Why Would I Want a Wort Chiller?

[smata67]

I've found out I have 25' of 1/2" copper tubing and I've seen how you can make it up into a coil and circulate ice water through it with an aquarium or similar pump to cool the wort. My present method (used one time), is to put the pot into an ice bath in my service sink covered and wait 4 hours or so to get down to 90 before dumping into my primary. Question: why would I want the fancy chiller? I'm perfectly fine waiting, the pot is covered so there is little danger of contamination. What's the big deal? Or simply, is the trouble of making one wort it?

 

[buzzkill]

try lifting my keggle full of 10 gal. of HOT wort off my burner and putting it in a sink. :cross:

 

[bob1852]

Some people like to get a really good cold break (happens when the wort cools and proteins and such precipitate) which can help make the beer clearer.

Also, many people like to ferment in the low to mid 60s, so chilling just down to 90*F doesn't allow for that (I'm assuming it takes ~24-48 hrs for your beer to chill from 90*F down to ambient?).

What you do works, and it's just another example of the "more than one way to skin a cat" part of this hobby.

 

[breez7]

cold break is important not to mention I like to get on with my day.

Lagering is a whole diff. story...

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

You'll never get to lager pitching temps with an ice bath sink.

 

[Jewrican]

cold break and reduce the risk of contamination. I like to get it down quickly and get the yeast pitched as soon as possible.

I have learned the hard way what high temps do to your beer. Getting it down to pitching temps is very important to me now.

 

[JNye]

I personally think the cold break is overstated, or possibly bogus. If protiens coagulate at a set temp, they will, i'm not understanding the science of how getting to that temp quicker helps?
The only thing you really need to consider is hop utilization will continue until you get below a certain temp, read more bitter. IIRC its something like 140*. Thats the only reason i stopped using the full blown "no chill" method. I now use an IC chiller to quickly get to something like 90-100* and then i move it to the cool basement. I'll then pitch 12 hours later the next morning.
Or you could simply adjust your bittering hop schedule by -20 minutes like ThePol recommends in the no chill thread.

 

[buzzkill]

a long slow cool down also changes the hop profile. a 20 min addition turns into a 40 min.

 

[marubozo]

Here are my reasons for using an IC:

1. My 15 gallon brew kettle is too big to fit in any sink, not to mention heavy as ****.

2. It's stupid to waste money buying enough ice to try and chill 5-6 gallons of boiling wort in any reasonable amount of time.

3. I like to cool quickly so that it minimizes the chance of contamination.

4. I'm too cheap to get a plate chiller and all other required hardware.

5. I can get my wort down to 60 inside 20 minutes, pitch, and forget about it rather than waiting hours or even overnight to get to my pitching temp.

 

[944play]

If protiens coagulate at a set temp, they will, i'm not understanding the science of how getting to that temp quicker helps?

Not that I know how it all works on a molecular level or anything, but if you've ever heard of tempering eggs, it's like that. We want the biggest protein clumps we can get so they drop out of solution, so we "crash cool" our wort instead of "temper" it.

 

[fugazzi]

I don't know about all that other stuff, but I'd rather be fully done in an hour rather than four.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I'm guessing you do extract and top off with water (which is fine), but when brewing All Grain, or even full boil extract batches, you won't chill that much wort in a sink. Plus, buying that much ice over and over and over, you'd have paid for a chiller in no time. There is the no chill method, but the recipe has to be adapted to it like mentioned. Chilling or no chilling is your decision, but if you're opting to chill, a fast chiller would help you achieve the benefits of the process. I would not want to wait 4 hours while m wort chilled after a 5-6 hour brew day.

 

[Brewham]

Here's two more reasons to cool quickly:

"Some causes of excessive cooked corn notes in your beers are covering the boil kettle (which will not allow the chemicals to escape) and cooling the wort too slowly (Dimethyl Sulfide is being produced as long as the wort is above 140 degrees F/60 degrees C). Thus the quicker you can cool the wort, the less cooked or canned corn flavors will be produced." and

"Stale flavors in beer are perceived as sherry-like, old bread, wet cardboard and paper. Wet Cardboard is the most common descriptor for these off flavors.To avoid oxidation and wet-cardboard flavors in your beers, avoid hot side aeration. Do not splash your wort while its temperature is above 80 degrees F "

From the excellent website http://www.winning-homebrew.com/off-flavors.html

 

[jonbomb]

I don't use them cause I hate the fact that they are so expensive for what you get.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Here's two more reasons to cool quickly:

"Some causes of excessive cooked corn notes in your beers are covering the boil kettle (which will not allow the chemicals to escape) and cooling the wort too slowly (Dimethyl Sulfide is being produced as long as the wort is above 140 degrees F/60 degrees C). Thus the quicker you can cool the wort, the less cooked or canned corn flavors will be produced." and

"Stale flavors in beer are perceived as sherry-like, old bread, wet cardboard and paper. Wet Cardboard is the most common descriptor for these off flavors.To avoid oxidation and wet-cardboard flavors in your beers, avoid hot side aeration. Do not splash your wort while its temperature is above 80 degrees F "

From the excellent website http://www.winning-homebrew.com/off-flavors.html

On a side note, Hot side aeration is a myth around these parts. There is a nice video around her somewhere showing a commercial brewery violently splashing their hot wort into kettles with no concern. It's one of those "in theory yes it should happen, in practice we don't notice it if it's happening."

