DIY Wort Chiller

[badmario]

Yeah sure you can use copper tubing to quickly drop your temperature. But a much more awesome method is bringing your brew to the Northeast and our polar vortex.

While I was attempting to un-freeze our outside spicket to run water through hose and wort chiller I got a brilliant idea. Just sit the bucket into the over 1 foot of fresh snow fall! It melted the snow fast, but I just moved it a few times and kicked up snow around it to keep the cold contact.

Not sure if there is a CON to chilling this way, and i didnt time it, but it seemed to cool faster than our wort chiller... way more awesome too!

 

[davekippen]

I have used a snowbank once before LOL! You just have to keep snow in contact with the kettle. It does melt fast as you mentioned.

 

[brewbama]

That reminds me of the time I was fryin fish for the in laws in Ohio and the heat got away from me. So instead of creating an oil fueled volcano flash fire blazing rocket ship, I set the fry kettle in a snow bank. It was pretty cook frying fish in a snow bank.

 

[badmario]

Nice! Frying fish I have never done. My one other experience of snow banks and beer was about 2009 or 2010 when we have the "snow-mageddon" in Maryland which dumped almost 3 feet of snow. I was stuck in the house as my car was totally covered and unable to use my tickets to a Penguins/Caps game = bummer. What saved the day was using the huge amount of snow outside my door as a "cooler."

Going to experiment tonight with a snowbank+wort chiller! We got 2 more inches today so should have plenty to work with.