Chilling wort

[hulkavitch]

Do you dump your wort into the fermenter top it off and then use your wort chiller? Or chill your wort in your brew pot and then transfer to the fermenter?
If you do the later what temp do you typically chill to so that when you top off you arent droping below pitching temperatures?

 

[smagee]

Typically you'll want to chill in the pot; boiling liquid isn't really something I want to put directly into a plastic bucket. Assuming you're using an immersion chiller, put it in the pot with ~5-10 minutes left in the boil to sterilize the coils, then start it up once the boil's done.

Unless you're pouring the wort onto ice, I don't see how your topoff will get you below pitch temps; you're usually going to want to pitch somewhere in the 68-72F range, so topoff water shouldn't drop the temp too much below there. If you're using a kit, it probably recommends something warmer, but don't worry about it. Cooler is almost always going to be better for pitching time; kits usually recommend it higher than most people would prefer.

 

[hulkavitch]

Using an immersion chiller. The only reason i bring it up is that in the book I am reading the recipes alway say to dump the wort into a fermenter with two gallons of cold water, top off and cool.

 

[phoenixs4r]

Using an immersion chiller. The only reason i bring it up is that in the book I am reading the recipes alway say to dump the wort into a fermenter with two gallons of cold water, top off and cool.

That means after chilling. The water is mainly to raise your volume, and generally help reach pitching temperatures and new folks that brew often get fed up waiting for the immersion chiller to drop that last 10 degrees needed.

 

[cyclogenesis]

Do not dump warm wort... Hot side aeration is BAD.. Either chill in the pot with an immersion or on route with a counterflow/plate

 

[hulkavitch]

Thanks for the info

 

[maclaren]

That means after chilling. The water is mainly to raise your volume, and generally help reach pitching temperatures and new folks that brew often get fed up waiting for the immersion chiller to drop that last 10 degrees needed.

Good to know I'm not the only one who has that problem.