How long does it take to cool your wort?

[Puddlethumper]

How long does it usually take for you to cool your wort from boiling to yeast pitching temperature?

What method/equipment do you use?

I am very interested to know how others are chilling their wort and how quickly it works for them.

I just finished a 5 gal. batch (actually about 5.5 gal.in the fermenter) and using 20' copper coil wort chiller and a 20' copper coil pre-chiller in ice (for the incoming water) managed to get the wort down to 80F in about 45 minutes.

We do have pretty warm tap water in the summertime here so that is a handicap that I continue to work with. In winter-time I can easily cool the wort to 75-78F in less than 30 min. without using a pre-chiller.

 

[BrewingGunner]

15-20 min. Duda Diesel 30 plate chiller (long).

 

[westo2]

With the warmer summer water temperatures - I cheat a bit and only cool it until it gets under 100. At that point it gets dumped in the fermenter and put in the fermentation chamber until the next day. Then I aerate and pitch the yeast at a perfect 66 degrees.

It used to take 30 minutes or so to get down to the mid 70s. Now it takes less than 10 and the chamber does the rest.

 

[Ridire]

30-45 minutes by floating the covered boil kettle in a tub of hose water that is continuously overflowing.

 

[masskrug]

I throw my kettle into a bucket of ice water.
Insert my wort chiller
Aerate with a plastic spoon attached to my cordless drill for 15 minutes
I can get in down to 90' (summer in Florida)
Dump kettle into fermenting bucket.
Bring inside and place in an Igloo cube cooler with chilled water (also my fermentation chamber) for ~30 minutes.
Pitch.

 

[day_trippr]

13 minutes to 66 degrees using my trusty immersion chiller, 8 minutes using my DD 30 long.

It's all about the well water. It was 56 degrees this afternoon...

Cheers!

 

[edecambra]

56 degree well watt in mass! I'd be lucky to get mine below 85 here. I do what was also said once. Ten or fifteen with the immersion and when it gets to under 100 or so it goes in the fridge until the next day. I may get in it and swirl it occasionally while waiting for it to cool to pitching.

 

[Puddlethumper]

With the warmer summer water temperatures - I cheat a bit and only cool it until it gets under 100. At that point it gets dumped in the fermenter and put in the fermentation chamber until the next day. Then I aerate and pitch the yeast at a perfect 66 degrees.

It used to take 30 minutes or so to get down to the mid 70s. Now it takes less than 10 and the chamber does the rest.

That is an interesting technique. How long have you been doing it this way? Any issues to date?

 

[Puddlethumper]

Aerate with a plastic spoon attached to my cordless drill for 15 minutes

Pitch.

Plastic spoon attached to drill??? Got a picture of that apparatus? I'm having trouble visualizing it.

Thanks for your response.

 

[Cider123]

56 degree well watt in mass! I'd be lucky to get mine below 85 here. I do what was also said once. Ten or fifteen with the immersion and when it gets to under 100 or so it goes in the fridge until the next day. I may get in it and swirl it occasionally while waiting for it to cool to pitching.

Yep, my well is in the mid 50's here in Maine. In fact, it doesn't fluctuate too much through the year. It's when I need to convert it to hot water....damn the price of fuel oil!

I get my wort under 80 in about 15 minutes with a chiller.

 

[n240sxguy]

Plastic spoon attached to drill??? Got a picture of that apparatus? I'm having trouble visualizing it.

Thanks for your response.

I would assume its a plastic mixing spoon with a round handle that is chucked up in the drill.

 

[Flipadelphia]

Bout 25-30 min using a wort chiller.

 

[govner1]

15 min while whirl pooling. I use a CFC w/ a recirculating ice water bath.

 

[TrubDog]

About 10 minutes using my 50 foot immersion chiller, 55 degree well water and stirring.

 

[mikescooling]

I'm around 12-15 minutes to drain 12 gallons from a keggle, using a 40 plate chiller (short) The groundwater is 66*F, and It's 75*F discharge from the plate chiller. I could get it colder but it takes to long. I wish I had gotten the 30 long plate chiller.

 

[CGVT]

Less than 15 minutes to 65*. (80+ degree tap water)

25' 3/8 pre chiller in a cooler full of ice/ice water and a 50' 3/8 emersion chiller.

Gotta keep both chillers moving to facilitate heat exchange. I use less than 20 gallons of water.

 

[n240sxguy]

15 min while whirl pooling. I use a CFC w/ a recirculating ice water bath.

