Wort Chiller Stops Boil

[Razorback_Jack]

Hello all,

I’ve got a Brewer’s Edge Mash and Boil. A nice enough piece of equipment, although it just barely gives you a good boil. I add my 1/2” diameter immersion chiller (copper), with about 15 mins left in my boil to sanitize. When I do this, my boil drops down significantly, and sometimes can take around 20 mins to get boiling again. Should I just consider that a pause and count down the fifteen minutes after it gets boiling again? I’m concerned that if I do my bittering hops, or any flavoring hops added at 20 minutes,will bitter more than I want to because of the added time.

 

[day_trippr]

I wouldn't (and don't) extend the boil time. The chiller might knock a handful of degrees off the wort temp until the burner catches up, but that's still going to be well above the AA isomerization threshold (which is down around 175-180°F iirc).

fwiw, I do make sure my SS IC is blown out so no water remains from the previous batch....

Cheers!

 

[SanPancho]

Check the temp drop with thermometer. If more than say 10-15 degrees it’s an issue maybe, but most likely no big deal. You probably can’t tell the difference on a 60m addition. If it bothers you, run hot water thru chiller before you put it kettle.

 

[jcav]

I have two counter flow chillers mounted on a stand in my rig. When I start to recirculate boiling wort through the dual chillers the temp does drop some. You need to have a predictable boil off rate also. So I boil for 15 minutes to account for the temperature drop and then after that I start the 60 minute timer and add the 60 minute hop addition. All the other hop additions go in as normal after that. This keeps my boil off rate predictable and then my original gravity is then also predictable every time. The hop bitterness and aroma and flavor hops are fine with me doing it this way. This is what always works for me.


John

 

[day_trippr]

Curious, at what point in the boil do you route your recirculation through your CFCs? And why?

Cheers!

 

[jcav]

I route it through both chillers during the last 15 minutes of the boil. Because I live in Florida my ground water is pretty warm. After I knock it down to under 100 degrees (usually 90 degrees), I then hook up ice water from my mash tun into the second chiller and then I can direct the wort into the fermenter. This method on my 3 vessel e-herms rig works very well and the results are repeatable for both boil off rate and hops bitterness. I know there are other ways to do this. Some do ignore the fact that it stops boiling for a few minutes and just do the 60 minute boil without adjusting. For me and my rig I if I do not add the 15 minutes I do not boil off as much as when I add the time back. Since I wait for the 60 minutes to start and then add my hop additions, my hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma additions are fine.


John

 

[hottpeper13]

I use an induction burner and it takes 10-15 min to get back to a boil, so this is the method I switched to about 2 years ago and haven't looked back.
At 0 min I turn off the burner and start the recirc thru my CFC. I leave the insulation on the kettle and put the timer to 10 min. after 10 min the wort is still hovering around 185-190 and it's all pasteurized. I add 2.3% utilization to all my hop additions and everything is golden. When doing a hoppy beer I can turn on the chiller and drop temp to 170 add hops and whirlpool for 20 min.

 

[McKnuckle]

Some may disapprove, but I insert my copper immersion chiller at flame-out. It sees temps of 170+ for at least 5 minutes. I call that good, and have never had an issue in 120+ batches.

 

[1HW]

If you're particularly concerned with the temp drop, you could do your boil/recirculation sanitization at the beginning of the boil, before you add any hops. So...a 60 min boil becomes a 75 min boil.

 

[kevin58]

A. Don't sweat it. B. drop your immersion chiller into the boil kettle at the start of the boil.

 

[SFC Rudy]

What McKnuckle said. I drop it in at flame out and let it sit while I hook up my hoses and stuff and start chilling.

 

[Razorback_Jack]

At the suggestion of some, I’ll likely put my chiller in at the start of the boil, and wait for it to come back to boiling before I add bittering hops. Might lose some hop utilization, since my coils go up nearly to the surface of the liquid, and would form somewhat of a wall. Still better circulation than if I were using a hop spider.

 

[ABV Motleybrew]

I've had a similar issue, especially it's been left in the freezing garage. What I do which really helps is hook it up to the tap and run hot water through it for a few minutes and then pour a kettle of boiling water over it. Sounds a bit low tech but it works pretty well

 

[dwhite60]

Nothing survives contact with copper for long. They used to use it in hospitals for door knobs, railings, other things people touched a lot, for that reason. If it's clean, nothing stuck on it, shouldn't take but a minute to sterilize.

I drop mine in at flameout. Haven't had a problem. Wouldn't do this with stainless steel.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/copper-virus-kill-180974655/

 

[Stormcrow]

I drop my stainless chiller in with just a couple of minutes left to boil. By the time I actually kill the heat and get the hose hooked up, it's been in really hot wort for several minutes, which has been good enough for me.

 

[Bobby_M]

Drop it in at flameout. What's going to be on the chiller that will die in 15 minutes at boiling that won't die at 5 minutes at 207F?

 

[day_trippr]

This might be illuminating...

Cheers!

 

[Brewbuzzard]

A. Don't sweat it. B. drop your immersion chiller into the boil kettle at the start of the boil.

Drop it in at flameout. What's going to be on the chiller that will die in 15 minutes at boiling that won't die at 5 minutes at 207F?

Absolutely. If you clean and drain after each batch frame out will do it.

 

[NTexBrewer]

So first let me say do what you feel comfortable.

If you feel like you need a boil to “sterilize” your chiller people above have made many good recommendations.

I have always added my chiller at flameout. My chiller always killed my boil so when I did some research looking at recommended guidelines in the food service industry you need 180 degree water to “Sanitize” dishes. Notice, I have Sterilize and Sanitize in quotes. If I understand things these are two different standards for killing bacteria.

Starsan and Iodophor are sanitizers so I alway felt comfortable sanitizing my chiller by just adding it at flameout where it is in contact with wort well above the 180 degrees. After use, I‘ve always cleaned my chiller with hot soapy water, rinse thoroughly and drain.