Chilled my wort in 5 minutes using $0

[Jasper18]

Hey so i wanted to post about my experiences right now. My boil volume was 3 gallons, and I froze 2 gallons into blocks of ice. All 5 gallons were treated with campden and some minerals i needed, and the 2 gallons were frozen in two sterilized container. All I did was throw the ice in right at flameout, and put all that in a tap-cold water filled sink and after about 5 minutes of stirring it was down to 89 degrees. Still waiting for the last of it to melt, give it a stir, take my OG reading and then pitch my yeast. This was my second time brewing, and the first time it took me hours to chill the wort, so this time im freaking excited!

So if anyone wants a FAST way to chill wort without specialized equipment freeze your top-off water.

Cheers.

 

[Jasper18]

Ok so i'm actually boiling a little extra water to top up to 5 gallons even and the wort is actually down to 60 degrees. I'm gonna have to stabilize it before i Pitch. Whats too cold to pitch for US-05?

 

[brew_darrymore]

Ok so i'm actually boiling a little extra water to top up to 5 gallons even and the wort is actually down to 60 degrees. I'm gonna have to stabilize it before i Pitch. Whats too cold to pitch for US-05?

Pitching too cold means it will take a bit longer for US-05 to adjust and kick in. Ale yeast doesn't like very cold temperatures and might get into hibernation mode. For US-05, Fermentis suggests a low-end temp. of 53F.

 

[Jasper18]

Yeah I'm gonna try to get it in the low 60's. That's where my fermentation temps were at for the last batch.
I might also add that I'm rehydrating the yeast first.

 

[Gavin C]

How did you freeze 2 gallons of water in VA in May for free?

Freezer is out because that would use electricity.

Unless of course your electricity is free.

Sounds like a fun brewday regardless.

 

[EcuPirate07]

I used to do this all the time when I was extract brewing worked out well to cool fast.

 

[55x11]

Hey so i wanted to post about my experiences right now. My boil volume was 3 gallons, and I froze 2 gallons into blocks of ice. All 5 gallons were treated with campden and some minerals i needed, and the 2 gallons were frozen in two sterilized container. All I did was throw the ice in right at flameout, and put all that in a tap-cold water filled sink and after about 5 minutes of stirring it was down to 89 degrees. Still waiting for the last of it to melt, give it a stir, take my OG reading and then pitch my yeast. This was my second time brewing, and the first time it took me hours to chill the wort, so this time im freaking excited!

So if anyone wants a FAST way to chill wort without specialized equipment freeze your top-off water.

Cheers.

obviously it may help but whether you cool down in 5 min or 35 min, the difference is subtle. Many brewers do the no-chill method with great success, and their chill time is > 1 day.

Adding cold or frozen water to dilute the wort works well for low or medium ABV extract beers but won't work for higher gravity or all grain.

Also, I assume you didn't boil and rapidly cooled the water you froze - if so, you still technically have bacteria in that ice that survived the freezing.

It's better than many other practices, but spending $50 on 50ft copper tubing wort chiller tubing allows you to cool down 5G of boiling wort to pitching temperature (or close enough) in about 10 min.

 

[cannman]

There is no such thing as a free lunch, or free ice.

 

[Jasper18]

Lol ok well the freezer was already on, and the electricity is included in our rent. So free to me I guess. I was just excited that my brew day today was maybe 3 hours instead of the 6 to 7 it was last time. The water was sealed while near boiling temperature ina sterilized container so i doubt anything would have gotten in it lol. I'm happy with this brew day!

 

[jjeffers09]

How did you freeze 2 gallons of water in VA in May for free?

Freezer is out because that would use electricity.

Unless of course your electricity is free.

Sounds like a fun brewday regardless.

He made solar panels out of donated recycled computer parts, wired it with a harness from a cutlass 88 out back, and in the AM he breaks out his bicycle-powered generator and gives back to the power company to ensure his guaranteed 15% GP. Geez GavinC.... I can't believe you didn't know that

 

[Jasper18]

He made solar panels out of donated recycled computer parts, wired it with a harness from a cutlass 88 out back, and in the AM he breaks out his bicycle-powered generator and gives back to the power company to ensure his guaranteed 15% GP. Geez GavinC.... I can't believe you didn't know that

HOW'D YOU KNOW?!?!?!??! lol

 

[Aristotelian]

Also, I assume you didn't boil and rapidly cooled the water you froze - if so, you still technically have bacteria in that ice that survived the freezing.

It's better than many other practices, but spending $50 on 50ft copper tubing wort chiller tubing allows you to cool down 5G of boiling wort to pitching temperature (or close enough) in about 10 min.

Or you could solve the issue by making the ice with boiled water. OP obviously does not want to spend money on tubing. I like the simplicity of the ice, but yes, I would boil it first. I think I will try it next brew day.

