So every time I put my immersion chiller in the wort it stops the boil for about 5 mins. I know its because its cool and is sucking up that heat. Besides using my other burner, kettle, and water to pre heat it I just wanted to see what you do or if you just deal with it. Also, im going to dry hop and put oak chips in a batch for the last week of primary, do you have any experience with the chips?
Chiller steals the boil
- Thread starter MrWhleDr
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Do you have hot water access? Running hot water through it before putting it in would reduce the time it takes to get back to boiling.
I haven't used chips, so I can't help there.
I haven't used chips, so I can't help there.
I usually crank the hell out of the burner about 3 minbefore dropping the chiller in, almost to the point of massive boilover then drop the IC in. It is usually visibly boiling again in 3-5minutes.
I've used cubes before but I racked to secondary prior to oaking. My advise would be to leave it on the oak and taste it every week or so until you are just over tham ammount of flavor you wanted. the flavor will blend and mellow with bottle aging and time...
I've used cubes before but I racked to secondary prior to oaking. My advise would be to leave it on the oak and taste it every week or so until you are just over tham ammount of flavor you wanted. the flavor will blend and mellow with bottle aging and time...
taylornate
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I'm not so sure this would work. You are increasing the temperature of the coil, but you are also adding water that needs to be heated. One could calculate this fairly easy, but I'm not feeling motivated.
You could purge the water, though. You could also pre-heat it in another kettle if you had one.
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible
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I put the IC in for the entire boil. I just hate that heat kill thing.
The Pol
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When I used to use mine, I did the same thing, entire boil. Why not? Some book probably huh?
YeastGardener
Active Member
Sorry to be a bit dull ... but why are you cooling the wort during a boil?
I must be missing something ...
YeastGardener.
I don't understand this. What water are you adding that needs to be heated?
My chiller doesn't stop the boil. There's no water in it until I turn on the hose. I'm not understanding why an immersion chiller would stop a full boil. Copper is a very good conductor, so it shouldn't change the wort temperature. Even if it's cool to the touch (I keep mine in my basement), I rinse it off to clean it before I put it in the boil. It's room temperature when it goes into the boil.
Yeah, you might have a point there... I'm not motivated to calculate that either though. Maybe I had another bone headed idea.
It is possible that just the copper is enough to drop the wort temp from 212 to 211F. That stops a boil for a bit. The reason it does this is that it IS a great conductor. IOW, it almost instantly pulls enough heat out of the wort to equalize to just under boiling.
I'm surprised it takes 5 minutes to get the boil back though. I think you might have some leftover water in the coil which substantially raises its thermal mass. Store the coil upside down.
I'm surprised it takes 5 minutes to get the boil back though. I think you might have some leftover water in the coil which substantially raises its thermal mass. Store the coil upside down.
jackson_d
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hey uh-
i just leave my chiller in a 5g bucket of idophor while we boil.
when the boil is over, the pot goes into a tub of ice water. a few min before that i run cold water thru the chiller so its ice cold. the pot goes in the ice water tub, the cold chiller goes in the pot. i've been chilling 5g batches in about 10min to 65deg. is this a bad way to do it?
i just leave my chiller in a 5g bucket of idophor while we boil.
when the boil is over, the pot goes into a tub of ice water. a few min before that i run cold water thru the chiller so its ice cold. the pot goes in the ice water tub, the cold chiller goes in the pot. i've been chilling 5g batches in about 10min to 65deg. is this a bad way to do it?
taylornate
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If you run hot water through the coil to raise the temperature and don't purge the water, the leftover water will take energy from the wort.
At least in this thread, I think you are in the minority.
I'm not sure what you think is going on, but copper, being a very good conductor, very quickly transfers energy from the wort into itself.
I'm almost motivated to do some calculations. Almost...
I don't know what you mean about running hot water though the coil to raise the temperature, and taking energy from the wort. I put an empty IM into the wort. That's copper. There is NO water inside, and it's a hollow tube. It heats up very quickly, and my wort does not stop boiling.
"Copper, being a very good conductor, very quickly transfers energy from the wort into itself" is exactly what I mean. The wort is hot. It is boiling. Within a few seconds, the copper is very hot. There is no water in it, so there is no thermal mass inside the (hollow) chiller. The wort keeps boiling, and the chiller gets very hot. I'm no physicist, but I can see that it is hot and the wort is boiling.
Your tone is demeaning.
double_e5
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My wort doesn't stop boiling either.
The Pol
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JUST LEAVE IT IN THE ENTIRE BOIL!
