So.... how do you chill?

[Jim R]

There are good scientific reasons to cool the wort fast. I definitely wouldn't skip that step. It doesn't even take that long. I use the time to clean up and I also use the first hot water from the immersion chiller for my clean up water.

Here are John Palmers ideas.

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/boiling-and-cooling/cooling-the-wort

 

[Taylor Jackson]

Completely agree that there's good science on beneficial reasons to chill fast. But while Palmer mentions oxidation, DMS and chill haze, if it's happening, it's not to a degree that I can recognize.

Brulosophy did identify a difference, but primarily mentioned higher hop utilization. That is a difference I noticed too, but was easy to adjust for.

If any of you are intrigued by the idea, it might be worth an experiment of your own.

 

[Teufelhunde]

Ice water bath in the sink......20 minutes.....

 

[Yesfan]

I've been looking at those Hydras. Pretty slick looking chiller. What kinda of times are you Hydra owners getting for cooling down a 5 and/or 10 gallon from boiling to 70F? If you're able to post times, please include the temp of the ground water if able.

My immersion chiller is the one from More Beer that has the recirc arm. The plate chiller is a Duda Deisel I think (bought it used from a club member). I don't know what times I'm getting, but the next batch or two I'm going to try to document what my numbers are. I'd like to be a lot more efficient in that area.

 

[IBRUTOO]

Stick the plate chiller in an ice bucket when chilling and it will cool really fast!

 

[Yesfan]

Stick the plate chiller in an ice bucket when chilling and it will cool really fast!

I have a dial thermo installed on my plate chiller. Wouldn't fully immersing it in ice water ruin it?

 

[Dland]

Right after BK off, I run low volume water though immersion coil, takes about 4 gallons & 4 minutes slow flow at 56f well temp through a 50 ft SS coil to drop from boiling to around 170F. Cooling water is quite hot at end, save for cleaning.

Then wort is gravity fed into cleaned out MT (4th vessel)though leaf hops in fine mesh SS spider for a flavor hop step and clears up wort., then pumped though plate cooler into fermentor in cellar. That cooling step takes about 10-12 mins. Wort usually is usually in low to mid '60sF at end of process in winter, warmer in summer by about 10F.

If still to warm to pitch for particular yeast, fermentor is chilled with DYI glycol rig. Celler is pretty cool so usually only have to do that in summer/early fall.

 

[day_trippr]

I have a dial thermo installed on my plate chiller. Wouldn't fully immersing it in ice water ruin it?

I'm going to believe that was a joke, because how is immersing a PLATE CHILLER going to actually do anything beneficial to the inner passages - and given the two outer passages carry cooling water?

Cheers!

 

[IBRUTOO]

It helps dissapate heat in the chiller itself, ever touched it when cooling down the wort? Conduction works,can also help a bit if tap water isn't that cold. Wouldn't submerge the dial temp gauge, I don't use one on the chiller but have two probes in the wort and a dial in the kettle.

 

[myndflyte]

If you're going with an immersion chiller, I can't recommend enough the hydra. The thing is a beast and I use a 5 gallon paint stirrer attached to a drill to move the wort around while chilling. With the ground water still being cold, I can get down to pitching temp in under 10 min. Once it warms up, I just use an aquarium pump to recirculate ice water. It was definitely worth the investment.

 

[Yesfan]

I'm going to believe that was a joke, because how is immersing a PLATE CHILLER going to actually do anything beneficial to the inner passages - and given the two outer passages carry cooling water?

Cheers!

I have a dial thermometer installed on the wort out of mine. I was asking more about that than the chiller itself, but I guess I could just take that off since I'd be using the plate chiller as a pre-chiller.....so, wasn't really a joke when I posted it but I do feel a bit stupid looking back at it now.

 

[IBRUTOO]

No problemo you can try it to see how much it speeds up cooling and if it doesn't help you, you can always put the dial thermometer back on and not put on ice.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

I just brewed my first five gallon batch, after moving up from one gallon batches. An ice bath in the kitchen sink works great for one gallon; boiling to ~70 in about 20 minutes. My five-gallon batch . . . not so much. My wort took 90+ minutes to cool yesterday. I'll be brewing again in about a month, and I'll DEFINITELY have an immersion chiller before then.

I'll also have a propane burner, because SWMBO didn't appreciate me taking over her kitchen for the afternoon.

 

[Yesfan]

I just brewed my first five gallon batch, after moving up from one gallon batches. An ice bath in the kitchen sink works great for one gallon; boiling to ~70 in about 20 minutes. My five-gallon batch . . . not so much. My wort took 90+ minutes to cool yesterday. I'll be brewing again in about a month, and I'll DEFINITELY have an immersion chiller before then.

I'll also have a propane burner, because SWMBO didn't appreciate me taking over her kitchen for the afternoon.

If I didn't already have an immersion chiller, I'd probably look at the Jaded Hyda. Burners? Blichmann for sure. I love mine.

 

[tibo]

I brew about 3 years and I try to chill down the worth once with a 1/4 inch coil but I can't be bothered with the process. I use 15 gallon beer kegs to ferment, pour the worth into the keg right off the flame. I converted the bread maker bread pan into a funnel, I secure it down with 3 wire, its fits perfectly. I assume the really hot water would kill out any unwanted bacteria or organism in the keg- although i sanitize it as much as I can, prior. I pitch the yeast starter in very high temperature, for instance the Kevik yeast I pitch in around 107F, seison 93, pilsner yeast on the 80sF. For some beer as Seison I keep the brew warm by putting a little neck warmer around it and wrap it up with this silver duckt insalation. This way the fermentation kicks in about 3-4 hours and keeps up a tense phase in a first 2-3 days. Back in a days I had problem starting the fermentation when I let the worth chill down to 60sF to pitch the yeast. I don't know how different my beer would taste with quick chilling, but I don't have any issues with any infection or off taste of the beer, if the chilling method is there to prevent infection.

 

[Elric]

I have been sink chilling. Worked ok first couple batches but then covid and less trips to store and I had to move from ice water baths to just water and cold packs and it was taking forever (between 1-3 gallon batches). Bought a mini immersion chiller rated for 1-5 gallons, and on first run it chilled my 1 gallon batch down to the 60s in about ten minutes today. Really glad I bought it.