Questions before first AG

[Peregris]

These are probably basic questions that everyone knows the answer to, but I can't seem to find them anywhere I've looked -

I want to try my first AG batch soon and have made a cooler MLT and just scored a 30-qt pot and outdoor propane cooker deal off craigslist. I haven't made an immersion chiller yet, though, which brings me to my first question. Why can't you chill a covered brewkettle in a refrigerator? Does it take too long or is there too much of a chance of contamination? The fridge is only used for drinks - beer, soda, tonic, etc. and I have half of it all set up for when I lagered my last bucket.

My second question comes from my last extract batch. I was trying to do a Helles-style lager and didn't realize that to make a lighter wort you can add the extract late in the boil. Needless to say, my Helles - which was supposed to have an SRM of 3.5 according to the software - came out with an SRM of around 12. My question is this - is that darkening of the wort from a longer boil time and caramelization just in extract boils or does a full-volume AG wort darken during an hour-long boil as well?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BrosBrew]

I'm not really in to AG yet but I do know that it will take too long for the wort to cool in the fridge. With extract brewing, I hope to get a 2.5 gallon sugar/wort solution cooled from 215 degrees to 100 or lower in about 1/2 hour with an ice/salt water bath. Now your dealing with a lot more liquid in a cooled air environment which has a higher specific heat than water does so it will take hours to get the wort cooled and that is too long.

 

[Bobby_M]

It's just too much of a heat load for a refrigerator to handle. It would run for like 24 hours straight and probably burn out the compressor. You'd also get no decent cold break so you'd have a haze issue later. You'll also get DMS problems because of covering hot wort and trapping it.

 

[Yooper]

It's just too much of a heat load for a refrigerator to handle. It would run for like 24 hours straight and probably burn out the compressor. You'd also get no decent cold break so you'd have a haze issue later. You'll also get DMS problems because of covering hot wort and trapping it.

Yes, I agree. You really need to cool the wort within about 1/2 hour or so, as BrosBrew mentioned, for the cold break and to lower chance of infection. This is almost impossible to do with 5 gallons of boiling wort without a wort chiller.

Also, with AG, you don't get carmelization because you start with about 6.5 gallons of wort, and boil done to 5 gallons. You want evaporation in this case.

 

[Peregris]

Originally Posted By: Bobby_M
It's just too much of a heat load for a refrigerator to handle. It would run for like 24 hours straight and probably burn out the compressor.

I think it's pretty safe to assume that if that happened my wife would not be too happy. Good thing I checked with you guys first! Thanks.