Economical and quick wort cooling methods

[FancybeerJohn]

Hi all,

I just brewed my first batch this last weekend. It looks like everything is going fine in the fermenting bucket. The airlock is bubbling, my closet is smelling ever so slightly like beer, and I'm dreaming big already of all the fun new toys this hobby offers.

If there was one aspect that was an annoyance on brew day it was when it came time to chill the wort. I used the old ice bath in the sink method with a little gentle stirring here and there to circulate the wort. It took about a half hour to get it down to close to 70 F.

Any advice from the vets out there on how to speed up this process? Was that an acceptable amount of time without risking contamination? Is a wort chiller worth it? Any tips or tricks to speed the chilling up in economical way?

Thanks for any help you folks can offer.

 

[Warped04]

I have a wort chiller and yes it's worth it. After I got my wort chiller, I got a fountain pump and (replaced it with a swamp cooler pump when the fountain pump died) so I could recirc my water. Now I'm starting to get ready to need a bigger chiller so my next plan will be to use my wort chilller as a pre-chiller to my wort chiller. When I have some more cash, I'll upgrade my pump and then I'll be happy happy (with my chilling setup). You see how it builds...Crazy obsession we have.

And welcome to the forums.

 

[Warped04]

And 30 minutes is an ok time. Smaller craft breweries take that long just because of the quantity of wort they have to chill.

 

[Rothman]

Wort chillers work great and are in my opinion worth every cent. A simple immersion chiller isn't too expensive and will cut your chilling time in half easily or even more if you are doing a partial boil. It is also even more important if you move on to brewing full boil batches.


It is possible that a batch may become contaminated, so you should be as careful as you can. That said I wouldn't stress about it. If you have to chill over 30 minutes put a lid on the pot and don't put unsanitized things in it to stir or take temps.

RDWHAB

 

[Zen_Brew]

30 minutes is kinda quick to get to 70 in an ice bath. You must have an aluminum kettle. On a budget, coiling your own immersion chiller is probably the most bang for your buck. It will cut your cooling time about in half if you stir the wort or agitate the chiller in the wort.

 

[tjpfeister]

30 Minutes is insanely quick if you ask me. Used to take me 1-2 hours in the past (of course that was before I realized that adding cold tap water to partial boils drops the temp even faster). But anywho, do yourself a favor and go get some soft copper tubing, 2 hose clamps, the the cheapest garden hose you can find (the RV trailer ones are usually cheaper) and fashion yourself an immersion chiller. The $30 you will spend making this aparatus will speed your chilling up and your cooling times for partial boils down to about 8 minutes (in my experience).

 

[brewit2it]

If you are cheap and lazy like me then going to a wort chiller probably sounds like an expense and extra complication. I think the ice bath in the sink is fine. If you can get a larger volume tub it can be faster and more efficient. I dont even bother with ice (I would have to spend money on that and lug it around). I have a 20 gallon bin made for holding a half barrel keg and Ice. You can buy them for pretty cheap, maybe wallmart? Can't remember where I got it. They look like a really big red plastic bucket with rope handles on each side of the top. Anyway I just put my brewpot in the tub and fill it with hose water (I brew outside) that is around 59 degrees or so this time of year. I have 3 gallons in the brewpot and I figure I add around 9 gallons to the tub just to the point where it wants to start to float. Within 5 minutes the water in the tub is warm-hot to the touch. I'm no Archimedes but I know the temp of the pot is around 210 so:

(210 x 3) + (60 x 9)/12 gives me an equilibrium of around 98 degrees.

I pull the pot and dump the tub. Put the pot back in and do it again. In about 5-10 more minutes the water is room temp:

(98 x 3) + (60 x 9)/12 = 69.5 so lets call it 70 degrees.

I don't know if it's the pot I'm using (some kind of metal with thick blue ceramic coating) or the large volume of the heat sink in relation to the wort volume but within 15 minutes I have my wort chilled and ready to add to primary.

