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Brewing Clamper

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Warning: I'm having a bad ADD day.

So I went to the LHBS to pick up provisions for an oatmeal stout. "sorry, I'm out of pale LME... Oh, sorry, no more roasted barley, out of carapils, ..." you get the point. Now granted this is a small shop and all but this has happened way to often. So as I'm headed home I thought about just ordering specialty malts in bulk and getting a grain mill. But if I buy a mill, why not just jump to AG?! I have a 48qt cooler, a keggle, all I would need is a wort chiller. I called the SWMBO to vent and she said the magic words: "A chiller could easily be a gift." So there, I think I'm going to just do it, build a manifold for the cooler, order a barley crusher, have a chiller "gifted" to me and do my next brew AG. The only problem is I don't know exactly what she meant by "gift" since my bday isn't until June. So I have a crazy @ss idea which I'm sure someone else has already thought of and proven stupid: Dry Ice. How sanitary would cooling with dry ice be? I know that it would be way more costly and all that, but it would just be for one brew.

BTW, the reason this is in this forum is because the last thread I read was here... plus I mentioned a mill somewhere.... I think..
 
**** it, get the chiller. I wouldn't futz with the dry ice, myself. My wife and I get each other "gifts" in advance all the time; what's a couple of months between lovers?

Just don't complain when there's nothing to upwrap in June!
 
I've considered the same thing, but I've shyed away for the following reasons:

1) It IS too expensive

2) Your inundating the wort with CO2 @ a point when it contains no dissolved gasses. Liquids can only hold so much gas, so I'd suspect that aerating the wort w/ CO2 before pitching would just leave less room for oxygen. This is my theory at least


Why not just boil down to ~4 gallons and top up with a gallon of ice? Its more cost effective than dry ice and it does just as good of a job. I boil a gallon of H2O to sanitize, then I pour it into 16oz tupperware containers. I let them cool on the counter to room temp. Then I put in the fridge, then to the freezer. This stepping process prevents me from changing the temp of my fridge (I do have food in there).

To cool the wort I drop in the ice cubes. Then I submerge my kettle in the bath tub (filled w/ cold water). It drops the brew from 200F to 90F in about 20 minutes.
 
Ditto. Head to coppertubingsales.com (don't let the minimal website scare you). You can make an IC (or CFC if you wanna spend more) from half and sell/save the rest.

You'll thank yourself later and save SWMBO a good bit of cash on a gift that might be going to pay for gas anyways.

Besides, the way copper might be going, better now than later.

EDIT: @Erik funny that your playing "devil's advocate" since your post count was 666 when I posted
 
You can build a CFC pretty easily, if you have a plumbing supply store. I got parts yesterday to finish mine. Their copper tube is fairly cheap (for copper nowadays) and the chiller should work great. Do a search here or online for how to build one. There are some good plans out there. Can you sweat copper?
 
There are lot's of alternatives if your only going to brew once or twice before you get your chiller. I just did my first all grain, and I don't have a chiller, yet. I have a utility tub in the garage, 6 bags of ice and some stirring got me down to temp in 20 minutes. Also my fridge puts out enormous amounts of ice, I could easily collect ice a week before brewing and cool it for free.
 
Yeah, I guess an ice bath might have to do this time. Hopefully I can get my hands on that chiller soon, the BC is on it's way!
 
Aside from all the other reasons not to use dry ice, I think it would be TOO cold, or at least would quickly get too cold. Last time I used dry ice for something I stored it over night in my freezer and everything in my fridge froze too! Of course I wasn't dumping it into boiling 212F+ sugar water.

You just want to play with fog don't you? ;-)

I'd imagine sanitation wouldn't be the issue though.
 
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