Question about Chillers

[Jamesfromdogriver]

I been watching beer making and I was looking at when they cool down the wort before pitching and I seen these copper tubing chillers and wondered had anyone thought about freezing some one gallon jugs all sanitized and then to cool down the wort drop a frozen gallon milk jug instead of that thar fancy chiller thingy? Thanks in advance. -pawPaw

 

[petemoss]

I've never seen that done, but it seems feasible if that is what you have to work with. You probably wouldn't really need to sanitize it if it went into near boiling wort. Certain plastics are supposedly bad to heat that hot as they can leach chemicals or something. No expert on it though.

 

[GPP33]

You’re probably better off just putting the kettle in a tub of ice water. I try not to put anything (other than yeast) in the beer once the flame has been shut off.

 

[Jamesfromdogriver]

You’re probably better off just putting the kettle in a tub of ice water. I try not to put anything (other than yeast) in the beer once the flame has been shut off.

good idea what about just letting the wort cool down naturally will that affect the wort? Or does it need chilling rapidly?

 

[petemoss]

I have always used a chiller, but there are apparently a lot of folks who do let it cool naturally and are very happy doing it that way. I think some folks have a sealed container that they transfer to and let in cool in there. I'm sure others will have much more information.

 

[eltorrente]

good idea what about just letting the wort cool down naturally will that affect the wort? Or does it need chilling rapidly?

Some people let it cool down naturally. Keep in mind that once it gets below 160F or so, it will be susceptible to contamination. That's a lot of tasty sugar water for bacteria, yeast, fruit flies, and the like to get in and setup shop.

 

[myndflyte]

They use no chill brewing Down Under. Some snooping around will turn up several articles about how they do it.

 

[Jtk78]

The problem with the frozen jug method, aside from sanitation and leaching of plastic, is as the contents of the jug equalize to the wort temp, let's say at 120-140F, they would become ineffective. I think you'd find it would take quite a while with this method. I haven't tried it though, so couldn't say for sure.

I made my first chiller out of two 20' lengths of copper and a union. It was pretty easy. For me, when I brew it's easier to get it all done in one shot than have to come back to it the next day, which is why I haven't tried "no chill".

 

[Moose_MI]

You asked if anyone has thought of it and the answer is yes, I’ve heard of folks dropping frozen jugs/bottles in their wort to cool it and as i recall they had some level of satisfaction with this method.
It is not a popular method but that doesn’t mean it cant work. I’ve never tried it and I would not suggest this method but it’s your beer.
I would speculate that folks who try this probably do so until the first time a jug/bottle leaks or they start having infections but I cant point to anything to support this theory. I just don’t remember any threads where people have been doing this for years and try to evangelize this method.

Brew on!

 

[myndflyte]

When I was doing 2.5 gallon extract batches, I would sanitize the largest tupperware container I had and fill it with water and freeze it, I think it help about a half gallon of water. I was just brewing on the stove stop so I wasn't doing full boils but then I'd drop the giant ice cube in (not in the container) and it would cool it off and top it off close to 2.5 gallons.

 

[Jamesfromdogriver]

Thanks to all for the advice....I will mull it over

 

[Tribe Fan]

There are others that could do the actual math on this, but it seems to me the metal coil has 3 distinct advantages:
1. Surface area of the coil is probably larger
2. The temp of the coolant is constant and becomes more effective as the wort cools
3. Takes less volume in the kettle.

Both would work, but one more efficiently and effective.

 

[Lefou]

They use no chill brewing Down Under. Some snooping around will turn up several articles about how they do it.

My last beer was a "Snow chill" brew.
During a Nor'easter snow storm this past March, I decided to stop boiling and put my kettle outside on a block of ice. I took off the lid, stretched a layer of Saran Wrap over the top, poked a couple holes in the wrap for pressure, and put the lid back on leaving it to cool in the winter snow.
While the wort chilled I was shoveling the driveway. Better than a cold water bath ... no bugs, and no pesky animal or people bothered it. When I was done I simply opened the ball valve with a 3/8" silicone hose attached and drained to carboy.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work well unless you have the right weather ....