Timing with Immersion Chiller

[smyrnaquince]

I have a copper coil immersion chiller. I know I'm supposed to put it in the brewpot 10 minutes before the end of the boil to sterilize the chiller.

When I do put it in, it kills the boil. Do I stop timing until the wort comes back to a boil, then continue the countdown? (I am doing stovetop brewing, so it takes a few minutes for the boil to come back, might be as much as 5 minutes.)

If I do stop the clock until my wort comes back to a boil, what about my hops?

• For 10-minute hops, I assume I should put them in after the boil restarts (and the clock resumes at 10 minutes).
• Do I make any adjustment for 20-minute hops, or just not worry about the extra minutes for it to return to a boil?
• I assume no changes are needed for bittering (e.g., 60 minute) hops.

 

[Jdslep]

The water should still be hot enough to kill bacteria, and you don't need the boil for the hops because you don't want bitterness from 10 min. additions. I would keep the timer running, but crank up the heat.

You could preheat the chiller by running hot water through it first.

 

[Revvy]

I don't bother to stop the clock. But I put it in 15 minutes prior to flameout.

 

[chezteth]

I put my immersion chiller in the last 15min of the boil. I don't usually worry about the loss of boil since the wort is still hot. You will still get a small amount of bitterness from your 10min hop addition but it will be further reduced by the drop in wort temperature. Since your main purpose of using a 10min. hop addition is to get hop flavor the loss in utilization should not be worrysome. I agree with Jdslep... keep the timer running and crank up the heat.

 

[helibrewer]

I just spray my chiller with StarSan from a spray bottle; that combined with the dunk into boiling wort at flameout works fine.

 

[bad67z]

I had the same concern when I started using my immersion chiller. My solution was to rest it over my pot @ about 20 minutes remaining, then when I put it in at 10-15 min remaining it is preheated and has very little effect on my boil.

 

[djevans3]

I had the same concern when I started using my immersion chiller. My solution was to rest it over my pot @ about 20 minutes remaining, then when I put it in at 10-15 min remaining it is preheated and has very little effect on my boil.

Good call, I'll start doing this as well! My only thing is...why didn't I think of that? Too many homebrews apparently

 

[rhamilton]

I just spray my chiller with StarSan from a spray bottle; that combined with the dunk into boiling wort at flameout works fine.

^^ This. You also get that initial quick temp drop when you want it.

 

[MichaelBrock]

I use StarSan as well. I keep it in a 5 gallon bucket and just drop it in 10 minutes before the end of the boil. I did put it into the boil the first time I used it but when I saw how clean it came out (oxidation removed) it bothered me that I had no idea what that might have left behind in the pot. Obviously it isn't detrimental as most people use the boil to sanitize the coil but I switched to using StarSan anyway.

 

[smyrnaquince]

This is a stovetop brew, so cranking up the heat is not an option. I run full out or, at best, a half notch down from full on the burner control.

I like the idea of not stopping the clock waiting for the wort to come to a boil again.

I also like the idea of just spraying the chiller and not putting it in for the last 10-15 minutes. This way, the cold (room temperature) copper is helping (slightly) to cool the wort when I want it cooled.

Thanks, all.