Arizona How do you cool wort in the heat?

[HOPME]

Hey guys,

I just relocated to Phoenix from the NE and was wondering what your set up is to cool down your wort. I’m used to a simple immersion chiller with 50* groundwater. Obviously that won’t work here.

I have a simple set up, 10G spike kettle for BIAB. Ferment in a SS Brewbucket. House has no tub, so....

For all of you that brew in the SE heat, what’s your setup?

Thanks,
Smitty

 

[slayer021175666]

Most use ice water in a cooler. You can use the IC from the sink faucet to get down to 120 or so then, pump the ice water through the IC to get it down to pitching temp. Tip: Keeping a bunch of water bottles in the freezer is more convenient and less expensive than buying ice every brew session.

 

[grifman23]

Ice water and a cooler same as above. If it's hot, I fill up the cooler the night before with water to get it to room temp. I have a lot of freeze packs from coolers and wine shipments that I use to chill the water down. Pond pump plus immersion chiller does pretty good. Occasionally I'll need to leave it a few extra hours. But it works well.

I upgraded to a Grainfather this summer and that's been really helpful with the counterflow chiller.

 

[WNKbrew]

I don't live in SW, but Chicago summers can heat up. I single pass chill through cfc, usually around 75 in summer, pitch, then hook up glycol chiller and lower to ferm temp, about 10 minutes for ales (62-64f), maybe 20 min for lagers (50-52f) in 7.5g fermentors. 15g fermentors not much longer (bigger coils).

Brewbucket should support chiller coil if you can swing it. DIY glycol chillers are cheap, too. I built one, then bought one. Got spoiled, it's a great system. Makes it possible to ferment lagers, ales, Belgians at the same time.

 

[stealthfixr]

In the summer with 90+F tap water, I use a Chillzilla counterflow chiller, immersed in a bucket of ice, fed cooler (hose) water from a $50 immersion chiller that is also in a bucket of ice (1 bag of ice each). However, I don't dump the ice in the buckets until I reach about 95F. Using this method, I can get down to the low 70s in a reasonable amount of time, then the rest is done by my glycol chiller before pitching. Sounds more complicated than it is, and it works.

In the winter, I can just use hose water through the counterflow chiller and I can get down to the mid-70s.

 

[apache_brew]

I pump hot wort first through a counterflow hose chiller with tap water (55F) to get down to 90F degrees, then wort goes through my old 25’ immersion chiller that I submerge in an ice bath (while constantly shaking the immersion chiller) where it gets down to 50F and injected with oxygen before filling my fermenter and ready to pitch yeast.

The ice bath uses 20 lbs of ice, and the counterflow chiller fills three 30 gallon plastic garbage cans that I then use to water my garden.

 

[Plastic Brewkettle]

I altered a Home Depot bucket with a ball valve. I use a fountain pump and a copper coil. I have an ice machine that I fire up about a week before brew day and I try to get 40 lbs of ice. It cools 6 or so gallons of wort from 212° to +/- 80° in about 30 minutes. I experimented with cube ice vs. block ice and found that cube ice is far more efficient than block ice in cooling water. I use worm gear hose clamps on everything because I don't like disasters.

 

[Zambezi Special]

Mine method is a bit primitive, but seems to work.
I brew small batches, cool by putting the pot in the sink filled with water. Stir the water a bit and replace when hot.
Normally 3 times. After that the quick cooling is finished.
I then put the pot on the counter to let it cool down a bit more. And then I pitch Kveik yeast
The other brews will have to wait till winter or till when I have my fermentation fridge sorted