Did I Ruin It?

[Sorolla]

Hi guys, nee to the forum.

So I finished boiling the wort for a mini mash, and couldn't get the temp down. Guy at the homebrew store said to cool it with cold gallons of water when I transfer it to the fermenter. It sat at 125 for about 3 hours. Added a handful of Ice cubes, and it did nothing.

Didn't have much ice in hand, tried to make an ice bath, but the Ice melted so fast and did nothing for the temp. So I let it sit there for another 3 hours covered. Then I finally moved it to my refrigerator with the lid on, and I guess I don't know what to do? The wort sat out at 115-125 degrees F for around 6-7 hours.

Should I even bother with this and pitch the yeast tomorrow morning? or is it just better to throw it away and start over?

To top it all off, I dropped my dang hydrometer and broke it. What a day.

 

[Old_mil_guy]

Cooling wort quickly lessens chance of infection and helps make beer clear. Chances are your fine.

 

[kh54s10]

A lot of brewers do no chill. That is to cover up the wort an let it cool overnight and pitch in the morning when cooled. It will most likely be fine. The longer before pitching the yeast the more chance you might get an infection.

So, don't throw it out. Set up a swamp cooler hand keep the fermentation temperature of the wort in the mid sixties.

You also need to post in the broken hydrometers thread!

 

[unionrdr]

I buy a large bag of ice for brew day & stick it in the freezer. Come time to chill the wort,I stick the kettle in the sink & fill the sink to the top with cold water. This cuts the high end heat down a bit. When water gets warm,drain the sink & fill to the top around the kettle with ice. Then top that off with tap water. This way,you get more ice than water. Water just helps spread the cold around. But won't have a lot of cooling capacitiy on it's own.
That's why I fill up with ice then water,rather than the other way around. It'll cool down a bit faster this way.
I also keep a couple gallons of local spring water in the fridge a couple days before brew day to get good & cold. A wort chilled to 75F or so can be cooled to low to mid 60's in the fermenter with the cold water top off.

 

[Sorolla]

A swamp cooler! Sounds right up my alley. What is it?

Also, I have put the fermenter in a vacant garage fridge. It brought it down to about 58. I pitched the yeast, and left it in the fridge. At what point should I move the fermenter out of the fridge?

 

[Mozart]

A swamp cooler! Sounds right up my alley. What is it?

Also, I have put the fermenter in a vacant garage fridge. It brought it down to about 58. I pitched the yeast, and left it in the fridge. At what point should I move the fermenter out of the fridge?

A swamp cooler is basically a way to use evaporation to cool the fermenter.

Any vessel that will hold water will work, but many use plastic totes or tubs and fill them with water, then place the fermenter in the tub. A t-shirt or other material draped over the fermenter with the ends in the water will wick the water up the sides of the fermenter where the evaporation helps to keep it cool. Additionally, a fan blowing on the material, or ice in the water, can help as well.

It depends on the strain of yeast you're using, but 58 degrees sounds a bit cool to me for most ale yeasts. You might want to let it warm up a little.

 

[kh54s10]

A swamp cooler is just a bucket or bin large enough for your fermenter some frozen water bottles and water at least 1/3 the height of fermenter. You can rotate the ice bottles as needed to keep the wort temperature controlled.

58 degrees in your refrigerator may be a little too cold. It depends on the yeast that you are using. I always ferment toward the low end of the optimal range. You can take the fermenter out of the refrigerator after you have reached final gravity. Unfortunately you will need a new hydrometer to determine that.