Why waste time "heating" it when you are BOILING WORT ALREADY
Is it really that much of a mystery?????
taylornate
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I apologize. Please understand that I did not intend to be demeaning. What I meant was if you explain better what you think is going on, then I could better understand what needs to be explained. I am willing to explain the physics if people want to listen. I also do not intend to claim that your wort does not continue boiling like you say it does. Some will have theirs stop boiling and some will not, depending on the situation. The heat output of your burner is probably a pretty big factor. I am assuming you have a pretty nice burner. I use the electric range that came with my apartment.
I think what you may be missing is the thermal mass of the copper. As the copper heats, it cools the wort. It seems like maybe you were thinking because the copper is such a great conductor, it heats instantly and the wort does not cool. In reality, if the copper heats instantly, the wort cools instantly.
If copper did not conduct heat so well, it would take longer to warm and thus longer for the wort to cool. Meanwhile, your burner is putting that lost heat back into the wort so you are less likely to notice a lessened boil. Likewise, if you have a higher output burner you are also less likely to notice a lessened boil.
I can't speak for the OP but I don't want my IC in the way.
taylornate
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I stir in the malt extract. I suppose I could add the chiller after that, but I'd still have the tubes there to trip over in my small kitchen. I also like to keep the opening in the lid small because my burners don't have much power.
The Pol
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Gotcha........
Most of us probably didn't consider adding malt extract to the boil. That's a good point.
I boil inside, on my gas stove. I'll only use a burner outside for 10 gallon boils. I have an awesome stove, though, with a very high IBU output.
We don't use a lid on our boil pots, so I'm sure we never thought of that.
annasdadhockey
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Do you mean BTU, cuz if not, I need to get me one of those stoves.
LOL! Yep. but, those BTUs can really help me get some kickass IBUs!
(I'm drinking a Hopslam tonight- can you tell?)
annasdadhockey
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taylornate
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I did a rough calculation for a 50' 3/8" chiller in 5 gallons of pure water and it came to about 209 degrees.
yournotpeter
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I have also had the issue of my boil stopping upon putting the chiller in. What I soon found out was that it must have been full of water because I had now boiling water shooting out the tops of the inlet and outlet of the chiller. Upon quickly removing the thing from my pot (worried about this water going into the boil), I simply hooked up my hoses and drained them into a bucket, so the water wouldn't hit the wort. So, what did I learn from this? I need to make sure I have all the water removed from my chiller before using again.
Question however....the bit of water that did enter the wort, should I be OK because I still was boiling and anything nasty would have been boiled off?
Question however....the bit of water that did enter the wort, should I be OK because I still was boiling and anything nasty would have been boiled off?
annasdadhockey
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You'll be fine.
My chiller usually stops the boil for a min or so but I crank the heat before I put i in. I am using a propane turey fryer burner.
You could leave the chiller in the wntire boil but that wort has a fairly high acidity and it will corrode copper(especially in hot conditions), not much but it will. AFAIK copper has no proven health effects but some say humans have a deficiency in copper. I dont know I just dont like the idea of it.
You could leave the chiller in the wntire boil but that wort has a fairly high acidity and it will corrode copper(especially in hot conditions), not much but it will. AFAIK copper has no proven health effects but some say humans have a deficiency in copper. I dont know I just dont like the idea of it.
Boondoggie
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Ever seen what the boil kettle in a commercial brewery is made of?
llazy_llama
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Oh, oh, is it cheese!?!
jackson_d said:
It's not a terrible way, since Iodophor is pretty cheap. Mostly it's a time/effort/money saver to just add the chiller to the boil, since the boil is going to sanitize it anyway. If it works for you, by all means go for it. I wouldn't though, it just seems like a waste of Iodophor, time, water, and effort.
YeastGardener said:
Putting the IC into the boil isn't the same as cooling. It doesn't really start to cool until cold water starts flowing through it. We just put it in there to sanitize, we don't turn it on.
+1 on putting it in during the last 15 mins. My boil may slow for a bit, but it's less than a minute.
During the boil is when I go find my IC!
During the boil is when I go find my IC!
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible
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I'm a bloody idiot!!! For my IC I use the tap to an outside sink. There is a hot water tap right next to it. Why did I never think of running hot water through it before I stick it in!!??
DOH!!!!
DOH!!!!
taylornate
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As per previous discussion, you may make the situation worse if you do this without purging the water from the cooler. Even if the situation is improved, it will be improved further by purging the water.
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