Best way to cool wort?

[DougMedic]

Was wondering what other options there are to cool wort. I've done ice baths but that takes forever. I'm using an immersion wort chiller for the first time. But have been sitting here for 40 minutes and it's just now under 90F. What else can I do?


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[WayFrae]

If you turn the water on higher you should be able to cool it faster than that. Granted, my ground water is probably colder than yours but I can chill from boiling to 60F in 30 minutes with my immersion chiller. I know your chiller leaked into your wort with the water on too high but you should be able to tighten the hose clamps or fittings to not leak at all.

EDIT: If you want a different style of chiller you could buy a counterflow chiller or a plate chiller.

 

[DougMedic]

Thanks. Looks like we're on the same schedule today. It's prob 95f outside but the water is mid 70s. I'll try putting my man hands on and see if I can't get the temp down. I'm at 86 now...


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[WayFrae]

Haha it looks like we are! Yeah my tap water was ~55F last time I brewed so I'm sure that is why it cooled so quickly. One thing you could do is get another IC and use it as a pre-chiller. So your prechiller is attached to the faucet and your wort chiller is attached to your prechiller. Then you put your prechiller in a bucket of ice which will cool your tap water down which in turn will cool the wort down significantly faster.

 

[DougMedic]

So basically submerge another IC in a bucket of ice water and run that to the wort chiller? Not a bad idea! Thanks.


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[T_rigger]

I did the Ice bath in a big cooler with 2, 1 gal cubed blocks and one more block of ice in the wort. it cooled down pretty fast, but then i heard that it is not good to put ice into the worm wort. if this is true than I just screwed up a batch of honey ale.

 

[DougMedic]

Well it's fermenting now. Tastes good. Hopefully that keeps up if it turns out spoiled I'll let you know. It's at 72F and dropping quickly in its bath. I should be able to get it down to 65f ish and keep it there for a few days. Thanks for the help!


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[JimEb]

So is there any issue with cooling too fast? On my first and only batch I boiled some RO the night before and stuck the whole pot in the freezer. Since I need top-off water anyway I then threw that block of ice in the wort. That took the temp down real fast.

 

[WayFrae]

So is there any issue with cooling too fast? On my first and only batch I boiled some RO the night before and stuck the whole pot in the freezer. Since I need top-off water anyway I then threw that block of ice in the wort. That took the temp down real fast.

No issue at all. Most people will tell you the faster the better. When/If you move to full boils, a chilling device of some kind is almost a necessity. However, some people do no chill brewing where they let the wort cool in the fermenting vessel overnight before pitching the yeast.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

Was wondering what other options there are to cool wort. I've done ice baths but that takes forever. I'm using an immersion wort chiller for the first time. But have been sitting here for 40 minutes and it's just now under 90F. What else can I do?

Were you continually stirring the wort during that 40 minutes? ICs only work really efficiently if you continually gently agitate the wort. Even with warmer ground water that seems like a long time to only get to 90F.
I'm usually ready to pitch a 5.5gal batch in under 20 minutes.

 

[DougMedic]

No, I didn't stir much at all. Just let it sit and was cursing at it wondering why I bought it. I'll try that next time.


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[johngaltsmotor]

It makes a HUGE difference. As an experiment, watch the water coming out, if it stops steaming but your wort is, feel the IC exit. If its not (expletive) hot, give the wort a swirl and touch it again :-D (Note: be careful, it will get real hot real quick again).
I tend to swirl for a few, walk away and clean something, swirl again... Or if you have nothing to clean just stand there getting a good upper body workout from continually stirring. (or clamp the spoon in a cordless drill on low)

 

[kombat]

In my opinion, the best way to cool wort is with a plate chiller and a pump.

I recirculate my wort through my plate chiller and back into my kettle, and I get my wort temperature down from boiling to 65° F in around 5 minutes.

Later in the summer, once the tap water has warmed up, I adjust my process a little bit. I use tap water until the wort drops below 100° F, then I switch to recirculating a Coleman cooler full of ice water (with a second pump) to get it down those last few degrees. I also use this process for lagers, as this lets me get the wort down to 50° F (or less, if I kept it running) very quickly.

