Cooling down with water

[jaymack]

Hi,
Are there many (if any) faults with adding cold (clean) water to the wort when chilling it down after boil? I can't seem to get my hands on a chiller and the ol' cold water with ice in the sink really does take time to get the wort down to the right temperature for pitching Yeast.

Thanks,
J

 

[El Pistolero]

So long as you're carefull not to splash too much, there should be no problem at all. I always stick a gallon or two of spring water in the freezer at the start of brew day for this purpose.

 

[Truble]

Some others have posted that they boil water the night before, then freeze it to use just as you are stating....

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

yeah, the only problem I've had with that it doesn't seem to get cold enough quick enough. It really doesn't cool that 200 degree water down as much as you'd think. Now freezing a gallon and pouring on top of that does the trick.

Splashing not really a problem because you're wanting to aerate at this point anyway.

 

[El Pistolero]

Splashing not really a problem because you're wanting to aerate at this point anyway.

Not while the wort is still hot you don't, unless you like cardboard.

 

[loopmd]

El P...can you elaborate on hot side aeration. I boil about 3.5 gallon batches and then strain the wort into a bucket with about 1 lb of ice at the bottom. I've heard about hotside aeration, but not too sure if I'm getting the effects in my brew. My thinking is that the instant it is hitting my bucket it is cooling down to around 70-80 degrees. But when it is actually going through the strainer it is still around 180 degrees. Any insight would be appreciated.


loop


p.s. sorry to jack your thread Jaymack

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

Not while the wort is still hot you don't, unless you like cardboard.

Please elaborate. I didn't think there was a problem until after fermentation.

 

[El Pistolero]

Please elaborate. I didn't think there was a problem until after fermentation.

I'll try to elaborate in a bit, but I've got a butthead client who actually thinks I should work for my coin, so it's gonna have to wait a bit. In the meantime tho, here's what Mr. Wizard has to say on the subject. In a nutshell, hot side aeration is a problem during mashing, and to a lesser extent post boil.

However, if you're not storing your beer for long periods of time, then hot side aeration is likely a non-issue. I think most of us drink it long before it has a chance to stale.

 

[Kaiser]

I was concerned about this as well.

For my 2nd batch I used 2 jugs of frozen spring water that I did not boil before freezing. The thinking was, that spring water contains a lot of oxygen and I wanted to keep this oxygen for the yeas. Now the problem is that the wort doesn't immediately melt 2 gal worth of Ice. It actually takes quite some time. Could I have gotten HSA at that time?

I noticed that my first 2 batches (cooled with unboiled ice) went stale around 7 weeks after brewing. This is a rather short shelf life even for HB. I also took lots of care not to aerate the beer when racking/bottling. But I'm also not sure if they went stale due to aeration.

I'm now using a wort chiller, not because of the HSA concern, but because I do now full wort boils now. The concern with the HSA however came later when I noticed the short shelf life. I'm now drinking my 3rd batch and will see if it actually has a longer shelf life.

Kai

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I do full-wort boils with a chiller as well, but if I were to try to cool wort down using ice I'd just put the ice chunks in the fermenter and then siphon the wort in without splashing. As far as I understand it oxygenation is a problem while the wort is above some temperature (??), even pre-fermentation, with the downside being cardboardy flavors plus wort darkening.

 

[Shambolic]

I just sit my boil pot in a bath of cold water (I chuck in some frozen bottles of water, but I don't think it makes a huge difference). Even this cools it to ~25 degrees Celcius in not much more than an hour. With a lid on the pot, I don't think I'm risking anything, and haven't had any trouble so far.


(The bath provides a much bigger heat sink (pardon the pun) than a sink, so is a better option, if you have one)

 

[BadKarmaa]

I'm wondering if all this aeration you all are talking about might effect my brew. I have a chiller so i'm not concerned about that, but I do have to boil my wort on an electric stove. As soon as the pot gets hot it starts to shake and woble on the stove somewhat rapidly. If aeration is bad how can I stop this shak n wobble when boiling?

 

[El Pistolero]

If aeration is bad how can I stop this shak n wobble when boiling?

Fortunately, the shaking and wobbling totally cancels out the ill effects of aeration, at least for trolls that is, particularly if those trolls are standing on their heads with the wind to their backs, imho of course, and not that there's anything wrong with trolling, or course.

 

[Darth Konvel]

You don't really have to worry about oxydation during the boil. The boil will knock out any oxygen that gets in (IIRC).

 

[Thor]

...but I do have to boil my wort on an electric stove. As soon as the pot gets hot it starts to shake and woble on the stove somewhat rapidly. If aeration is bad how can I stop this shak n wobble when boiling?

When I boiled inside, which I no longer do, I had the same problem. I used two steel butter knives, and slid the blades under the kettle only as far in as required to stop the shaking, with one blade on each side of the front of the kettle. It somewhat lengthened the time to boil, but this was better than the risk of wort all over my kitchen. Know that the knives will discolor, so use a couple that you don't care about, and none with plastic or wood components.