Immersion Chiller and Ice

Hi folks. I use an immersion chiller along with putting my kettle in a big tub o ice water. I'm thinking now, that maybe I don't need the ice water, especially with the cold weather coming on. Also, since going AG recently, It's alot harder moving a sanke with 5g of boiling hot wort to the tub. I actually burnt the living crap outta my leg the first time I moved it. So, whatcha think? Ice,or no ice?

 

If the chiller works well, I'd just use that. I haven't heard of anyone else who used both an immersion chiller AND an ice bath.

 

This summer I used both. But now I have an extra immersion chiller that I plan to use as a pre-chiller and hope to get to temp pretty quick no matter what the water temp is.

 

You can always use the chiller to bring the wort down to a safe temperature and have a bag of ice in reserve for the final cooling if needed.

 

I was doing this also in the summer because the tap was too warm, but since i pour my cooled wort into the primary, I was worried about possible contaminated water (from the ice batch) dripping into the fermenter. I now only use the chiller, and it's easy since the tap temp cooled down. Once things start warming up, i plan to pump icewater through the chiller using a submersible pond pump. For those who are considering buying or building a prechiller, keep in mind with the price of copper, the pump method would be cheaper ($20ish).

 

In order to get to lager pithing temps I actually use an utility pump in a bucket full of ice water to circulate tha water through the immersion chiller. This is done after I got the wort to 65 - 70*F with tap water.

Kai

 

Now, I thought lager yeast was pitched at ale temps til fermentation starts and then cooled to 50ish. Am I wrong?

 

Homebrewers commonly pitch at warm temperatures and then lower the temp once fermentation starts due to insufficient pitching rate. A lot of brewing literature suggests that lager yeast should be pitched at or slightly below fermentation temp. The latter is known to result in lower esters and diacetyl. I haven't done a side-by side comparison yet and cannot for sure say that cold pitching is better than warm pitching.

Even if it doesn't matter, cold pitching works better for me since I can move the fermenter to the fermentation fride right away and don't have to worry about missing the right time when to chill the wort. I also get low enough diactetyl to avoid a warm diactyl rest.

Kai

 

I use an immerson chiller and can get the wort down to about 90 with hose water. Once there I pump ice water through the immersion chiller to lower it even more. I recirculate the ice water through a 5 gallon plastic bucket. It works well but you will need to purchase a pump.

 

The one I have is a pretty useful for tasks other than brewing (in and around the house). It's simirar to this one:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=25780-335-S1300/R6S&lpage=none

But yes, 75$ is not that cheap. Maybe you cab get a better deal on e-bay.

Kai

 

Old thread but Kaiser you are spot on. No D-rest needed with proper pitching rates and proper ferment temp. I try to chill to 45, pitch, let it raise up to 50 and krausen typically forms within 12-18 hours.