No wonder I am having trouble cooling my wort.

[kh54s10]

If its 74 in your house with ac on then even for me i would have a fermentation chamber. Cool to whatever and finish chill in chamber, no?

After moving I tried a swamp cooler successfully for 2 in late December and January. By February we had a warm spell and I couldn't stabilize the temperature for 2 days so I went out and bought another chest freezer (I have one in storage but it is in Massachusetts). I have an Inkbird for temperature control.

But, I can only get the temperature down to about 80 with my IC, then it takes overnight to get the wort to pitching temperature. I'd rather have it all done in the same day...

 

[applescrap]

Hmm, sounds like the recirculating ice bath scenario is about all you can do then. I am surprised that it takes all night to come down to temp in a fermentation chamber, but I have been shocked many times at how slowly temp comes down in a bucket. I like that idea of chilling the hose. Simple easy and effective. Another idea is finishing off the chilling in a sink with ice and water in it.

But yeah back to your original point man what a difference in water temp. Here in Colorado we drink water out of the tap cold. Just got back from Florida and the water was plenty hot and realized I would probably have to set up a fermentation chamber there as well.

 

[cmac62]

Here in So Cal I have the same issue most of the time. So, I have two ICs, one sits in an ice bath and runs slowly in order to prechill the water. It is still a lot slower than a counterflow or plate chiller, but it works. :MUG:

 

[kh54s10]

I am surprised that it takes all night to come down to temp in a fermentation chamber, but I have been shocked many times at how slowly temp comes down in a bucket.

Well, I don't know that it takes all night. I finish brewing in the afternoon and it isn't to pitching temperatures when I go to bed. It is in the morning. So when it reaches pitching temperature???

 

[soccerdad]

Yer a slacker. Stay up all night and check temp every 20 mins !!!

 

[kh54s10]

Yer a slacker. Stay up all night and check temp every 20 mins !!!

NOPE!

 

[applescrap]

Well, I don't know that it takes all night. I finish brewing in the afternoon and it isn't to pitching temperatures when I go to bed. It is in the morning. So when it reaches pitching temperature???

Key point. I am not the biggest fan of no chill. I like to finish the brew, but i also no chill in my kettle outside. In the bucket wouldnt be as bad. The other main issue is hop isomerization. Have considered buying cubes. It would be pretty cool wouldnt it to have a bunch of them on the ready. A ris, a stout, a belgian, a porter, etc...it is my understanding that lhbs in Australia sell wort in air tight cubes. You take it home and ferment it. Sounds decent enough.

Pulling myself out of the weeds, what about using frozen brew water (ice cubes) to finish the last few degrees? Seems like not the worst idea for you warm state brewes.

Edit, for my own curiosity if nothing else i wonder if one of you brilliant minds could calculate how many ice cubes would be needed to cool 5.5g of 80 degree wort to 65 degrees.

 

[Inkleg]

Edit, for my own curiosity if nothing else i wonder if one of you brilliant minds could calculate how many ice cubes would be needed to cool 5.5g of 80 degree wort to 65 degrees.

Just one if it's big enough.

 

[ancientmariner52]

FWIW, I just dump the entire contents of my icemaker into an approx 50qt ice chest of tap water. I run tap water through the first (30 ft) stage of my CFC, and the ice water through the second (20 ft) stage. The outer shell is a high temp rubber garden hose, the inner is 3/8" OD copper tube. I can easily hit 45°F in one pass from kettle to fermenter. Takes 5 to 10 minutes, depending on tap water temp.

 

[aggiejason]

This seems like a great idea, chill hose. Less work and no pumps. Wonder if 5 gallon bucket would work?

It will...that’s what I do. I’ve found that “good” water hoses are problematic though. Their walls are too thick and effectively insulate them from the temp drop. Either use a cheap water hose (thinner walls) or you can put a second immersion chiller in the bucket as a prechiller. I recently ended up with a spare immersion chiller when a buddy was cleaning out his garage so that’s my prechiller now.

 

[MaxStout]

I have two homemade ICs. The old one was made from 20' of 1/2" copper, which I later replaced with one made from 50' of 3/8" copper. I use the old IC as a pre-chiller. In the summer when the water is warm, and/or when I want to chill to low temps for lagers, I use both chillers connected with short lengths of hose in series. Once the wort's temp gets close to the water temp, I drop the pre-chiller into a big bucket of ice to finish the chilling process. I've managed to get wort temps down to upper 40s, using 65F groundwater.

 

[kh54s10]

I have two homemade ICs. The old one was made from 20' of 1/2" copper, which I later replaced with one made from 50' of 3/8" copper. I use the old IC as a pre-chiller. In the summer when the water is warm, and/or when I want to chill to low temps for lagers, I use both chillers connected with short lengths of hose in series. Once the wort's temp gets close to the water temp, I drop the pre-chiller into a big bucket of ice to finish the chilling process. I've managed to get wort temps down to upper 40s, using 65F groundwater.

This is what I do with my two 20ft sections. But I was used to water that never gets above 70 degrees mid summer. Now in March/April in Fla the water temperature is now close to or at 80 degrees. It caught me by surprise.

 

[MaxStout]

This is what I do with my two 20ft sections. But I was used to water that never gets above 70 degrees mid summer. Now in March/April in Fla the water temperature is now close to or at 80 degrees. It caught me by surprise.

I'm guessing you'll be prechilling your water all the time now. The price you pay for living in a warm climate. Plus, since there is no freeze risk there, they probably bury water mains shallow, which allows that incoming water to warm up nicely.

 

[kh54s10]

Had to dig where the water line comes to the house and yep, It is only about 1 foot down.

 

[MaddBaggins]

Tucson here. I've seen my "cold" water as high as 90 in the dead of summer. Usually its somewhere around 80-85. I pass it thru my immersion chiller until I hit about 100. The runoff gets sent to a nearby tree well. I then stop running it off and add a bag of ice to it and recirc until I get below 70.