Chilling wort
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Cheesy_Goodness
Well-Known Member
The quicker the better seems to be the consensus, but some people utilize a no-chill method with success.
For now, I'd say get it chilled as fast as you can and see how it turns out! Make sure you enjoy a tasty brew to reward your efforts.
Welcome to the forum
For now, I'd say get it chilled as fast as you can and see how it turns out! Make sure you enjoy a tasty brew to reward your efforts.
Welcome to the forum
Foosier
Well-Known Member
ASAP is the answer you are looking for.
That being said, ASAP is all relative. I use my imersion chiller to get the temp from boil down to 70 in about 20 minutes. Then I transfer to the fermenter and put it in the fridge for a few hours to get it down to the mid 60's. This works pretty well for me and I believe this is fairly common for others as well.
There are others using the "No-Chill" method. This involves putting the bioling wort into a container that can be sealed up and then left to cool naturally. This can take 24+ hours. Taste differences between fast cooling are reportedly negligible.
The key thing to remember is that you want to protect your wort from microorganisms during the critical period when you go under 140 until you get to where it is safe to pitch the yeast. With no chill this is done by sealing the boiling, sterile wort in a container which limits the ability of bugs to get in. With conventional chilling you are using speed to get to yeast pitching temps asap. You just need to determine what will work for your process.
That being said, ASAP is all relative. I use my imersion chiller to get the temp from boil down to 70 in about 20 minutes. Then I transfer to the fermenter and put it in the fridge for a few hours to get it down to the mid 60's. This works pretty well for me and I believe this is fairly common for others as well.
There are others using the "No-Chill" method. This involves putting the bioling wort into a container that can be sealed up and then left to cool naturally. This can take 24+ hours. Taste differences between fast cooling are reportedly negligible.
The key thing to remember is that you want to protect your wort from microorganisms during the critical period when you go under 140 until you get to where it is safe to pitch the yeast. With no chill this is done by sealing the boiling, sterile wort in a container which limits the ability of bugs to get in. With conventional chilling you are using speed to get to yeast pitching temps asap. You just need to determine what will work for your process.
Faster the better... for clarity as well. Pick up a wort chiller if you don't have one, better yet pick up 2, put one into a bucket of ice and feed that to the one in the wort. I can chill on a hot day to pitching in <14 mins.
surffisher2a
Well-Known Member
Here is what I do. My water temp out of my tap is like 80 degree in the summer, so I use an immersion chiller to get the wort down to about 110 to 120. Then I fill a 5 gallon bucket with ice and water and put a small pond pump in the bottom of it (17 bucks harbor freight) and pump ice water through my immersion chiller to reach the 65 degree I typically shoot for. Takes about 20 minutes and a bag of ice.
I do want to get a second immersion chiller and use that to prechill the water but the pond pump was much cheaper. When I find a cheap coil of copper I will make my own prechiller.
I do want to get a second immersion chiller and use that to prechill the water but the pond pump was much cheaper. When I find a cheap coil of copper I will make my own prechiller.
Because the contact time is so short I found a prechiller to be FAR less effective then the pond pump method. The pond pump method is also a far more efficient use of ice in my experience.
surffisher2a
Well-Known Member
I was kind of figuring that might be the case, however I was going for simplicity of not having to swap hoses when chilling. I tried using just the ice water with the pump but I went through a lot more ice and it took longer that way so I was trying to blend both methods. I was going to put a valve on the output of my hose to slow the flow of water down to maximize the cooling effect if it did indeed become a problem.
I also have visions of freezing the pre chiller in a bucket filled with water so I don't have to worry about buying ice anymore. I am worried it will crush the copper though.
Yeah, it would save you the swapping of the hoses. I tried everything with my prechiller setup. Flow rate directly effects cooling rate, so slowing it up through the prechiller doesn't speed the process at all I found, although it could save you water (at the expense of ice).
I actually found my prechiller to be more of a hassle then the hose swap to the pond pump. But I can't say exactly why. YMMV.
The prechiller hasn't come off the shelf in quite awhile. LOL...
I will eventually get a chiller but tight on funds. It took about 45 mins for me to get the wort to 100 the topped up to 5 gals with cold water from the fridge which put me at 67, pitched the yeast and some oak chips and am now patiently waiting for the magic to happen. Thank you for your input guys.
I say as quick as possible. As mentioned some use the no chill process, but I would think, I don't know but I would think that the no chill processes would turn late addition hops into more bittering hops than aroma or flavor hops. but that is just my opinion.
hopfool
Well-Known Member
Buddy I used to brew with had a small trash can (maybe 10 gal.) that he had wrapped with an old neoprene wet suit and sat on a piece of foam insulation board. He'd add this old, half mangled, DIY copper coil, then a couple frozen jugs of water, then whatever ice he had in the frig, and top it off with water and a piece of foam board insulation. This was a secondary cooler (his main was another coil hooked to his domestic water supply that he would sit in the wort). A little foggy/groggy on the details (usually many home brews involved) but it was about half a beer before he was pitching yeast (yeah I know... a very relative and variable unit of time, but like I said, there were many home brews involved). 
The jugs would never really melt much and it was one less thing that we'd have to remember to grab for brew day (always had a couple in his freezer). I remember one of his earliest stove top batches where he just dipped a jug in some sanitizer (Star San I think), set it in the dish drainer, and then plopped the jug in once he was ready to start chilling. Dude always had the "relax" part down with his approach to home brewing.
Must have all worked 'cuz I know we drank everything that he ever brewed.
The jugs would never really melt much and it was one less thing that we'd have to remember to grab for brew day (always had a couple in his freezer). I remember one of his earliest stove top batches where he just dipped a jug in some sanitizer (Star San I think), set it in the dish drainer, and then plopped the jug in once he was ready to start chilling. Dude always had the "relax" part down with his approach to home brewing.
Must have all worked 'cuz I know we drank everything that he ever brewed.
McGarnigle
Well-Known Member
You could probably do better than 45 minutes for a partial batch, even with no wort chiller. I'd suggest motion: stirring the cold water around your pot in the ice bath.
Also, you used oak chips in the primary?
You do have to adjust your hop additions if you are doing no chill because the hop oils continue to isomerize until the wort gets below about 180F. If your recipe calls for a 5 minute hop addition you won't get the same beer if you do no chill.
I've done a few batches this way with one being dumped into the fermenter bucket while still boiling and the lid put on immediately and had it chilled in 4 hours sitting outside on my deck on a cold, windy day. I've also had it take 30 hours sitting in a 62 degree room to get to pitching temperature.
I can't say as I notice any difference in clarity between a fast cooled beer and a no chill beer though.
That is what I was thinking.
Cheesy_Goodness
Well-Known Member
You should be fine, you did what most extract brewers do. If you wanted to be extra safe you could preboil the top off water before you pitch it (boil it the day before and keep the lid on until the next day when you top off), but that's not entirely necessary.
Congrats on your first brew.
Snag some fridge copper coils from home depot and make one, pretty easy to do and you can save yourself some good $.
