chilling without a chiller

[NWMOBrewer]

I am making my second batch, and want to know if chilling wort can be done a certain way.

I am wondering if i could stir my wort while using my shower to cool the outside of the pot and then siphon from my pot through icewater while the wort is in the siphon hose. My brewpot cannot fit sitting in my sink, and I don't have an immersion chiller. Any tips on getting my wort chilled without ice bath, or any type of other chiller?

My mom always taught me the only dumb question is the one not asked:fro::fro:

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Changed your thread title to evoke interest.

As long as you ensure good sanitation during the entire process, I don't see the harm. It'd certainly be faster than no chilling at all.

 

[Dogphish]

that sounds risky to me. usually a shower isn't the cleanest spot in the house since it stays damp so much.

you would have to have the lid off your cooling wort and be somewhat standing over the open pot in order to stir it. with water splashing around at the same time, it could get contaminated.

how cold is it where you live? if it's cold enough, maybe you could leave out a tub of cold water outside overnight with a tablespoon of bleach for every five gallons of water.

 

[NWMOBrewer]

Thanks. I love this forum

 

[NWMOBrewer]

I'm in northern missouri, and won't be home saturday night. I may try getting a pot of water put in my basement before I leave saturday afternoon. My shower has a removable head, and would hold the head inches from the side of the pot, if that seems less risky

 

[Yuri_Rage]

It'll probably be fine as long as the kettle is covered. Be prepared for frustration - it takes a long time to chill wort through immersion, particularly when the coolant is significantly above freezing.

 

[NWMOBrewer]

Thanks, i'll be getting a length of copper tubing and building a chiller I can screw onto my bathtub faucet when I have the time to bend it. I'm working full time and am a full time student. I'm having a buddy come over to show what homebrewing is all about, so I want to hide the frustrations and much as possible, lol

 

[paraordnance]

why dont you try a bath tub instead of a sink? I dont know how people fit 10 gal pots in a kitchen sinks, mine is simply to small for a job. Bath tub full of ice water barely does it in an 1 hour with 1 water change.

 

[alcibiades]

if its a 5 gallon pot or less, immersion in an ice bath is fine. Might take an hour, but better than nothing (well, you might actually want to look up "no chill brewing" on the search engine here...)

 

[kingmatt]

Do you generally top off with cold water to get to your final volume? I usually need to top off with about a gallon of water that has evaporated off during the boil so for the last few batches, I put a gallon of spring water in the freezer a few days before, cut off the plastic and threw the giant ice cube into my wort during the chill. I have noticed that it significantly cuts down on the time it takes me to get to pitching temperature (I also have my pot in an ice bath and stir it continually).

 

[Flywheel]

I chill mine in the bath tub with 20# of ice, water and 1/2 a bottle of Isopropyl alcohol (it works better than salt to lower the freezing point of water). I usually chill my 3 gallons from 212-100 in less than 15 minutes. Then I top off with 2 gallons of very cold top off water, gets it to 70-75 very easily.

 

[edie]

my 2 cents

we usually get ours down to 75-80* within 25mins by putting the pot in a small watering trough filled with water and a couple of bags of ice. i usually stir the ice water rather than than the wort as to not stir up all "stuff" floating around. we usually add 2 gallons of spring water that's been in the fridge for a day to top off and that brings us down to pitching temp.

 

[Skarekrough]

I have a double sink in my kitchen. What I will do is fill the sink halfway with cold water and immerse the pot with the lid on in it. Then I go into the freezer and grab the tub the ice maker dumps into and pour it all around.

When the ice starts to get small I grab the sink sprayer and put it on the far side of the sink where the double is, hold it near the bottom and let cold water push the warm water over the breach into the other sink.

It's less than elegant but I get it where it needs to be in about 20 minutes or so. And seeing as I can keep the lid on the pot I tend to like it better than a traditional wort chiller.

 

[billvon]

. . .and then siphon from my pot through icewater while the wort is in the siphon hose.

Sounds like you've got yourself an impromptu chiller right there. The longer the better. Copper tubing is better than vinyl for this. Warning - you will need more ice than you think.

 

[SIXFOOTER]

I just dump in a bag of ice after the boil, it chills down immediately and brings the volume up at the same time, takes 5 minutes and no hoses to fart with.

 

[Alehouserock]

you are better off getting 6 or 7 red party cups, sanitizing them, and freezing boiled water (covered by Saran wrap) do this the day before
After you take them out of the freezer they will make a cracking sound when they are ready to be taken out from the plastic cup.

6 or 7 chunks of this will cool wort down very quickly.

 

[cap1]

I just fill up my sink with cold water, ice cubes and a few frozen water bottles. I change the water maybe 3 or 4 times but it chills my wort in like 25 minutes tops.

 

[iron_city_ap]

If you are doing partial boils, I would fill up the tub with ice water and add a little salt to it. Then to help, I would also add the chunks of ice like people recomended. Its what I did my first few times. Not as good as a chiller, but it works okay.