Over-chilled wort?

[user 214470]

I've brewed 8 gallons of APA today and was using my counter-flow chiller first time. I realized that thing might work "too efficiently"... I've ran 8 gallons of boiling wort through the chiller in 10~15 minutes and the temperature of the cooled wort was 46°F in the fermenter. I didn't want to leave "unpitched" wort overnight to warm up, so I rehydrated the yeast in 50°F water, pitched to wort and placed the fermenter in 75°F room. Should I be worried about anything – maybe I should pitch another pack of yeast once the beer has warmed up? Any downsides of too-cold wort, any risk of off-flavors?

(I think it would be a good idea to install a thermometer and cold water adjustment valve into the counter-flow chiller so I can adjust the flow of cold water, to make sure it's not overchilling..)

 

[Lefou]

How very fortunate you are to have an efficient chiller!

Usually you re-hydrate yeast at warmer levels and pitch near room temperatures when the yeast is active. It wouldn't hurt to pitch extra yeast once your wort has warmed up, in my opinion.

 

[user 214470]

Yeah, I didn't expect such efficiency too. It's 50 feet 1/2" copper tubing inside a hose. I think the culprit was super-cold water, it's only 43°F currently as spring came to us very recently (a few weeks ago the ground was still frozen). Won't be so lucky in the summer!
Yeah, I'll probably pitch another pack of yeast tomorrow, for a good measure..

 

[flars]

You will probably be okay if you pitched enough yeast. I often pitch yeast in 48°F wort. It begins to work as the wort warms. Pitching another pack of yeast won't do any harm even if it isn't needed.

 

[Lefou]

This is why I like copper over stainless steel for immersion cooling.
In my opinion, copper beats stainless hands-down in thermal conductivity when using cold water.
Now I need to get off my butt and get coiling an immersion chiller. I have 50ft of 1/2" copper, but need to find some motivation now the weather is getting warmer.

 

[RM-MN]

Yeah, I didn't expect such efficiency too. It's 50 feet 1/2" copper tubing inside a hose. I think the culprit was super-cold water, it's only 43°F currently as spring came to us very recently (a few weeks ago the ground was still frozen). Won't be so lucky in the summer!
Yeah, I'll probably pitch another pack of yeast tomorrow, for a good measure..

You probably don't need to pitch more yeast. That cooler wort doesn't kill it, it just slows the propagation. What you do need to do is watch the temperature so it doesn't get too warm. When that yeast does take off it may do so vigorously and get you a too warm fermentation.

 

[tamparob]

We pitched a little too cold (45F) and the yeast went to sleep. Had to shake the fermentor a little bit to wake them up once it warmed up to 65. The yeast seemed happy after the shake.

 

[GPP33]

This is why I like copper over stainless steel for immersion cooling.
In my opinion, copper beats stainless hands-down in thermal conductivity when using cold water.

It’s not just your opinion, it’s scientific fact. Copper does in fact have a higher coefficient of thermal conductivity than stainless steel. Stainless steel is actually terrible (relatively speaking) as a thermal conductor but it’s easy to keep clean and sanitary.

 

[jjw5015]

I've brewed 8 gallons of APA today and was using my counter-flow chiller first time. I realized that thing might work "too efficiently"... I've ran 8 gallons of boiling wort through the chiller in 10~15 minutes and the temperature of the cooled wort was 46°F in the fermenter. I didn't want to leave "unpitched" wort overnight to warm up, so I rehydrated the yeast in 50°F water, pitched to wort and placed the fermenter in 75°F room. Should I be worried about anything – maybe I should pitch another pack of yeast once the beer has warmed up? Any downsides of too-cold wort, any risk of off-flavors?

(I think it would be a good idea to install a thermometer and cold water adjustment valve into the counter-flow chiller so I can adjust the flow of cold water, to make sure it's not overchilling..)

Let the wort warm up overnight next time.