Using a Water and Ice Bath in Sink to Chill Wort

[ncbrewer]

I’ve been cooling wort in a water-and-ice bath in the sink for many years – over 200 batches. A few years ago, a leak developed at the basket strainer after brewing. I replaced the plumbers putty that seals around the basket strainer, and it never leaked again. Then a short time ago, a plumber replaced the drain pipes and basket strainer – he used plumbers putty also. Then after six more brew days, it started leaking. It stopped leaking on its own and next brew day I decided to fold a bath towel several times and put it under the kettle to insulate it somewhat. I thought maybe the heat caused it to soften and fail. As usual, I used cold water only for 20 minutes, then ice and water to finish the cooling. I removed the towel after the water-only bath since it had cooled down to 118F. It leaked again.

Today I read in the Fine Homebuilding discussion forum Proper Sink Basket Strainer Installation - Fine Homebuilding that hot water can soften the putty, and it can squeeze out if too much putty is used.

Has anyone had a similar experience and know how to deal with it?

 

[IslandLizard]

Aside from heat softening the putty, a heavy (full) kettle or bucket may deform the sink somewhat, causing the putty under the basket strainer to lose its seal.

After removing the stupid/useless garbage disposal I couldn't get the new drain basket to seal at all using putty, so used clear silicone instead. Needs a solid cleaning and degreasing of the mating surfaces before applying the silicone, and a few hours to a day to fully cure.

 

[ncbrewer]

IslandLizard - thanks. Silicone has good adhesion - plumbers putty doesn't seem to. The adhesion should help it seal when the sink moves. But I've read that it's tricky to install properly. I use a swamp cooler for my fermenter. I'm thinking of using it for the wort chilling. It worked well in the past when I did all-grain (split boil, with two kettles cooling). That might be the surest fix. I'll decide soon - planning a brew day in about three weeks.

 

[Broken Crow]

Heat-exchange is all about surface area contact... apart from the wieght, setting a kettle right on the bottom of a sink will restrict flow across the bottom of the kettle and concentrate heat around the drain. Take 2-4 plastic sandwich boxes and fill them with maybe an inch and a half of water and freeze into ice-slabs you can place around the drain and set the kettle on top of them instead of the bottom. Cooling efficiency will improve and you won't heat your drain.

 

[MaxStout]

If you can't get the sink to hold water you could chill in one of these. Use @Broken Crow's frozen sandwich box method to keep the kettle off the bottom.

 

[ncbrewer]

Heat-exchange is all about surface area contact... apart from the wieght, setting a kettle right on the bottom of a sink will restrict flow across the bottom of the kettle and concentrate heat around the drain. Take 2-4 plastic sandwich boxes and fill them with maybe an inch and a half of water and freeze into ice-slabs you can place around the drain and set the kettle on top of them instead of the bottom. Cooling efficiency will improve and you won't heat your drain.

That's something I hadn't thought about - interesting.

If you can't get the sink to hold water you could chill in one of these. Use @Broken Crow's frozen sandwich box method to keep the kettle off the bottom.

View attachment 822876

Yes - that's my swamp cooler. I've used it for chilling one of the kettles when I used two boil kettles. I put a folded towel on the bottom to insulate it from the heat. It's not without problems, but it's looking like a good option. Maybe I should use two towels to be on the safe side.

This is a good example of some of the minor details to be worked out when brewing. Thanks to all who helped.