Cooling my wort

[akervin]

Just brewed a batch, only my second one, the other night and thought I would try a different cooling method, last time took way to long. I bought 6 gallons of spring water at the store the night before. I put 3 on the counter to keep at room temp, 2 used for steeping, and I put 3 in the fridge.

When it came time to cool my wort and to make sure I get a good cold break I put the pot in the sink with the sanitized lid on, pored all the ice in my freezer all around it filling the sink about 3/4 full.

I checked the temp and pored one unopened gallon of water from the fridge into the wort. That bright my temp from 158 F to 120 F. I stirred for 20 seconds, spoon sanitized of course, and checked temp again... 110 F. Pored an additional unopened gallon into wort and checked temp... 94 F. I stirred additional 20 secs and checked temp again... 85 F. I pulled from ice and added half of the remaining unopened gallon from fridge and brought it to a nice 75 F.

Pored into my fermentation bucket and topped off to 5 gallons from the remaining gallon that was on the counter sitting at room temp. Aerated and added yeast.

It took a total of 4 minutes from burner to bucket and dropped the temp from 158 F to right at 70 F.

Does anyone see any problems or potential hazards with this technique or the temp I brought it to.



Thanks for Input.

 

[RhinoDon81]

as long as you trust your sanitation methods, it seems like a really quick way to drop your temp fast, I see no problems with this

 

[RCBIV]

The dude at my LHBS (I feel like every home brewer should be called a dude, 'cause it just fits) told me he puts ice blocks into his wort to chill it. I'm not sure the BEST way to do that exactly, but I think it would be your method but even faster, since the water he's adding is frozen and not just cold.

 

[medusa1066]

Is the spring water sterile/sanitized when purchased? It probably has a very low bioburden, but I think there is a very small risk of contamination

 

[unionrdr]

I've used spring water for top off,& it was perfectly fine.

 

[akervin]

Is the spring water sterile/sanitized when purchased? It probably has a very low bioburden, but I think there is a very small risk of contamination

So perhaps boiling the water and then coiling it would eliminate this but I'm not sure how contaminate bottled water could be. Bottled water may have an expectation date required by law but experts say it doesn't ever "go bad".

I guess that's a good question. Is purified drinking water safe right out of the jug for post boil use?

 

[unionrdr]

Purified or spring water work fine. Spring water is from deep in the bedrock. Not to be confused with well,ie "ground water". They are not the same.

 

[flyinpig]

In my two batch experience, I went from boil (extract kits) and cooled with my cold water from the tap right to temp by the time I finished adding all the required water, stirring continuously. I am going to build a chiller though.

 

[medusa1066]

US EPA National Drinking Water Standards

There are no requirements/limits for a Heterotrophic Plate Count which would give you total number of colony forming units. It is not sterile, but free from coliforms. Lactobacillus is considered a coliform and the regulations require absence of coliforms. But there are other organisms that could be detrimental to wort (ex. wild yeasts).

 

[unionrdr]

Or put the BK in the sink,fill the empty space around it with ice to the top of the sink. Then top that off with cold water. Stir the wort occasionally,& it should get down to 70F in 20 minutes. That's fine to get little or no chill haze at fridge time.

 

[akervin]

So my next question is if purified drinking water has a potential to contaminate...

What about distilled water? They sell that right next to the purified water for $0.20 more.

 

[unionrdr]

I still say purified water is not going to contaminate your beer. Twaddlespeak,says I. Infections are harder to get than most think. Much less from a sealed,full container with little or no head space for o2 that they'd need to propogate. Then you could see &/or smell it.

 

[tommybjr]

I built one of these in about ten minutes with supplies bought at Lowe's. I set my brew kettle on the top step of my pool, (about 55 degrees), and run water through the cooler. takes less than 10 minutes to get under 80 degrees.

 

[medusa1066]

I still say purified water is not going to contaminate your beer. Twaddlespeak,says I. Infections are harder to get than most think. Much less from a sealed,full container with little or no head space for o2 that they'd need to propogate. Then you could see &/or smell it.

I agree. I was playing Devil's Advocate for the most part.