Chilling wort question, outside in the kettle

[pshankstar]

I am planning my next brew and I'm going to do a small batch indoors. My wort chiller is too large for my smaller brews, so I would do an ice bath in the sink. Once I get the temp around 100 degrees (F), I was thinking about setting it outside to finish cooling for the remainder of the night. Then pitch the yeast in the morning. Outdoor temp will be around 20-22 degrees (F) with no rain or snow forecasted. Is it ok to leave it in the kettle with the lid on outside for the night? It will make it's way into my smaller 5 gallon glass carboy to ferment. I'm afraid if I place it into the glass carboy, the very cold temps might crack the glass. Thats why I am kicking around the idea of leaving it in the kettle for the night (probably from 1am to 7am, b/c I would be brewing in the evening).

Or am I worried about the glass carboy cracking for no reason? Would it be ok sitting outside at night for a few hours in these temps?

I know I run the risk of an infection, but has anyone done this with success (i.e. no infection)? I have read about the "no chill" method, but this is a little different I think. Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[tgolanos]

Honestly, I think you'd be OK just leaving it in the brew kettle overnight. I only do no-chill and I've never had a problem with it. I leave my brew kettle out with the lid on and it cools rather fine (90°C to 25°C easily overnight in summer).

I think you're right in thinking the cold would crack your carboy. I wouldn't risk it, it's not worth possibly injuring yourself and/or losing all your hard work. I'd wait until the wort is cooled before transferring.

There are times I wish I had a snow-bank to place my brew kettle in to cool my wort. I say use anything nature gives you to your advantage.

 

[pshankstar]

Honestly, I think you'd be OK just leaving it in the brew kettle overnight. I only do no-chill and I've never had a problem with it. I leave my brew kettle out with the lid on and it cools rather fine (90°C to 25°C easily overnight in summer).

I think you're right in thinking the cold would crack your carboy. I wouldn't risk it, it's not worth possibly injuring yourself and/or losing all your hard work. I'd wait until the wort is cooled before transferring.

There are times I wish I had a snow-bank to place my brew kettle in to cool my wort. I say use anything nature gives you to your advantage.

Great, thanks! Snow actually acts as insulation so placing the kettle in there would still chill it but it would take a little longer. It's better to clear out a space to place the kettle and let the cold temps chill it, instead of packing it into a snow bank. Who would have guessed?

I may just move the kettle outside as soon as the boil is over then. Instead of dealing with chilling it in the sink for a bit. But who knows...

 

[seatazzz]

I did a no-chill in my garage on my last brew (Caribou Slobber), it was the first time I tried it. My IC is a PITA to use in my new keggle so I figured what the heck. Our garage stays in the mid-50's these winter days, a bit colder at night. Wort chilled just fine and the beer is almost done, no off flavors at all.

 

[RM-MN]

Great, thanks! Snow actually acts as insulation so placing the kettle in there would still chill it but it would take a little longer. It's better to clear out a space to place the kettle and let the cold temps chill it, instead of packing it into a snow bank. Who would have guessed?

I may just move the kettle outside as soon as the boil is over then. Instead of dealing with chilling it in the sink for a bit. But who knows...

When you do a no-chill batch you need to consider what hops are use and when they are added. Any hop used for flavor or aroma will become a bittering hop as the hop oils will continue to isomerize while the temperature of the wort is above 180F and your wort will spend quite a bit of time getting below that 180 with no-chill.

With the temperature in the 20's you will likely have frozen wort in the morning. Even with the insulation factor of the snow you may freeze some of the wort. A much better solution is to set your pot of wort in a tub and put water in until it reaches about the level of the wort in your pot, then start dumping snow into the tub. That will take the place of the ice bath and quickly cool the wort.

 

[DurtyChemist]

I wouldn't expect a carboy to crack at 20 degrees with sugar water in there. It might expand and come out the top depending how much headspace you have but not crack because of the cold. With that said I would be more concerned about infection from 100F down to colder temperatures personally but it isn't my brew.

As for hops once you're below 100 your aroma hops will be extracting oils at a much slower rate than at 140-185F. I'm sure it's more of a "seat of the pants dyno" measurement where you'd perceive more bitterness because you know you chilled it outside instead of using your chiller.

 

[JohnSand]

I've thought of it, but worry that raccoons will get into it.

 

[pshankstar]

When you do a no-chill batch you need to consider what hops are use and when they are added. Any hop used for flavor or aroma will become a bittering hop as the hop oils will continue to isomerize while the temperature of the wort is above 180F and your wort will spend quite a bit of time getting below that 180 with no-chill.

With the temperature in the 20's you will likely have frozen wort in the morning. Even with the insulation factor of the snow you may freeze some of the wort. A much better solution is to set your pot of wort in a tub and put water in until it reaches about the level of the wort in your pot, then start dumping snow into the tub. That will take the place of the ice bath and quickly cool the wort.

I should have tried to chill it in the sink first then placed it outside. I wasn't thinking about the imomerization that happens at the higher temps. Well, we will see how it turns out.

Well on the side note, in the morning my wort was chilled (not frozen) and was in the upper 50's if my memory serves me right and without my notes right in front of me.

 

[eadavis80]

Just did this a few hours ago here in Michigan. All I did was take a big ass plastic container which I normally put my fermenters in for their swamp coolers, threw some snow in there and then put the 212-degree kettle into the container. Threw in a pile more snow and changed the water once after 15 minutes as it was already bath temp at that time. IN about 30 minutes, I had pitchable temps.