linusstick
Well-Known Member
Since I'm doing extract brewing and adding water to the fermenter can't I just add cold water while the wort is still hot to get it to pitching temperature? Why cool it first, THEN add the water?
Golddiggie said:Once you get a wort chiller, though, the issue goes away...
Why even hassle with the ice bath? It is a pain, spend $30 and make a 25 ft counterflow chiller or spend $40-50 and make a 50 ft
I get what you're saying but I thought that my two ideas (frozen jug or frozen metal container) are the exact same idea as an immersion cooler/copper coil wort chiller only cheaper. What am I missing, why are they not the same thing?
Hahahaha... I still don't think you get what I'm saying. I'm not saying adding the freezing water directly to the 2.5G of wort. I'm saying freeze the water inside a container (the plastic jug it had come in or a metal container) and then drop the entire container (with the ice still inside) into the wort. Then once the ice inside had melted I would take the entire jug/container out (including the ice/water still inside it) and replace it with a new one. THEN, once the 2.5G of wort is cooled to 65-70 add it to fermenter and THEN add another 2.5G of top-off water.
The reason you don't want to add cold water to a hot wort is hot-side aeration. You will probably introduce oxygen into the beer.
Dr Charles Bamforth has pretty well exposed HSA as a myth. He talks about it in one of his BrewStrong interviews, and mentions that some major commercial brewers actually deliberately bubble air thru hot/warm wort.The reason you don't want to add cold water to a hot wort is hot-side aeration. You will probably introduce oxygen into the beer.
I just Googled it and I found the podcast. This is what it says in the description:Dr Charles Bamforth has pretty well exposed HSA as a myth. He talks about it in one of his BrewStrong interviews, and mentions that some major commercial brewers actually deliberately bubble air thru hot/warm wort.
I have no interest in turning this into an argument.
I just Googled it and I found the podcast. This is what it says in the description:
"Dr Bamforth explains some of the myths and legends surrounding the controversial topic and instructs brewers on how to deal with HSA based on his own extensive research"
It says he explains some of the myths, not that it's all a myth. I honestly don't have the time right now to listen to it but all I'll say is there are dozens of articles about it. If he says it's all a myth then I wonder why the whole brewing community hasn't accepted and adjusted to it and why books still teach the same thing. Not saying I don't believe it, just that every time we turn around someone else is stating something is a myth due to their experimenting. When I get a moment I'll give that podcast a listen.
*EDIT - This is from Palmer's book and is still in the latest edition albeit written a little more thoroughly in the book:
"You should not aerate when the wort is hot, or even warm. Aeration of hot wort will cause the oxygen to chemically bind to various wort compounds. Over time, these compounds will break down, freeing atomic oxygen back into the beer where it can oxidize the alcohols and hop compounds producing off-flavors and aromas like wet cardboard or sherry-like flavors. The generally accepted temperature cutoff for preventing hot wort oxidation is 80°F.
Oxidation of your wort can happen in several ways. The first is by splashing or aerating the wort while it is hot. Other beginning-brewing books advocate pouring the hot wort after the boil into cold water in the fermenter to cool it and add oxygen for the yeast. Unfortunately the wort may still be hot enough to oxidize when it picks up oxygen from the splashing. Pouring it down the side of the bucket to minimize splashing doesn't really help either since this increases the surface area of the wort exposed to the air. Thus it is important to cool the wort rapidly to below 80°F to prevent oxidation, and then aerate it to provide the dissolved oxygen that the yeast need. Cooling rapidly between 90 and 140°F is important because this temperature region is ideal for bacterial growth to establish itself in the wort."
Again, I'd like to know why it's a myth when it's still claimed today supposedly using science as a result - in this example the oxygen binding chemically to certain compounds and later breaking down into the beer.
Rev.
Even you must know your full of **** right?
Golddiggie said:Not sure if it's the same water supply/source as I've had (in Natick, MA) but I won't drink the tap water, so I don't use it for brewing/fermenting. I have a really good under-sink water filter system that I use on all water I'll drink or will be used for cooking (even boiling pasta). There have been more than enough times where I've smelled chlorine in the water to NOT use it.
As for HSA being a reason for not using a chiller... That's more than just lame. I can chill my wort very quickly using my plate chiller. Even recirculating the wort into the keggle (through the chiller) both while boiling (to sanitize it) and after flame-out hasn't done any harm. I typically recirculate for 5-10 minutes, after flame-out, (depending on the season/ground water temp) and then run it into my fermenter. Doesn't take me long to chill ~7 gallons of boiling hot wort this way.
Its probably natick labs that is making the water awful....
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