wort chiller necessary?

[Yin_Yang]

never said it was expensive...coming from activities such as cello/violin where a good instrument runs you in the thousands, and japanese sword arts, where a good contemporary (i'm not even talking about japanese) sword can still run you a couple thousand dollars, and winemaking, where everything labeled "wine" automatically gets jacked up 20000% over cost...this by far is the cheapest.

but that doesnt mean that i'm not a working man, that needs to prioritize the money spent to avoid conflict in my house. most of my big purchases for other hobbies/activities are saved for over months and months, before i buy them. 200.00 in one paycheck = not the norm, and big enough to cause waves.

some of us are able to spend more money than others, plain and simple.

 

[beerthirty]

A chiller is one of the most important pieces of the brewery you could have. It allows for proper cold break, reduces the chance of infection due to decreased cooling times before lidding it, shortens your brewday, each reason worth the expense of the chiller. Its a one time purchase. If you buy 20-30 lbs of ice for each brew, the chiller will have paid for itself in about 10 brews, and you get the other chiller benefits. Just my humble opinion.

 

[stevea1210]

My own experience is that the wort chiller hasn't been this holy grail that everyone speaks of.

I have yet to get a brew down to pitching temps with mine. I know that is due to h20 temps out of the faucet and not the chiller, but it is still my experience.

I've had to resort to wort chiller + emergency ice bath in order to get down to pitching temps each time.

I tell you this so you are aware that while a wort chiller is important to have, in the summer it may not be quite enough to get the job done.

 

[Yin_Yang]

good to know..thats what i was trying to find out. if i put down the money for a wort chiller now, i have no guarantee that i wont need a pump to run ice water through it as well. My water runs warm in the summer..probably around 70-80 degrees...so i figured that would put a huge damper on it as well..one big enough maybe that i can wait a little bit to get one, since i cant afford anymore modifications after that, if i did buy it.

i'll play it by ear, ill see how this batch goes this weekend using an icebath, and sanitized frozen water bottles, in the wort.

can those water bottle/soda bottles withstand the heat?

 

[flyangler18]

Summertime cooling can indeed be tricky, but a $20 submersible pond pump from Lowe's/HD and recirculating ice water will make your life so much easier. My groundwater runs about the same as yours does in the summer (70-80) so I use my usual IC set up with the garden hose for the first 5 minutes or so to get my wort down to about 100-120, then switch to the submersible pump setup. I get down into the 60s in about 5 minutes after the switch. The result is a solid cold break and nice clear wort.

 

[mccarthy]

when you syphon or drain into your carboy try keeping the carboy in a plastic tub with some ice water for a small time before filling so that the empty glass is chilled a bit and still chills as the liquid fills it. also if you aerate slowly into the carboy all of the above should help chill faster.

 

[skinfiddler]

Summertime cooling can indeed be tricky, but a $20 submersible pond pump from Lowe's/HD and recirculating ice water will make your life so much easier. My groundwater runs about the same as yours does in the summer (70-80) so I use my usual IC set up with the garden hose for the first 5 minutes or so to get my wort down to about 100-120, then switch to the submersible pump setup. I get down into the 60s in about 5 minutes after the switch. The result is a solid cold break and nice clear wort.

This BTW works really well for me. I bought a cheap submersible pump from Harbor Freight. I like the idea too because you use much less water and if you plan ahead and make your own ice for the pump reservoir, you don't pay for the big bag of ice. The pump I bought is also ok for use in salt water.

 

[shecky]

I'm about to get a wort chiller and am interested to see what kind of difference it makes. I have a 2.5 bushel bucket that I use to cool the wort. Ice is free thanks to my buddy who's a firefighter. For some reason, they have a restaurant-style ice machine in the fire house.

Anyway, with that bucket, some salt and whirlpooling I can get a full boil down to 80 in about 15 minutes. I then use the melted ice as a bath for my primary to keep fermentation temps where they need to be.

Wort chiller will be employed soon using the garden hose water. For some reason, that water runs far cooler than my tap water.

 

[wildwest450]

I could always beat my ic with an ice bath. I have a huge laundry tub in my garage and collected free ice from my ice maker a week or two in advance. I would fill it with ice, top with water, and plop the turkey fryer right in, it would sink within 3 to 4 inches of the top. Could easily cool to fermenting temps in 20 to 25 minutes. If I didn't go to a bigger pot I would still be using ice baths. No hoses to hookup, not wasting near as much water, sometimes simpler is better.

 

[shecky]

No hoses to hookup, not wasting near as much water, sometimes simpler is better.

True that. The only issue is my buddy having to run out during the boil to grab the ice. I have nowhere to easily store 2.5 bushels of ice.

 

[Yunus]

Has anyone ever tried pouring the wort into a keg to chill it? You would have to let it cool a little before you pour it in and a metal funnel would be needed but after its in the keg you could put it in the fridge for an hour and you could even purge the keg with co2 to prevent bacteria from the air.

 

[beerthirty]

My own experience is that the wort chiller hasn't been this holy grail that everyone speaks of.

I have yet to get a brew down to pitching temps with mine. I know that is due to h20 temps out of the faucet and not the chiller, but it is still my experience.

I've had to resort to wort chiller + emergency ice bath in order to get down to pitching temps each time.

I tell you this so you are aware that while a wort chiller is important to have, in the summer it may not be quite enough to get the job done.

So have you ever considered making a hybrid chiller? I doubt you tap temps are higher than 85*. Check this https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/hell-earth-wort-chiller-73315/
I have slowed my flow down to 10.5 gallons in 20 minutes and usually get 65-68* wort single pass. With the addition of my new O2 injector https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/inline-o2-injector-76613/ It should really rock.