 

[Northbank]

There is no such thing as a free lunch, or free ice.

People that have never lived in Minnesota

 

[Northbank]

So if anyone wants a FAST way to chill wort without specialized equipment freeze your top-off water.

I've been thinking about this for a while, and have never figured out what to freeze my top-off water in!! What did you do that didn't involve cutting up gallon water bottles or not having ice stuck in some kind of vessel?

 

[boydster]

Ok so i'm actually boiling a little extra water to top up to 5 gallons even and the wort is actually down to 60 degrees. I'm gonna have to stabilize it before i Pitch. Whats too cold to pitch for US-05?

Might be too late, but I find 05 throws some peachy flavors when it gets below around 65. For pitching temp, it's not that big of a deal, but if it were my beer I'd want to make sure it came up to 65 as quickly as possible after pitching to avoid those flavors.

 

[Jasper18]

Or you could solve the issue by making the ice with boiled water. OP obviously does not want to spend money on tubing. I like the simplicity of the ice, but yes, I would boil it first. I think I will try it next brew day.

I did boil the water before freezing. It worked out great for me

I've been thinking about this for a while, and have never figured out what to freeze my top-off water in!! What did you do that didn't involve cutting up gallon water bottles or not having ice stuck in some kind of vessel?

We have these round plastic food prep bowls with lids. Sterilized them with star san.

Might be too late, but I find 05 throws some peachy flavors when it gets below around 65. For pitching temp, it's not that big of a deal, but if it were my beer I'd want to make sure it came up to 65 as quickly as possible after pitching to avoid those flavors.

The beer is fermenting around that temperature. 63-65 constant.

 

[Bobby_M]

Freezing top off water in extract brewing is a pretty well known technique. It's not free for most people, but it is effective for not waiting around for an icebath to work.

Here's a really handy calculator to figure out optimum temperatures given the volume of wort and ice you have. http://www.onlineconversion.com/mixing_water.htm

If you cool your 3 gallons of wort to exactly 190F with a water bath, then add 2 gallons of ice, it will get down to 64F. It will work faster if you make the 2 gallons of ice in 8 1-quart containers.

I do this when I teach my beginner extract classes to speed the session along. The only difference is that I use bottled distilled water to save from having to boil anything (which is not free either).

Once you move up to full boils, whether it's to make better hoppy beers or in the all grain process, you can't make use of this technique so it's on to immersion chillers and the like.

 

[Jasper18]

I don't think I will ever go to all grain batches, and full boil really isn't in my capabilities. I think I'll stay extract for as long as i brew. Ohh and as far as hoppy beers no worries here. I want beers with IBU in the teens

 

[RichPetersen]

I used to do this when I was extract brewing. Although I wasn't so (please excuse the expression) fanatical about sterilizing the ice. I would just pop down to the local convenience store and get 2 or 3 bags of ice. A quick calculation gave me approximately 1 gallon for every bag of ice (3 gallons of wort, 2 bags of ice). I'd drop the ice into the fermenter and pour the hot wort from the stove into the fermenter. Almost instantly down to pitching temp. And never had any trouble with contamination, at least not that I could ever tell. I used to get scolded routinely by those who are overly cautious but as I said, no issues. I miss those days sometimes. But with my new counter flow chiller getting down to temp is pretty close to instant again.

 

[Jasper18]

Lol yeah I mean i'm sure boiling and sterilizing everything and even treating the water with campden and some calcium chloride isn't necessary, but i want to give everything the best chance possible. Today the airlock is bubbling away nicely and temperature is holding at 63 on the fermometer. I actually adjusted the hop schedule a bit using an IBU calculator. The original recipe called for 1oz. Willamette at 60 minutes and 1oz. Cascade at 10 minutes giving 22-23 IBU's. That's a bit much for me and American wheat ranges from 15-30 IBU's so i adjusted to 45 minutes and 2 minutes respectively to get an estimated 17 IBU's. I'll see how that turns out. I also hope the ounce of sweet orange peel I added with about 10 minutes left will come out. Heres to hoping.

 

[DurtyChemist]

I would do the same thing when's started out. It worked great. I'd pour back and forth between bottling bucket and carboy to oxygenate and mix up the wort to take a homogenous sample for Gravity readings. I think I filled the bucket to the 2 gallon mark if memory serves me right. It was about 6 years ago.

 

[EtchyLives]

I also did this when I started with partial boils in my small pot in the kitchen. 16 pounds of ice is pretty close to 2 gallons and available at any local gas station. My beer sucked back then for a variety of reasons but I doubt because of the ice. Would do it again if I was forced to

 

[Scout]

There is no such thing as a free lunch, or free ice.

I get free ice...





Every winter.