My CFC will get the wort to about 3-4 degrees over water temp in a single pass. Sucks that the ground water is 75 right now. I need to try the ice bath, but it's more crap than I usually want to get out and hook up. On my last batch I rehydrated my yeast, and pitched it into the 80 degree wort. It was down to 65 within a couple hours.

 

[oxpajama]

I use a home made immersion chiller from 1/4" copper tubing, and usually boil for 90 mins at full throttle so the ending volume is between 1.5 - 2.5 gallons.

I buy a few gallon jugs of drinking water, place those in the fridge the day before, then in the freezer at the start of the boil to get a little ice forming. This ice water coupled with Alaska's 38* tap water, I can chill in 11 - 15 mins.
:rockin:

 

[westo2]

That is an interesting technique. How long have you been doing it this way? Any issues to date?

I've done this the last couple of summers. No issues at all. I consider it an in between of no chill and standard techniques. On hot days it can save a half hour off the brew day and a ton of water.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

All these cooling times would be more relevant if they included the batch size as well.

 

[cooldood]

I know my method is unpopular but I put ice in my fermenter and dump the wort directly on it.
Boil to 70 in about 3 minutes.

 

[Mordhaus]

Today it took 15 minutes to cool 5 gallons from boiling to 70 using my new submersible pump addition. Cooling wort when it's 105 out isn't fun. My 25' x 1/2" homemade immersion chiller can only get it down to 85 in this heat.

I bought a 264 gph pump from harbor freight and got some 5/8" silicone hose to go from the pump to the chiller. Cooled the wort from boiling to 100 using tap water then put the pump in a cooler with water and two bags of ice and recirculated that through the chiller. 100 to 70 in 5 minutes. Worked like a boss. Couldn't be happier with it.

 

[Tinhorn]

Awesome glad it worked for ya ! Harbor freight is the bees knees! Use same method

 

[CGVT]

All these cooling times would be more relevant if they included the batch size as well.

When people are talking about batches anywhere on this forum, unless it is specified otherwise I assume it is a 5 gallon batch (+ or -)

 

[Puddlethumper]

Today it took 15 minutes to cool 5 gallons from boiling to 70 using my new submersible pump addition. Cooling wort when it's 105 out isn't fun. My 25' x 1/2" homemade immersion chiller can only get it down to 85 in this heat.

I bought a 264 gph pump from harbor freight and got some 5/8" silicone hose to go from the pump to the chiller. Cooled the wort from boiling to 100 using tap water then put the pump in a cooler with water and two bags of ice and recirculated that through the chiller. 100 to 70 in 5 minutes. Worked like a boss. Couldn't be happier with it.

OK, I'm intrigued by your setup, but not sure I totally understand what you've got. Do I understand that you hook up the pump and recirculate cold water through the immersion chiller and back to the ice bath?

Got any pix of your setup?

Thanks!

 

[n240sxguy]

Sounds like what I did before I got my CFC. I used an old ice chest with a couple bags of ice, some water, and my utility pump. I got tired of having to stand there and F with it stirring and all, so I bought a pump and built a CFC.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Sounds like what I did before I got my CFC. I used an old ice chest with a couple bags of ice, some water, and my utility pump. I got tired of having to stand there and F with it stirring and all, so I bought a pump and built a CFC.

I've heard of counter-flow chillers and I understand they are faster than immersion chillers. I'm not sure how they work.

You built it yourself? What does it take to build one?

 

[duboman]

What is a CFC?

Counter flow chiller

 

[Wingnutt73]

I buy a few gallon jugs of drinking water, place those in the fridge the day before, then in the freezer at the start of the boil to get a little ice forming. This ice water coupled with Alaska's 38* tap water, I can chill in 11 - 15 mins.
:rockin:[/QUOTE]

This is something I am going to have to try. I do not a have a chiller I just put the whole pot in Ice water and around 90 degrees I add the wort to the ferment bucket. Takes me about 45-60 min to cool 2.5gal. Never though about putting that water in the freezer. I am doing this next time and I could see this should save me 15-30 Min I'de say, great Idea and Thanks.

 

[E_Marquez]

How long does it usually take for you to cool your wort from boiling to yeast pitching temperature?

What method/equipment do you use?

I am very interested to know how others are chilling their wort and how quickly it works for them.

I just finished a 5 gal. batch (actually about 5.5 gal.in the fermenter) and using 20' copper coil wort chiller and a 20' copper coil pre-chiller in ice (for the incoming water) managed to get the wort down to 80F in about 45 minutes.

