Wort Chiller?

[JG81]

Hi all - so I am 1-for-2 in Brewing so far. First Brooklyn Beer Kit IPA was solid, second "Whiny the Youngster" (Pliny clone) was awful. I think a lot had to do with the fact that I didn't chill the wort quick enough, and pitched the yeast in too warm of wort. The final taste was like spoiled apple cider, pretty terrible.

I am thinking that a wort chiller would probably help a ton, does anyone have a good recommendation on which to use?

 

[dhutchings]

My LHBS keeps the Brewer's Best Wort Chillers in stock so I bought that one and it has worked well for me so far.

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/equipment.html

 

[2drunk2]

I bought a tub from a home improvement store. I dump 25 pounds of ice in it and turn on the garden hose. 200 -70 degrees in 30 minutes.

 

[andy6026]

I made my own copper immersion wort chiller using 50 feet of 1/2" OD copper. Many of the ones you find on the market will be 25 feet of 3/8" OD copper. Given that I live in Canada and the copper here seems considerably more expensive than the copper in the US, I ended up paying a bit more in the end to build mine than had I bought a smaller pre-made one. Nonetheless, I'm very satisfied with it. It's ugly as hell, but it gets my 5-6 gallon batches down to pitching temps in about the time it takes me to get my fermenter, lid, and blow-off tube clean and sanitized to pour the wort into, which is probably around 10-15 minutes.

That said, the 25', 3/8" would probably do a very satisfactory job as well.

 

[Rivenin]

you'd be hard pressed to find a cheaper one unless you made it
http://www.homebrewing.org/25-38-Economy-Copper-Wort-Chiller_p_2734.html

 

[andy6026]

you'd be hard pressed to find a cheaper one unless you made it
http://www.homebrewing.org/25-38-Economy-Copper-Wort-Chiller_p_2734.html

That is indeed a very economical option. My only reservation of that chiller is that it appears that the hose connectors are directly above the chiller. As chillers heat and cool (and they have a big temperature swing around those connections) they tend to loosen a bit, drip, or outright leak. Having the connector directly above the brew pot means that it'll drip/leak into the wort.

 

[evanmars]

However, that is soft copper tubing, easy to gently bend it so that the connectors are located outside the kettle.

 

[Rootski]

I recently upgraded from an ice bath method to a stainless steel wort chiller and am very happy - would never go back. It is incredibly faster to chill down to pitching temps. I got Northern Brewer's stainless steel chiller. Many have said that copper is better, and perhaps it is by the theoretical temperature transfer numbers, but I can't imagine it chilling my wort any faster than the stainless version that I have. It's very easy to clean as well!

 

[JohnSand]

I made my chiller from a coil of 3/8" copper tube bought on ebay, and a washing machine hose.
Don't be too quick to give up on that 2nd batch. Time often heals, and bigger beers take longer to condition.

 

[grittanomyces]

Wort chillers are great, but another way to help it chill faster is to use a taller container where the ice water line on the outside of the kettle can be as high as the beer line inside (or as close to it as possible).

Early on I made the mistake of using a shallow container or tub for an ice bath, it took forever and I had a really hard time getting to the target yeast pitch temp because the ice melted way before it was chilled.

But by keeping the ice water level up where the beer level is, I can have wort chilled to the target temp in 30 minutes or less with occasional stirring.

Really it's not the slow chilling that ruined your beer, that might have an effect on your hop flavor and bitterness if it stays warm enough, and may invite infection with longer time exposed (though this is not as great of a risk as post-fermentation), but your issue is most definitely pitching too hot. That's what invites the nasty off-flavors.

 

[YeastFeast]

Adding an immersion chiller after struggling through chilling my first batch was the best "additional equipment" I've purchased to date.

My bottling tree / bottle washer was my second best addition to my home brewing equipment.