Slow wort cooling before pitching yeast

[MikeDizzle95]

I have been holding off on brewing as the weather outside hasn't allowed me access to a hose to run water through my plate chiller, and cooling the wort would be an issue. However, I took the leap today and brewed a Northern Brewer cream ale extract kit. I still couldn't use my plate chiller, so I racked my wort into my bucket after the hour long boil, and sat it in a mound of snow. It sat there for a good 30 minutes and was still warm. I finally had other stuff to do, so I took the bucket and placed it in my fermentation chamber to let it sit over night. The last temp reading I took, the thermometer said 95 degrees.

My question is, being that it's taking a good while to cool the wort to 70 degrees, is there any chance of messing up the wort? I have never had to wait this long to pitch the yeast.


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[danthebugman]

There are people that do no chill brews where they put the hot wort in a container overnight (or even longer in some cases I've read about) and pitch their yeast later. I've left wort in the fermenter overnight before when I was too impatient to get down to the proper pitch temp and haven't had any ill effects so far. YMMV, but if your cleaning and sanitation was good, you should be okay if it's only been overnight.

 

[nukebrewer]

I concur with dan. I've only done it twice and the second one is still fermenting so I can't provide data yet for that one. The other one was my dopplebock which I just bottle a couple weeks ago. No ill effects were noted in that one.

 

[jrfehon]

Funny this thread came up because I'm chilling right now in a bucket of snow because I can't use my wort chiller due to the cold. 30 minutes in and I'm down to 85 degrees. Not as efficient as a wort chiller but I don't think the extra time is going to matter.

 

[QuercusMax]

This is only anecdotal and not scientific, but...

This past August, I did several brews one weekend when it was really hot out, and I wasn't able to cool my wort down below 75 with my immersion chiller. I pitched my yeast anyway, then put it in my relatively cool basement.

Those 3 brews all came out AWFUL. The flavors just weren't right; they were really harsh and never came out right. I'm thinking I got some fusels.

In September, I did another series of brews, and it was still too warm to full chill using my immersion chiller. So instead I filled the fermenter, put it in my (relatively) cool basement (around 66 degrees) overnight, and pitched in the morning. Those all came out just fine.

For my lagers, except when it's super cold out like right now, I've been chilling as far as I can (65-70F), then putting in my fermentation fridge overnight to reach 45F, then pitching. They've all come out great, and I won a bronze medal for my Oktoberfest.

In my opinion, as long as your sanitation is good, it's much better to properly chill even if it takes time, than to pitch too high. Every single time I've pitched too warm it has come out horrendous. I still shudder thinking about the Helles that tasted like grape soda....

 

[jrfehon]

+1 on the right pitch temps. It took an hour but with my snow bath I got the wort down to 65. One of the many mistakes I made as a noob was to pitch right when the wort got below 80. I now grow my starters and inoculate my wort all at the same temp I'm going to ferment. It's made my beer 1 million times better.

 

[Atonk]

I can't count the number of times I've had to let it sit for one reason or another (sometimes overnight) and never had one go bad. +1 sanitation comments and making sure you pitch correctly.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

I've even pulled wort for a starter from my brew, stuck the carboy in my fermentation fridge to cool, run the starter on my stir plate for 24-36 hours, then pitched. Never had an issue. Sanitation is key.

 

[BigFloyd]

This is only anecdotal and not scientific, but...

This past August, I did several brews one weekend when it was really hot out, and I wasn't able to cool my wort down below 75 with my immersion chiller. I pitched my yeast anyway, then put it in my relatively cool basement.

Those 3 brews all came out AWFUL. The flavors just weren't right; they were really harsh and never came out right. I'm thinking I got some fusels.

In September, I did another series of brews, and it was still too warm to full chill using my immersion chiller. So instead I filled the fermenter, put it in my (relatively) cool basement (around 66 degrees) overnight, and pitched in the morning. Those all came out just fine.

