Wort Chilling Question

[Jonnymack123]

I'll be using two different pots to boil the wort in for my first few batches because I can't afford a big one yet (anyone know where to get a relatively "cheap" large pot for boiling wort?). My question is: is it ok to dump the five gallons of boiling hot wort into a plastic brewing bucket and then cooling the wort?

 

[Jonnymack123]

I'm going to be doing this all grain so I'll be starting with 6.5 gallons and having around 5 gallons after an hours boil and doing the hop thing.

 

[sweetcell]

personally, i don't like heating plastic that will be touching my food/drink... i fear that it releases unhealthy nasties. i realize this is a weird foible of mine, there have been some scientific studies on this but i'm not sure if they apply to food-grade plastic buckets. probably not.

why not let the wort cool in the pots for a little while, at least until they back off from boiling point? have you considered putting the pots in a sink (or tub) full of cold water and ice?

 

[Captain Damage]

Plastic is a poor conductor of heat. It will take too long to chill 5 gallons in your bucket. You'll do better to chill your two pots separately in an ice bath (don't go skimpy on the ice!) and ad them to the bucket one at a time.

 

[atchinator]

Yes. This is what I do.

I boil my wort in two stainless steel crock pots and, despite the hassle of dealing with two pots, they start boiling faster than one big pot.

Anyhoo, I also use a hard plastic bucket (with a spigot and a false bottom) to do my mashing. I use that same bucket for cooling the wort (using a copper tube wort chiller). I clean and sanitize it between the time I use it as a mash tun and use it to cool the wort. The false bottom and spigot on the plastic bucket is also ideal for filtering out any hops and transferring the wort to the ferementor container.

 

[atchinator]

Plastic is a poor conductor of heat. It will take too long to chill 5 gallons in your bucket. You'll do better to chill your two pots separately in an ice bath (don't go skimpy on the ice!) and ad them to the bucket one at a time.

I would agree with the above statement only if you don't have a wort chiller. If you are immersing the bucket into your bath with ice, then maybe you are better off just immersing the pots. But if you have a wort chiller, go ahead and transfer the wort (and try and filter some of the crap out) into the plastic bucket before chilling it with your wort chiller.

 

[prrriiide]

anyone know where to get a relatively "cheap" large pot for boiling wort?

Bayou Classic has a great selection. Might be more'n you want to spend, but you can't beat their prices on the new big stuff. THe best option for full 5 gal boils is the 34 quart at $62.

 

[daksin]

Yea, not a good idea to dump near boiling liquid into those plastic buckets (they'll deform and warp, and potentially fail. I don't know if they'll leach anything into your beer). The metal pots are going to be a much better conductor of heat anyway- I'd definitely chill them in the sink or your tub. Cool with regular tap water first, and then add ice once the wort is 100F. Otherwise you're just wasting ice.