 

[Bobby_M]

I don't use them cause I hate the fact that they are so expensive for what you get.

How so? You're basically buying a commodity (copper) with a relatively high resale value. It's not like an iPod that will be obsolete in a year.

 

[TheBroonery]

The major expense is in the copper, which is pretty valuable even as scrap metal. I built mine for half what they are in catalogs by getting a 25' spool of 3/8" copper, a tubing bender (which I was able to return after using once), some hose clamps, an old rubber washing machine supply hose with 1 end cut off and an adapter to hook it to the kitchen sink, and some 3/8" ID clear tubing for the water exiting the chiller. I used a 1 gal. paint can as a form to bend it around.

 

[brandona33]

Sounds like cost isnt an issue here, as he stated he has the copper and instructions on how to make the chiller. I just picked mine up on Craigslist for next to nothing, and it will pay for itself after a couple brew days, vs. 3 bags of ice each time. Plus, coming from a culinary background, it is good to get thru the temperature danger zone as fast as possible to pitching temp. Bacteria love a sugary, dark, warm, moist environment as much as yeast...give the yeast all the help you can

 

[Synovia]

a long slow cool down also changes the hop profile. a 20 min addition turns into a 40 min.

Only if the beer is staying up at 170+ for 20+ minutes. THats usually not what happens...

 

[Synovia]

How so? You're basically buying a commodity (copper) with a relatively high resale value. It's not like an iPod that will be obsolete in a year.

No, you're not Bobby. You guys may be an exception, but plenty of LHBS are selling chillers made from $25 of copper for $100+. Thats got nothing to do with the commodity resale value.

 

[Bobby_M]

People buy premade IC's that are marked up? Ludicrous.

 

[bovineblitz]

No, you're not Bobby. You guys may be an exception, but plenty of LHBS are selling chillers made from $25 of copper for $100+. Thats got nothing to do with the commodity resale value.

I think mine was $40 with welded hose fittings. I figured it was well worth it at that price since I don't have the tools, time, space, or knowledge to do it myself, plus I can't weld and I like using trailer hoses for gathering water so I can just hook the hoses up to the chiller.

If you look around you can find better deals.

 

[BlackAle1]

I'm looking to eventually get an immersion chiller, but in the mean time what if any downsides are there to cooling down in a chest freezer?

 

[JNye]

I'm looking to eventually get an immersion chiller, but in the mean time what if any downsides are there to cooling down in a chest freezer?

ridiculously inefficient?

 

[944play]

+1. Remember that water has roughly 3000 times the heat density of air.

 

[malkore]

DMS production still occurs post-boil until a certain temperature is reached. hops still get isomerized until a certain temperature is reached.

4 hours is too long for a water bath too. If you'd stir it every few minutes and replace the water once or twice, you'd get it to pitching temps in 30 minutes.

Why? BECAUSE IT MAKES BETTER BEER!

 

[TheBroonery]

As my wort is boiling I'm wondering how much purpose the chiller will actually serve tonight; with the 95 degree weather today the cold water is coming into the house at 77! This thing will be much more useful in the winter when I can actually lager in the basement!

 

[penutbuttrdeath]

My present method (used one time), is to put the pot into an ice bath in my service sink covered and wait 4 hours or so to get down to 90 before dumping into my primary.

4 hours! The first rule on making home brew is to drink home brew so i would get too drunk and forget about it in 4 hours... damn netflix

 

[TheBroonery]

As my wort is boiling I'm wondering how much purpose the chiller will actually serve tonight; with the 95 degree weather today the cold water is coming into the house at 77! This thing will be much more useful in the winter when I can actually lager in the basement!

Now 20 min since finishing the boil: cold tap water is 78. water coming out of the chiller is 80. wort is 100.

 

[smata67]

I made the mistake in my first batch of pouring in the wort and cooling the 6 gallon pail in the sink, instead of just the wort. I think that's why it took so long, but the time does not matter to me, I just go and do other stuff and check back every so often. I think that timewise this is more efficient, as cleaning and disinfecting and then cleaning again of the chiller is more work. For now, I think I'll keep with the ice water, though I will start another post for ideas on circulating the water to improve heat transfer.