For my lagers, except when it's super cold out like right now, I've been chilling as far as I can (65-70F), then putting in my fermentation fridge overnight to reach 45F, then pitching. They've all come out great, and I won a bronze medal for my Oktoberfest.

In my opinion, as long as your sanitation is good, it's much better to properly chill even if it takes time, than to pitch too high. Every single time I've pitched too warm it has come out horrendous. I still shudder thinking about the Helles that tasted like grape soda....

+1.

There's no doubt in my mind that a delay in pitching of up to several hours to allow the wort to get all the way to the proper pitch temp (2-3*F below the optimal low for the yeast) is much preferred to pitching warm and hoping that you don't end up with funk.

 

[estricklin]

In the summer here in Arkansas I am never able to get my wort down to pitching temps, I just run it to below 100F, throw it in the ferm chamber and pitch the next morning. Never had any issues with it.

I used to do all kinds of crazy stuff to try and get it down but I gave up.

 

[BigFloyd]

In the summer here in Arkansas I am never able to get my wort down to pitching temps, I just run it to below 100F, throw it in the ferm chamber and pitch the next morning. Never had any issues with it.

I used to do all kinds of crazy stuff to try and get it down but I gave up.

Another reason why it's really great to have a fermenter fridge.

I used to get it as low as I could with hose water (which varies greatly during the year in TX) and then start pumping/recirculating ice water out of a chest cooler to get it the rest of the way. I got a lager down to 44*F doing that last summer, but it took 30# of ice. Lately, I suppose out of laziness more than anything, I've just gone as low as possible using hose water, transferred and finished it up in the fermenter fridge (initially set to just above freezing then adjusted to the target temp after the bucket goes in).

 

[Tapout]

Have you guys tried stirring the wort? I use an immersion chiller and when I first started, I would wait at least 30-40 minutes for the chiller to do its job with just water running through it. That would take the wort down to around 80 degrees. Then I read something about stirring the wort while it was chilling and I tried it. What a difference! Now I might have to cool it for 20 minutes max...and that's on a hot day. I would think, even just sitting in a snow bank, that you could speed the cooling process considerably. All you're really doing is moving the warmer liquid to the cold container sides. Just a thought.

 

[downtown3641]

Put me down as another supporter of getting the wort to the right pitching temp no matter how long it takes. If your sanitation practices are sound, your chance of infection is much lower than the chance of ruining your beer by pitching too warm.

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[GibbyGibson]

I had this same problem with my first two batches. I packed it in snow outside on a 15F day. Still took me 60+ minutes to chill to pitching temps. Way to long for my comfort. As long as sanitation practices are good, you'll be fine.

What I've done since is to fill my bathtub with cold water and use the snow/bags of ice to chill the water. Use a sanitized spoon to stir the wort one direction for 30 seconds or so then cover. Then use another spoon to stir the ice bath water the opposite direction. Give it about five minutes then repeat. I can cool about 4.5 gallon to 70F within 15 minutes.

 

[QuercusMax]

Have you guys tried stirring the wort? I use an immersion chiller and when I first started, I would wait at least 30-40 minutes for the chiller to do its job with just water running through it. That would take the wort down to around 80 degrees. Then I read something about stirring the wort while it was chilling and I tried it. What a difference! Now I might have to cool it for 20 minutes max...and that's on a hot day. I would think, even just sitting in a snow bank, that you could speed the cooling process considerably. All you're really doing is moving the warmer liquid to the cold container sides. Just a thought.

I always stir by wort while it's chilling by moving my chiller in a circular fashion. It does a pretty good job of get it rotating. Still, when the groundwater is at close to 70 degrees, it's not gonna get any colder than that, no matter how long I let it run....

 

[GibbyGibson]

P.S. Snow is a great insulator. That's why they make igloos. Don't pack it in snow. It will take even longer to chill.

 

[BigFloyd]

Have you guys tried stirring the wort?

+1 on stirring the wort (that is key when using an IC).

In the South during the warmer months, hose water alone will only get you so far no matter how hard or often you stir. Right now, it's pretty good for doing ales. In 6 months, forget it.