We do have pretty warm tap water in the summertime here so that is a handicap that I continue to work with. In winter-time I can easily cool the wort to 75-78F in less than 30 min. without using a pre-chiller.

Brewed yesterday Boiling wort to 68 deg 18 min.

101deg ambient temp
88 deg water temp to start the cooling with

Using a 20ft prechiller in a tall cooler of ice water.
30 foot chiller in a 7/5 gal pot with 5 gal wort.

550 GPH Pond pump in ice water pushing through pre chiller to chiller, recirc back to ice water in order to constantly stir.

Stirring the wort constantly to break the termo layer at the coils.

I start with just hose water running through the system (no recirc, no ice )till wort gets down to the 150 deg range, then dump ice in the cooler and put the chiller output hose in to the cooler.

 

[Hello]

I don't know the starting temp of the water when I brewed but 2.5 gallon starter (extract brewing) took about 25 minutes in an ice bath. 15 minutes in, I took plastic cooler ice packs and surrounded the kettle because I used all ice and the ice bath was straight water. Cooled to 80° per kit instructions.

 

[n240sxguy]

I've heard of counter-flow chillers and I understand they are faster than immersion chillers. I'm not sure how they work.

You built it yourself? What does it take to build one?

I built mine. I have about 27ft of 3/8 copper tubing run through a craftsman 5/8 rubber hose. It is coiled just like an immersion chiller. On each end there is a T with the copper running through a drilled out compression fitting. The T side has a brass fitting with an end of the hose I cut to make the chiller attached. Wort goes in the copper at the top, and out the bottom. Water goes in the bottom, through the hose side, and out the top. It will cool as fast as you transfer. The only determining factor, as with all chillers, is water temp.

 

[n240sxguy]

This is one that another guy on here built. You can find his thread under the DIY section. Mine is like his except I used compression fittings, and he used soldered copper fittings.

 

[DubBrew]

Last time I brewed it took me 10 minutes to get to pitching temps (68F) for my 6 gallon batch. I use the Jamil method which is recirculating the wort against a 50' wort chiller and pumping ice water through with a pond pump when I hit 80-90 degrees.

 

[bd2xu]

With Atlanta ground water right now at about 80, I get 11 gallons down to about 90 in abt 15 mins while recirculating, with my immersion chiller I built. One key to immersion chillers is to keep the wort moving against the coils. Stir, swirl the chiller, recirc with a pump... Whatever you have. After 90 I stop the recirc and let it sit for about 15 minutes to settle then drain with my side pickup. During that time it drops a little more. Then into fermenters, into swamp coolers and pitch yeast the next morning.

This chiller is a monster, made with almost 60 feet of 1/2 INTERIOR diameter coil... Yes I spent as much making it as a nice plate chiller cost. But I figure it performs the same as a good plate chiller and I like the ideas of simplicity, no worry of clogging with hops, don't have to clean and sanitize it (just spray off), can add a whirlpool tube to it, and I still have my wimpy little 20' chiller to use as a pre chiller if desired.

 

[Mordhaus]

OK, I'm intrigued by your setup, but not sure I totally understand what you've got. Do I understand that you hook up the pump and recirculate cold water through the immersion chiller and back to the ice bath?

Got any pix of your setup?

Thanks!

Yep. I recirculated the water back to the bath so I wouldn't have to keep adding more water to the cooler all while holding the exit hose watering the yard and whirlpooling the wort simultaneously. Here's a pic I snapped yesterday.

 

[SSLocal]

I use BIAB brewing method. 6 gallons of 200+ degree water down to under 80 in about 30 minutes just submerging the kettle in a red plastic rope handle tub. I place the kettle on a small riser so there's space under it for water to flow. Fill the tub twice with hose water, then add a 20 lb bag of ice on the last fill. I probably use about 15 gallons of water not counting the ice. I think I can sub bottles of frozen water for the ice and re freeze them saving $5 on the ice!

 

[cmoore2]

Ditto the Duda Diesel 30 plate chiller. One pass through and 10 gallons of 200 degree wort is down to 65.

 

[glassbottom]

13 minutes to bring 2.5 gallons from boil to 60 degrees using a wort chiller

 

[Puddlethumper]

Yep. I recirculated the water back to the bath so I wouldn't have to keep adding more water to the cooler all while holding the exit hose watering the yard and whirlpooling the wort simultaneously. Here's a pic I snapped yesterday.

Looks like a very simple and effective system to me. Thanks for the pix!