Correct way to cool the wort.

[dae06]

I am now on my second batch. The first kit had instuctions to add the hot wort (~2 gallons) to cold water (~3 gallons) which cooled the whole amount down quite a bit.

Now the second kit said to cool the wort before adding it to the water.

Is there a reason why I shouldn't add the hot wort to the cool water right away (as I did in the first batch)?

 

[anteup02]

I am sure a more experienced member will give a better explanation soon, but from my understanding you don't want to add it like that because it is not good for the wort to be exposed to air and splashed around at temperatures above about 80 degrees even before fermentation begins. i m sure a better (more detailed answer will be posted soon!)

 

[johnnyc]

In my opinion there's nothing wrong w/ mixing hot wort with cold water right away, at long as its not done in glass. But in my experience mixing w/ cold water doesn't get the wort cool enough either. For most ales pitching temp should be around 70 degrees. You may need an ice bath along with the cold water to get down to that temp.

 

[RogueVassar]

I've also heard that you want to be careful of oxidation while the wort is still hot (in John Palmer's How to Brew). My last batch, I measured the temp of the water I was going to add (50 degrees) and then used a proportion to find out how cold I needed it to get for the water to make it 70 degrees. Easy math if you do a 2.5 batch since it's 50:50 and you would need to cool it to 90 degrees before adding the other half of the water.

 

[shroomzofdoom]

I would not add boiling hot wort to the remaining water. The potential for hot side aeration is too high. This can expose the beer to oxidation--which is bad.

You can cool the 3G of wort down under 80, then when you add the wort to the remaining water, you can slosh away as aeration is OK below 80.

If you are just immersing the boil kettle into cold/icy water, the metal pot will conduct heat much better than a plastic fermentation bucket or glass and you will cool alot quicker.

That said, I am something of a newb too and just picked up an immersion chiller for $40. It cools 4G from 210 to 75 in about 15-20 minutes.

 

[poley]

You want to aerate the wort before pitching the yeast -- yeast needs oxygen to get up and running.

This was my favorite fast way to cool the wort when I did extract-partial boils. 2.5 Gal wort + 3 Gal cold water = pitching temp! I did it for a while and never had a problem. And putting the cold water in your carboy first, then adding hot wort to it was always fine. Just make sure you leave plenty of room for the wort!

 

[johnnyc]

HSA is a highly debated topic and I personally don't believe it applies in a homebrew application. Until you're very familiar with the nuances of beer you prob won't taste it if it does happen. Search the site and you'll see tons of threads about it. I've never worried about it and my beer gets compliments all the time.

 

[dae06]

OK, Thanks.

I'll have to build my immersion chiller and have fun using that.

 

[Doc Robinson]

Either method will work fine. Just make sure that the water you are adding to the wort has been pasteurized/sterilized (boiled or bottled water). If you use straight tap water, you will risk infection from the wild bacteria that may be harbored in the water/faucet head, etc.

As mentioned earlier, it is not a good idea to mix boiling water, cold water, & glass. The glass could undergo thermal shock and shatter.

As far as hot-side aeration concerns (other posters have mentioned it - aerating wort that is still above 80 degrees), don't worry about it. HSA is not a myth, but on a homebrew scale, it has been tested and tested to levels where we may as well call it a myth.

 

[poley]

I have shattered a carboy before, but that was one that was already in an ice bath and empty, where I poured 200F wort into it.

I should have seen that one coming...

I have never worried about shattering the carboy using the method described in my previous post, provided you add the hot wort slowly, and give the whole setup time to adjust to the temperature shift. The more cool water you have pre-loaded in the carboy, the less the temperature shift will be.

 

[david_42]

It's much easier to cool a small quantity of very hot wort, than it is to cool a large quantity of warm wort. Other than than, no big deal either way.

 

[CiscoKid]

I'm going to agree with johnnyc, I'd be more worried about cracking a glass carboy with hot liquid than I would about the hot side aeration boogeyman, at least at this point in time - you are homebrewing, you've got a whole slew of points in the process where you're going to risk oxidizing and staling your beer. Which isn't to say that you shouldn't identify these points and start to try and minimize the exposure, but you're on batch number two (almost) - I'd certainly say "Relax, Don't Worry!"

A more immediate concern (and one that would have more impact on the taste of your beer, IMO) would be getting that wort down to the appropriate temperature for pitching as quickly as possible. That's going to be your biggest advantage to the wort chiller.

 

[dae06]

OK thanks for the info.

I always do my primary fermentation in my plastic pail and use the carboy for the two stage part of my beer making, so cracking the carboy won't be an issue for me.