Cooling Your Wort Questions

[davidamerica]

I have heard many ways to cool your wort, a chiller, Ice, crash cooling etc. but it seems nobody has talked about adding ice cold water to the wort itself.

What I mean is, the instructions say to get the temperature of your wort to about 72 degrees roughly and then add your wort to the fermentation bucket through a strainer blah, blah, blah, and fill your fermenter up to 5 gallons with water (spring, distilled whatever) (but thats after you bring your temp down to the said 72 degrees. (half hour)

Why not add the water you would use for your fermenter, directly into the wort in it's coldest form? Is that bad or am I missing something? I spent 20 minutes or more trying to cool my wort down and yesterday I put my water in the freezer, once I was finished brewing I added it directly to my wort and watched the temperature go from 120 degrees (after stirring for 10 minutes) to 75 in about a minute.

Did I discover the wheel or have I been just reading the wrong literature on brewing? Seriously, I am new at this and because I don't have a chiller or anything fancy, I have resorted to constant stirring and stirring and stirring an stirring and adding ice to outside of wort and more stirring...lol until yesterday when I...hmmm let me add cold water and see if this help...

low and behold time cut in half, plenty of time to drink beer


thanks

Dave:rockin:

 

[mixedbrewer]

I am comfortable with my tap water and use that to crash the temp. of my wort.. I boil 3 gallons of wort and cool it instantly with 2 gallons of cold water. Some people frown on this because you dont really know whats in the water. I like the way my water tastes, and it seems clean, so I use it.

 

[joeunc]

this is common. When I was doing extracts and PM's I always added the remainder of ice cold water to get to pitching temps. You can do this anytime you are not doing a full boil using all grain.

Most everyone doing anything less than full boil, all grain adds water.

 

[evilhomer]

I will boil my top off water the day before and put it in the freezer.

 

[davidamerica]

I will boil my top off water the day before and put it in the freezer.

Ok, I thought it was ok to do I was just checking. My fear was that it would have a chemical affect cooling it so quickly but seems like I am on the right track

 

[mixedbrewer]

The quicker it cools the better... particles will fall to the bottom.

 

[jonmohno]

i feel it could change the taste, have you ever cooled hot chocolate or any thing this way in the past.Ive also been reading here that you get better hop utilaization from a full boil. My boil i did i was topping off during the boil to keep it up to my fininsh voulume target but havent heard weather this is bad or not.Also been reading wort dosent mix well with water to give you a true hydro reading,correct me if im wrong. But if it works ,sounds easy and practicle and saves waiting.As long as it works for you.

 

[cravej]

I used to do it right from the faucet sprayer. It cooled it and aerated it well. But only do that if you trust your tap water.

 

[SIXFOOTER]

I just dump in an 8 lb bag of ice at the end of the boil, 20+ batches and it has worked every time

 

[tmurph6]

I do this as well, thought I was a genius when I thought of it. Only works with partial boil extract batches. Most people on here full boil all-grain so they need the chiller/ice bath.

 

[rockout]

I do a full-boil all-grain, but I boil my top-off water beforehand and let it sit, either in the freezer in summertime, or like now, when it's 25 degrees outside, I just let it sit in the cold where I do my brewing outside.

It's only a gallon, at most, that I add, but it does seem to help make the cool-down go faster.

 

[Jette]

I just set the primary out on the step with a stopper. At -5F it cools off quick.

 

[JonK331]

Before I had a chiller I did the same. I used bottled water though. You can also freeze an entire gallon of water, sanitize it, then cut off the container with a sanitized exacto knife and put the whole thing in the hot wort.

 

[gannawdm]

I fill up a stainless steel mixing bowl with water and freeze. Then I put the giant ice cube in my fermenter and pour the wort on top (after it has cooled somewhat) and mix away. it cools down very nicely. One thing I've learned, don't use ceramic (can break) or plastic tupperware (doesn't pop out very well). The ice cube pops out of stainless steel after running a little hot water over the bottom.

 

[Jette]

I wonder about sanitation with a plastic container or a bowl of water, esp since it is going in the wort.

 

[gannawdm]

I'm not too worried about infections. Just before pitching my yeast, I play 'Eye of the Tiger' and then give my yeast a rousing pep talk. By the time I pitch, my yeasties are ready to knock the block off of any little critter that dares to step foot in the squared circle that is my wort.

If you're paranoid, you can sanitize the container and boil the water before you freeze. But then again, I've never had a problem. I usually spray the bowl with StarSan, but don't bother boiling the water.

Just start out with a smaller cube. Last night my ice cube was much bigger than normal, so when I threw it in, it took me over my target volume. Before it melted all the way, I had to pull it out with my dirty paws. Smaller, cup size ice cubes are more flexible, but also generate more dishes, so I like the single giant ice cube.

 

[Sujeto]

I acquired a 3 gallon jug from my LHBS that was used for extract. I sanitize the heck out of it, pour my wort in, cover the top securely with aluminum foil and place it in the largest cold water bath EVAR! My pool! The cool thing is with a partial boil the jug floats balanced in the pool and is down to ~70 degrees within 20 minutes.
Then I strain into my sanitized fermenter and top off with 2 to 3 gallons of room temperature spring water.
This saves alot of waste water from a chiller and ice from a sink or tub water bath. I figure I'll be able to use this technique even in the 100+ degree Texas summers. It just might take a few minutes longer, is all.