 

[KepowOb]

My ground water gets warm in the summer too, but I can usually get it down to about 80F within 30 minutes. Stirring it makes a REALLY big difference though, as johngaltsmotor said, specially as the cooling slows down. It's a little annoying, but well worth it. I have made a pre-chiller too though, to help speed things up a little more.

Once the cooling gets annoyingly slow, I'll transfer it into my primary and put it in my swamp cooler, where I'll pour the ice from my pre-chiller. Gets the swamp coolers water down to 50-55F, and I start putting frozen water bottles in there to keep it around 60, depending what fermentation temp I'm shooting for. I'll agitate my primary from time to time to help move things around and it brings the worts temp down fast enough for my purposes.

The best part about brewing in the winter for me is my ground water is about 50F. It's fun watching the temp drop on my wort (except for being outside when it's bloody cold out).

 

[TimFarAway]

Was wondering what other options there are to cool wort.

No-Chill I cover my BK, and let it sit overnight, rack to my carboy, then pitch the yeast the next day. The aussies use HDPE containers and let it sit upwards of a month before they pitch.

 

[WayFrae]

No-Chill I cover my BK, and let it sit overnight, rack to my carboy, then pitch the yeast the next day. The aussies use HDPE containers and let it sit upwards of a month before they pitch.

A month?!? What is the benefit of waiting that long?

 

[JBOGAN]

In my opinion, the best way to cool wort is with a plate chiller and a pump.

I recirculate my wort through my plate chiller and back into my kettle, and I get my wort temperature down from boiling to 65° F in around 5 minutes.

Later in the summer, once the tap water has warmed up, I adjust my process a little bit. I use tap water until the wort drops below 100° F, then I switch to recirculating a Coleman cooler full of ice water (with a second pump) to get it down those last few degrees. I also use this process for lagers, as this lets me get the wort down to 50° F (or less, if I kept it running) very quickly.

^ This . Just installed a whirlpool arm also and the excitement i felt watching boiling water go to under 60 degrees in less than ten minutes was unreal.

 

[TimFarAway]

From what I've read, it's just whenever they get around to it.

 

[jfk69]

Were you continually stirring the wort during that 40 minutes? ICs only work really efficiently if you continually gently agitate the wort. Even with warmer ground water that seems like a long time to only get to 90F.
I'm usually ready to pitch a 5.5gal batch in under 20 minutes.

This +1. It was mid eighties here on Sunday when I took my wort from boiling down to 64 degrees in 21 minutes, but I gently whirlpool the wort frequently, every few minutes.

 

[jaylah]

Hi I'm new to this great hobby and I was wondering if I could use a boiler heat exchanger instead of the more expensive wort heat exchanger

 

[NickTheGreat]

No, I didn't stir much at all. Just let it sit and was cursing at it wondering why I bought it. I'll try that next time.


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Just grab the IC and kinda swirl it around. Repeat every so often.

Be careful though, it will be hot to the touch, on the outlet end at least.

I always feel a little bad about wasting all the water going through the IC. I tend to keep some of it for cleaning, or even for batch #2.

 

[WayFrae]

Just grab the IC and kinda swirl it around. Repeat every so often.

Be careful though, it will be hot to the touch, on the outlet end at least.

I always feel a little bad about wasting all the water going through the IC. I tend to keep some of it for cleaning, or even for batch #2.

Yeah, I try to save the hot water for cleaning too but then once the outflow water isn't super hot I just use it to water my lawn and my garden.

 

[Tapout]

As some other responses here said, I constantly stir the wort as it cools. I stir inside the IC. The time difference can be amazing! The first few times I brewed I didn't stir and it took approximately 30-40 mins to get down to about 80 degrees. Once I started stirring, I could get it down to 80 degrees in about 15 minutes. Huge difference!


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[GCPHomebrew]

Just bought a double coil IC 50'. Hooked it to a sump pump that I put In ice to recirculate the water through. Boiling to 70 in 8 minutes

 

[Dixon9717]

After using tap water for a few minutes I hook a pond pump to my IC and recirculate the water into the ice bath. I save the initial hot water in my Mash tun cooler. It stays hot until I need it for cleaning.