Cooling the wort

[FungusBrew]

I never paid much attention in physics class.

Which method would cool wort quicker. Cooling in an ice bath at near freezing temps, or setting my brew kettle outside on a 9 degree, freezing balls, windy night?

 

[damdaman]

I believe the transfer of heat is much quicker in liquid so the ice bath is the way to go.

 

[oldrepublic]

+1 Ice Bath - works awesome, and you can avoid any debris or crud from the outside that could potentially ruin your batch.

 

[stedtale]

Ice bath. Water conducts heat much better than air.

Just think: Do you get colder standing in 35 degree air or 35 degree water?

The cooler temp and the wind will cool things off, but not as quick as water. Add some rock salt to the ice bath, get it even colder - cool even faster.

 

[FungusBrew]

Ice bath ftw, thanks guys

 

[rmolledo]

get a rubbermade container big enough to place your kettle in, fill it half way with ice water. then stick it outside in 9 degree weather. that'l do it!

 

[stedtale]

get a rubbermade container big enough to place your kettle in, fill it half way with ice water. then stick it outside in 9 degree weather. that'l do it!

Brilliant!

 

[maida7]

get a rubbermade container big enough to place your kettle in, fill it half way with ice water. then stick it outside in 9 degree weather. that'l do it!

Yeah, ice bath outside in the cold. Just don't leave it too long.:cross:

 

[Slipgate]

I dump the entire ice maker tray into the bucket and dump the wort on top of that, then the bucket is put in the sink filled with cold water. The last batch took about 20 minutes to get down to pitching temp.

 

[Marsdude]

Don't want to thread-jack, but has anyone ever thought of putting some rock salt into the ice bath when cooling your wort in this manner?

I seem to recall reading that salt will aid the cooling process.

 

[stedtale]

Don't want to thread-jack, but has anyone ever thought of putting some rock salt into the ice bath when cooling your wort in this manner?

I seem to recall reading that salt will aid the cooling process.

It sure would, no question. Just don't get any in your wort

Add some rock salt to the ice bath, get it even colder - cool even faster.

 

[maida7]

I dump the entire ice maker tray into the bucket and dump the wort on top of that, then the bucket is put in the sink filled with cold water. The last batch took about 20 minutes to get down to pitching temp.

I'm not sure I would trust my ice cubes to be clean. I'm paranoid that way. If it works for you the go for it.

 

[FishinDave07]

I use an IC for about 15 minutes, then drop in a sanitized, frozen gallon jug of water, and to drop it those last few temp points i connect my pond pump to my IC and drop the pump in my mash tun that has water + my ice maker tray. All throughout this process i am counter-stirring with a sanitized spoon. It sounds like a lot, but it works for me.

 

[knelson]

From my experience, setting the boild pot outside in the cold doesnt chill it very quickly at all.

Example: My first batch was brewed on one of the coldest nights of the year so far (about -10F, windchill around -30) I decided to pack the boil kettle in the snowbank and leave it to cool. Well apparently I didnt pay much attention in science class, and nearly 3 hours later my beer was finally at a pitcheable temp.

I found out that the intense heat of the kettle actually melted the snow around it enough to create an air gap between the snow bank and the kettle. This served as a nice insulator keeping the heat in. I assume this is closely related to building an igloo.

Lesson learned. Until I decide to invest in an immersion chiller, I will be utilizing the ice bath from now on.

One question: Does anyone use a frozen water bottle (such as a 2 liter pop bottle) and actually submerge it in the wort? Obviously it would have to be sanitized before hand. But I have heard of this method being used before, just wondering it is advantageous or not?

 

[Cliff897]

make yourself a dippy chiller
http://s1002.photobucket.com/home/zydaco/index
Cheap easy and bloody effective

I used to use sanitized quart pop bottles filled with frozen water.
This heat exchanger is so damn powerful and fast, it answers all the questions.

 

[FishinDave07]

One question: Does anyone use a frozen water bottle (such as a 2 liter pop bottle) and actually submerge it in the wort? Obviously it would have to be sanitized before hand. But I have heard of this method being used before, just wondering it is advantageous or not?

I did recently and it worked well. The only way your going to have the outside temp cool your wort is if you have a cool ship and have more wort surface area readily accessible to the temperature. Big and expensive, but if you do have one i'd like to see a pic

 

[skadalajara]

In the world of mechanics, they use dry ice in isopropynol to cool parts that are the exact same diameter as what it's installed into. (Called interference fit.) The other part is heated in a cintering oven.
I bet you could chill your wort in under 10 minutes that way.
Use acetone instead and I bet you could get it down in under 5.