock.

Does that sound reasonable?

 

[duboman]

You could use 2 ICs, place the first in a bucket of ice water to initially chill the water and the second in the wort/kettle.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

You could use 2 ICs, place the first in a bucket of ice water to initially chill the water and the second in the wort/kettle.

If you go that route, use strait tap water until the wort gets close to tap water temps and then use the pre chiller.

 

[Japansen]

I think he is suggesting to run them in series with the first IC in ice water, which chills the hose water, which then runs into the second IC that is in the wort. Nice idea, and as I have a second small IC, will look into it. Sourcing parts can be tricky here but worst case I can always wait a few weeks to get something shipping in from the US. Thanks.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

I think he is suggesting to run them in series with the first IC in ice water, which chills the hose water, which then runs into the second IC that is in the wort. Nice idea, and as I have a second small IC, will look into it. Sourcing parts can be tricky here but worst case I can always wait a few weeks to get something shipping in from the US. Thanks.

Yes, I realize that, but when the wort is at boiling there is a very large temperature gradient and 80-90 degree tap water will chill the wort most of the way without any help from the ice. If you use the ice to prechill the tap water from the start, you're just wasting ice. Wait until the wort gets within 5-10 degrees of the tap water and then use the second chiller with ice to get down the rest of the way.

 

[helibrewer]

It's a pricier option, but using a pump to run chilled water through the IC that is submersed in the fermenter would work great and doesn't require a lot of running water.

 

[Japansen]

Yes, I realize that, but when the wort is at boiling there is a very large temperature gradient and 80-90 degree tap water will chill the wort most of the way without any help from the ice. If you use the ice to prechill the tap water from the start, you're just wasting ice. Wait until the wort gets within 5-10 degrees of the tap water and then use the second chiller with ice to get down the rest of the way.

Gotcha. Makes sense on all accounts. My small chiller came with one hose adapter and I've ordered the other one needed for the setup.

Had a bigger ice bath today and that worked okay. I siphoned into the fermenter last time (15 gallon pot is big!) but today poured. Wasn't able to control trub very well. I'm using kits that call for water to be added to fermenter but I'm brewing the full volume from the get-go since I've got big enough equipment. . Started with 6 gallons last time and ended up with 4 so today started with 7 but ended up with more than 5. Forgot to check my OG too, alas. This maybe a uglier brew and who know what the final alcohol content is. Still, I see this as an ongoing learning process so it's all good.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Gotcha. Makes sense on all accounts. My small chiller came with one hose adapter and I've ordered the other one needed for the setup.

Had a bigger ice bath today and that worked okay. I siphoned into the fermenter last time (15 gallon pot is big!) but today poured. Wasn't able to control trub very well. I'm using kits that call for water to be added to fermenter but I'm brewing the full volume from the get-go since I've got big enough equipment. . Started with 6 gallons last time and ended up with 4 so today started with 7 but ended up with more than 5. Forgot to check my OG too, alas. This maybe a uglier brew and who know what the final alcohol content is. Still, I see this as an ongoing learning process so it's all good.

Next time, try and focus on your heat source and take note of where it is set at and also look at your boil. Once you start getting your boil vigor about the same every time you can get a handle on your evaporation rate. I usually boil between 6.5 and 6.7 gallons for a 5 gal batch, but every set up is different. Also, if you are using whole leaf hops, they will absorb wort as well.

Don't worry about the trub in the fermenter, won't hurt anything and you can rack off of it.

 

[Japansen]

Next time, try and focus on your heat source and take note of where it is set at and also look at your boil. Once you start getting your boil vigor about the same every time you can get a handle on your evaporation rate. I usually boil between 6.5 and 6.7 gallons for a 5 gal batch, but every set up is different. Also, if you are using whole leaf hops, they will absorb wort as well.

Don't worry about the trub in the fermenter, won't hurt anything and you can rack off of it.

Thanks for the reassurance in the trub; that's what I was hoping.

I'm not surprised at the evaporation rate today as the beer didn't seem to one boiling at the same level as the American ale I did last week. It was a British brown today. I'm running kits for these first few batches to get back into the swing of things but am set up to move into all grain here in a few more weeks when my kits run out. I think my gas tank started to tin low as well as I lost the high end of the heat and the bottle feels a little light.