No wonder I am having trouble cooling my wort.

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kh54s10

kh54s10

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Since moving to Florida from Rhode Island I noticed it took a lot longer to cool my wort with my IC. No wonder, I just measured the temperature of my "cold" water - 80 degrees!!! Yikes. I am going to have to figure something out.
 
A pre-chiller would help. Also you might consider a Jaded Hydra. It won't get you below 80, obviously, but perhaps once you're down to 90 or so you could switch to pre-chilled water....
 
Similar situation here in Arkansas. In the summer, I feed my chiller with a pond pump from an ice chest. I use a two stage cfc, and run the ice water through the second stage after the 'cold' tapwater in the first stage has knocked the temp down quite a bit.
 
Florida here chiming in.
I use an immersion chiller for 5 gallon batches; 50’ of 1/2”

I run the hose full blast long enough to fill 2 5-gallon buckets. That’s gets me below 100*F.

Then I run from a cooler that’s filled with ice water. Fill one 5-gallon bucket then recirculate in the cooler.
20 min to 50*F.

I have a large chest freezer for frozen stuff that has the lowest level full of 2liter bottles of water.
I fill the cooler with those then fill with water, the night before brew day.
It’s a large marine cooler and is enough for two brews in one day.
 
kh54s10 said:
Since moving to Florida from Rhode Island I noticed it took a lot longer to cool my wort with my IC. No wonder, I just measured the temperature of my "cold" water - 80 degrees!!! Yikes. I am going to have to figure something out.
Click to expand...

I have to ask: how can Rhode Island water be so hot?
 
In AZ I can have the same problem in the summer. I use a CFC with tap water to begin the cooling process then I run the tap water through an EC in a 5 gallon bucket of ice and water.... brings the chilling water down quickly. The only thing to keep it cooling is to agitate the EC to keep the water from warming. Actually have to watch the output temp of the CFC so it doesn't cool too much.
 
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Totally off topic, but I was in Edgewater last week with the Bike Florida folks (bicycles, not hogs .. they were around too). Ate at Dustins (not true Barbecue, but a good salad bar) and ate at ... Oh Crap .. Armandos .. Antonios .. Alfredos .. Augustos ??? Good Italian food but not a great beer selection.
 
I have the same problem in summer so I use tap water through my hydra chiller to get down to 100°. That gets saved for clean-up. Then I switch over to an ice chest with a submersible pump from HF and 10 lbs of ice in water. I'm down to pitching temp in 5-10 minutes.
 
Haha, no wonder. Thats why you moved here i am guessing. Hope to join you some day. Chill to 80 and then let sit till pitching temps?
 
Texas. Have a doggie pool filled with ice and water. Coil garden hose in pool. Run that to immersion chiller. Discharge goes to whatever plants need watering at the time.
 
Makes sense. Never considered this since I started brewing. In California, IIRC, code says a water supply minimum depth is 12”. Here in Michigan it’s 36” due to frost.

If you’re in the 90s and you’re service is only a foot deep, yeah you’d get warm cold water.
 
In Rhode Island the cold water temperature never went over 70 degrees. In the winter I think it was in the upper 40s. Time to go looking for a water pump!
 
Here in lake effect country I recirculate about 5 gallons of ice water with a submersible pump using my IC. In the winter I take a shovel or two of snow and 2 gallons of water to chill. I can drop boiling wort to pitch in about 20 minutes.
 
Even here in northern Illinois, cooling wort on a hot summer day can be a pain in the behind. I, too, recirculate chilled water with a submersible pump. It takes my 212°F water down to under 120°F in about ten minutes. And I save the recirculated, chilled water to use on my indoor plants!

glenn514:mug:
 
glenn514 said:
Even here in northern Illinois, cooling wort on a hot summer day can be a pain in the behind. I, too, recirculate chilled water with a submersible pump. It takes my 212°F water down to under 120°F in about ten minutes. And I save the recirculated, chilled water to use on my indoor plants!glenn514:mug:
Click to expand...