 

[Toecutter]

I use a 1/4 x 30' Copper immersion chiller. Takes about 15 minutes for 10 gallons. i recently bought a March Pump, so now I also recirculate back to the kettle. I think some people are concerned about wasting water. I run the outlet hose down to my pool, so It doesnt go to waste

 

[JLem]

Built my own immersion chiller for my 12 quart kettle. Only cost ~$30 and works like a charm. Here's my post on building it, with photos:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/home-built-immersion-wort-chiller-109530/

 

[drathbone]

I do partial boils and add the final water to the wort at near freezing temperature. Works for me.

 

[FancybeerJohn]

Thanks for the help everyone!

I like the idea of heading down to the hardware store and seeing what I can fashion on my own.

When I sink-cooled I just let the faucet run allowing the water to run over into the other sink. Luckily it didn't spill over on to the counters and floor. It was a partial boil so I think the constant supply of cool water helped the cooling time. It definitely took some more care because the boiler started floating and the faucet was only an inch or so away. It sounds like a wort chiller, whether its my own MacGuyvered version or a ready made one, is the way to go.

 

[turtleboy3737]

Immersion chillers are worth every penny. When I got mine I couldn't believe how long I had been brewing like a savage.

But 30 minutes for an ice bath is crazy quick, so whatever works for you.

 

[bovineblitz]

I got my chiller for $40 from learntobrew.com

I was going to make my own but then realized it'd actually be cheaper for me to buy it, plus the one I got comes with hose fittings which I prefer to the clamps.

 

[Delorean1981]

Built my own immersion chiller for my 12 quart kettle. Only cost ~$30 and works like a charm. Here's my post on building it, with photos:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/home-built-immersion-wort-chiller-109530/

I understand how the coil immersion chiller works but how does this chiller with the kettle work? Are you supposed to submerge the whole thing in the wort, filling the kettle as you do?

 

[JLem]

I understand how the coil immersion chiller works but how does this chiller with the kettle work? Are you supposed to submerge the whole thing in the wort, filling the kettle as you do?

I boil as normal and then put the chiller in the kettle during the last 10 minutes or so to sanitize/sterilize it. Then I move the whole thing over to the sink and hook it up. Chills down to 70ish in about 15 minutes.

I think you could even add the chiller in at flameout. It should still be hot enough to sanitize it.

 

[Delorean1981]

Not sure if this is how it works in the first place, but you might get a double effect if you fill 1/3 of the kettle with ice, allowing the remaining room for melting H20. I may try it and post

 

[mixedbrewer]

Unless you are doing a full boil, you don't really need a wort chiller. And, you dont need to get your wort all the way down to 70 in the ice bath if you aren't doing a full boil. If you add ice cold water to your warm wort, it will bring the temp down fast, and will also help with a cold break. So by doing a partial boil you can save 40 minutes waiting for temps to go down, and you dont need a wort chiller... no need to get all sorts of expensive equipment, and make things complicated when you are first starting out. Learn the easy stuff first.

 

[Jknapp]

I'd add a suggestion to explore the concept of No-Chill Brewing. At its simplest - you can turn off the heat, slap the lid on the kettle & walk away. Dump it the next day into your fermenter & pitch.

I've been doing No Chill batches and loving it. I scrapped my immersion chiller.

 

[jds]

Like Jknapp, I've mostly stopped chilling my wort during my brewday. It saves time, water (Denver's actually a very dry place, and this counts for something), and allows me to reserve some of my wort as a starter for when I need one.

Here's the mother-of-all-threads on the topic: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/exploring-no-chill-brewing-117111/

 

[drathbone]

I've also heard of people filling up 2liter soda bottles, freezing them, dunking them in sanitizer then dunking them in the wort to assist in cooling. I just feel like there is too many free ways to cool wort to warrant a $30 purchase when I could use that money on more ingredients.

 

[buzzkill]

If you do full boils and use the 'waste' water for laundry, watering garden,cleaning. you have zero waste and can pitch the yeast and put it to bed before the day is done.

But I do like the no chill