n00b cooling questions

[the_mink]

Hello! This is my first post and I just started my first batch last night. I'm using John Palmer's "How To Brew" as my main guide.

It seemed to go pretty well, but cooling the wort took over the recommended 30 minutes (maybe 40?) and there didn't seem to be too much solid stuff from the cold break (though really, I don't know how much to expect) so I think one thing to try to improve next time might be cooling it faster.

The boil was about 2 gallons in a 5.5 gallon stock pot. I filled the bathtub with cold water and put in all the ice I had, which was 1 and a half trays, so I'm sure that didn't make much difference. The depth of the water in the tub was deeper than the depth of the wort in the pot. Which actually made the pot kind of half-float around a little if I didn't hold it down, but not enough so that it was in danger of the lid falling off or spilling.

Anyway, my questions are:

1. Can I just add the water that I'm going to add later during the cooling phase to speed up cooling?

2. Can I put the whole pot with a lid on it into the refrigerator? I think it can fit if I remove one shelf.

I looked in Palmer's book and the Wiki here but I didn't see those methods mentioned. Palmer mentions filling a sanitized container with ice and putting the container in the wort, but he says you shouldn't put the ice in there directly.

I found one thread mentioning putting water in the wort during cooling, but there are no responses: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/any-problem-topping-up-during-cooling-phase-134600/

Thanks!

 

[NAUGHTYDOGBREWING]

I usually do partial boils also and I put my pot in the sink with ice water and stir it one way and the water the other until the water in the sink gets warm. then I strain it into my carboy and add cold water. its usually about 75* by then and I pitch.

 

[northernlad]

Your refrigerator will not help, plus you will warm up your food and overwork your compressor.
The only trouble with adding your top off water is if you don't get it to target temp, that much volume is much harder to cool.
Did you swap out the water a few times?
I used Deathbrewer's technique of tap water first to bring down the big temp then ice water to bring it down from 100 or so. I cooled 3 gallons in my sink in 30 minutes this way.

 

[ChshreCat]

I do partial boils and cool mine in the sink. When it gets within 20-30 degrees of pitching temp or so, I pour it into my fermenter and then add top up water from my fridge until it's to pitching temp, topping it the rest of the way with room temp water.

In the past I have also made a big ice cube or two using sanitized plastic containers and brewing water. Those I'll toss in to wort right at the start of cooling to give me a good head start.

 

[the_mink]

I drained the tub most of the way once and filled with cold water again. I could do that more times, but on the other hand it seems like a waste of a lot of water.

My sink is pretty small and I think the faucet might get in the way, that's why I chose the tub instead. But looking at the sink now, I think I might be able to make it work, and that way I could change the water more times, and ice would make a bigger difference.

I think I see now why adding the water during the cooling and/or using the fridge aren't good ideas. Thanks for the answers!

 

[ChshreCat]

If you're using a bathtub, you might not need to empty and fill more than once. Just make sure you're stirring or you'll end up with a layer of warmer water around the kettle and cold water off to the sides. Maybe get a bag of ice and when the water warms up (and the wort has cooled halfway) dump the ice in the water.

I'm happy with my sink. there's not much room around the kettle when it's in there, but it works well that way. I put the kettle in, fill the sink up and after stirring for about 15 seconds, the water is HOT and ready to swap. The second filling takes about a minute. The third about 5, and so on. It's a bit of work lifting the kettle out to drain the sink, but it cools it down fairly quick.

Someday I'll have an IC, but I don't really need it yet.

 

[brewsmity]

The supermarket down the street from me started carrying 40 lb bags of ice for $6. I have a big freezer, so keeping them cold isn't a problem for me. I fill the sink 1/3 of the way with cold water and then dump the 40 lbs of ice in. My last batch (also my first) I was able to get from 200+ to 65 in about 18 min (stiring every 5 min or so).