Wort chilling question

[mtrogers14]

I am wondering if I have a wort chiller (and I do) is that in itself sufficient for chilling my wort without the ice bath or do I need to do both ?

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Depends on your choice. Everyone I know who uses a wort chiller uses just that since it's constantly pumping cold water in. I imagine it would chill faster if you used both but honestly you should get the right results from just the chiller. I use the ice because I live in an apartment where it's not really efficient to use.

 

[masskrug]

You want to get the wort down to pitching temps as fast as possible. Anything below 160 F is susceptible to infection. An ice bath helps get you down to pitching temps ASAP. I do both. Necessary? No. I live in Florida and the wort chiller will only get me down to 80-90 degrees. I need ice to do the rest.

 

[dickproenneke]

I live in Philly and have pretty cold tap water, but I still have to use an ice bath after IC to get my wort down to pitching temps

 

[Hackwood]

I use both for the speed and chiller gets it to 80-90 O.K., but with adding the bath it is a bunch faster.

 

[the_trout]

how cold is your tap water? your chiller will work better the colder the water is. an ice bath will always make the process go faster and therefor minimize your risk of infection. the time spent from 160* to your sealed fermenter is the danger zone for infection. if you can rig an ice bath with little hassle id say its probably worth it.

 

[NewDecadeBrewery]

I use an IC that gets me down to 80 pretty fast in the summer, 70 to low 70's in winter (my tap water is pretty warm all year). Watched a video awhile back where the brewer fed the warm water into his washing machine and I do that. When the washer is full it's about time for the next step. Then I hook a pond pump into the IC in a loop in a bucket of ice water for the rest. I whirlpool with my spoon or mash paddle a the beginning of cooling and it gets the temp down fast. Not too vigorous at first to avoid HSA. I usually take the spoon out during the ice bucket phase but then I swirl or jiggle the IC for increased cooling if needed.

 

[carsonwarstler]

I use an IC that gets me down to 80 pretty fast in the summer, 70 to low 70's in winter (my tap water is pretty warm all year). Watched a video awhile back where the brewer fed the warm water into his washing machine and I do that. When the washer is full it's about time for the next step. Then I hook a pond pump into the IC in a loop in a bucket of ice water for the rest. I whirlpool with my spoon or mash paddle a the beginning of cooling and it gets the temp down fast. Not too vigorous at first to avoid HSA. I usually take the spoon out during the ice bucket phase but then I swirl or jiggle the IC for increased cooling if needed.

Best method and allows you to fully utilize both... A sump pump is cheap. Only need a 15-20 pump to get results. Harbor freight makes some good cheap ones.