I'm in the northwestern section of IL too. I use a immersible wort chiller (60 ft). It takes me just about 10 mins to get under 70F. I fill up about 2 buckets. It used to be 2 large and 2 small buckets with a 25 ft chiller.

We use the water to wash the next batch of laundry. Money saved. :rock:

With a little pre-planning (where to put the brew pot while chilling), I can pump the water directly into the washer. Steps saved (as well as my back). :yes:
 
Just measured my tap at 39F. Summer may move it up into the 50s I can't remember exactly. We are still leaving our water run (utility request) to keep laterals from freezing. Pretty sure lines are buried at least 6' around here. If you're having problems chilling your wort, consider moving to da UP eh?
 
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Zuljin said:
Texas. Have a doggie pool filled with ice and water. Coil garden hose in pool. Run that to immersion chiller. Discharge goes to whatever plants need watering at the time.
Click to expand...
This seems like a great idea, chill hose. Less work and no pumps. Wonder if 5 gallon bucket would work?
 
applescrap said:
Haha, no wonder. Thats why you moved here i am guessing. Hope to join you some day. Chill to 80 and then let sit till pitching temps?
Click to expand...

That wouldn't work well. After chilling to 80 degrees I could bring it into the AC air at 74 degrees. It could only take the temperature down another 6 degrees and that would take forever.

As it is I made a 2 two part IC. Each is 20ft. I put both in the wort to get from boiling to below 90 then put one section into a bucket of ice water. It works quite well when the tap water is less than 70.

I have been putting the fermenter into my chest freezer fermentation chamber and it still takes over night to get to pitching temperatures.

I will be getting a pond pump arrangement. Maybe even counter flow.

Mostly I was remarking on the difference in tap water temperature from RI to FL.
 
I’m in Atlanta and in the summer the ground water is 75°F at best. I use a CFC to chill to 100°or slightly below then recirculate water from an ice water bath using a HF pump. No problem getting to 65° & below.
 
kh54s10 said:
That wouldn't work well. After chilling to 80 degrees I could bring it into the AC air at 74 degrees. It could only take the temperature down another 6 degrees and that would take forever.

As it is I made a 2 two part IC. Each is 20ft. I put both in the wort to get from boiling to below 90 then put one section into a bucket of ice water. It works quite well when the tap water is less than 70.
Click to expand...

So....you have the two 20-foot sections in series? Interesting.

I have a Jaded Hydra IC, it's a beast. But it won't take temps below the temp of the water, as you know.

I've bought a 50-foot SS chiller (trying LODO stuff) because I'm trying to get copper out of my process, but it's nowhere near as efficient as the Hydra. You have me thinking about how to find a smaller diameter SS chiller I could nest inside the 50-footer, run them in series, and then pull out the smaller one when temps get below 100 and put it in a bucket or cooler of ice.....
 
mongoose33 said:
So....you have the two 20-foot sections in series? Interesting.

I have a Jaded Hydra IC, it's a beast. But it won't take temps below the temp of the water, as you know.

I've bought a 50-foot SS chiller (trying LODO stuff) because I'm trying to get copper out of my process, but it's nowhere near as efficient as the Hydra. You have me thinking about how to find a smaller diameter SS chiller I could nest inside the 50-footer, run them in series, and then pull out the smaller one when temps get below 100 and put it in a bucket or cooler of ice.....
Click to expand...

That is what mine is - kinda - a larger coil that I made first with copper tubing from HD. Then I made the second coils and wound it tighter so that is nests inside the first. They are joined with tubing long enough to get the inner coil into a bucket of ice water. I think I will make some sort of pumped system that will recirculate ice water. Of course I would have to get it as cool as possible before recirculating.
 
My ground water here in Florida where I live can get very warm, especially in the summer and even in fall. When I start to chill the wort I use ground water though my counter flow chiller down to 100 degrees or so and the exit water fills up my pool, while the wort recirculates back to the boil kettle. Then I fill up my mash tun (keggle) with two large bags of ice from the supermarket. I recirculate the ice water though the chiller and back to the mash tun and this gets me down the rest of the way. I can do lagers this way with no problem and get down to the mid 40's if I need to. I can get to ale temps in the 60's fairly quickly. Welcome to the Sunshine State!

John
 
If its 74 in your house with ac on then even for me i would have a fermentation chamber. Cool to whatever and finish chill in chamber, no?
 
If there's any consolation to living in the frozen tundra of Minnesota, it's that I can always count on cold water for my IC. In winter, my tap water is in the low-50s, and in summer, it never gets above mid-60s. Our water mains are buried 8' underground (the frost line can approach 6' in some winters). So the water never gets too warm in summer.
 
Since I've begun home brewing, my desire to move to a warmer climate has been curtailed. I now appreciate the long cold Chicago winters for lagering.
 
applescrap said:
If its 74 in your house with ac on then even for me i would have a fermentation chamber. Cool to whatever and finish chill in chamber, no?
Click to expand...

After moving I tried a swamp cooler successfully for 2 in late December and January. By February we had a warm spell and I couldn't stabilize the temperature for 2 days so I went out and bought another chest freezer (I have one in storage but it is in Massachusetts). I have an Inkbird for temperature control.

But, I can only get the temperature down to about 80 with my IC, then it takes overnight to get the wort to pitching temperature. I'd rather have it all done in the same day...
 
Hmm, sounds like the recirculating ice bath scenario is about all you can do then. I am surprised that it takes all night to come down to temp in a fermentation chamber, but I have been shocked many times at how slowly temp comes down in a bucket. I like that idea of chilling the hose. Simple easy and effective. Another idea is finishing off the chilling in a sink with ice and water in it.

But yeah back to your original point man what a difference in water temp. Here in Colorado we drink water out of the tap cold. Just got back from Florida and the water was plenty hot and realized I would probably have to set up a fermentation chamber there as well.
 
Here in So Cal I have the same issue most of the time. So, I have two ICs, one sits in an ice bath and runs slowly in order to prechill the water. It is still a lot slower than a counterflow or plate chiller, but it works. :MUG:
 
applescrap said:
I am surprised that it takes all night to come down to temp in a fermentation chamber, but I have been shocked many times at how slowly temp comes down in a bucket.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't know that it takes all night. I finish brewing in the afternoon and it isn't to pitching temperatures when I go to bed. It is in the morning. So when it reaches pitching temperature???
 
kh54s10 said:
Well, I don't know that it takes all night. I finish brewing in the afternoon and it isn't to pitching temperatures when I go to bed. It is in the morning. So when it reaches pitching temperature???
Click to expand...
Key point. I am not the biggest fan of no chill. I like to finish the brew, but i also no chill in my kettle outside. In the bucket wouldnt be as bad. The other main issue is hop isomerization. Have considered buying cubes. It would be pretty cool wouldnt it to have a bunch of them on the ready. A ris, a stout, a belgian, a porter, etc...it is my understanding that lhbs in Australia sell wort in air tight cubes. You take it home and ferment it. Sounds decent enough.

Pulling myself out of the weeds, what about using frozen brew water (ice cubes) to finish the last few degrees? Seems like not the worst idea for you warm state brewes.

Edit, for my own curiosity if nothing else i wonder if one of you brilliant minds could calculate how many ice cubes would be needed to cool 5.5g of 80 degree wort to 65 degrees.
 
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FWIW, I just dump the entire contents of my icemaker into an approx 50qt ice chest of tap water. I run tap water through the first (30 ft) stage of my CFC, and the ice water through the second (20 ft) stage. The outer shell is a high temp rubber garden hose, the inner is 3/8" OD copper tube. I can easily hit 45°F in one pass from kettle to fermenter. Takes 5 to 10 minutes, depending on tap water temp.
 
applescrap said:
This seems like a great idea, chill hose. Less work and no pumps. Wonder if 5 gallon bucket would work?
Click to expand...

It will...that’s what I do. I’ve found that “good” water hoses are problematic though. Their walls are too thick and effectively insulate them from the temp drop. Either use a cheap water hose (thinner walls) or you can put a second immersion chiller in the bucket as a prechiller. I recently ended up with a spare immersion chiller when a buddy was cleaning out his garage so that’s my prechiller now.
 

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