Wort Cooling

[chris48083]

So I'm in the process of brewing my first batch and it's in the carboy fermenting. I'm worried that I took too long cooling the wort however. I figured I could just sit it on the back pourch and let it air cool. It ended up taking about an hour, not so much a 'rapid cool.' Is it still safe to drink? Taste good?

-CW

 

[ChshreCat]

You could take a day to cool it and it'll still be safe to drink. No pathogen can survive the fermenting process. Revvy says so.

 

[StunnedMonkey]

So I'm in the process of brewing my first batch and it's in the carboy fermenting. I'm worried that I took too long cooling the wort however. I figured I could just sit it on the back pourch and let it air cool. It ended up taking about an hour, not so much a 'rapid cool.' Is it still safe to drink? Taste good?

-CW

How cool did you get it? A one hour cool down by just letting it sit on the back porch is pretty quick. Did you do a partial boil and add cool water?

Assuming your sanitation was good and you got it down to a proper pitching temp, I'm sure it'll be just fine.

 

[HBHoss]

Should be fine as long as you didn't leave it under the bug zapper or something.

 

[chris48083]

Should be fine as long as you didn't leave it under the bug zapper or something.

But I thought the bugs would add flavor? ****...

I did a partial boil, cooled that to 70-80*F and added room temp water (per directions).

So it's safe to drink, will it still taste good? I checked the gravity again today, and its about 4.5% alcohol (I think? Intial gravity was 5.5% and now its at 1%).

-CW

 

[TravelBastard]

I did the same with my first batch about 3 weeks ago. I just bottled it yesterday and took a sample, seemed to taste great albeit flat (obviously). It took me over an hour to cool mine down too. Mine is a British Pub Porter. I'm sure yours will be fine. RDWHAHB

 

[newkarian]

It will be fine and wont kill you.
Just to play devils advocate a little though.
"The enterobacteria that have been found to be present in lambic beer include Enterobacter cloacea, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Hafnia alvei, Enterobacter aerogenes and Citrobacter freundii. These are gram-negative straight rods which are motile with the exception of Klebsiella. There can also be non-motile variants of the other species. "
A Liddil Lambic Lesson: The Cult of the Biohazard Lambic Brewers
Warning geeky medical science. Technically if you build up enough of these gram negatives and then lyse their cells you will be releasing a substance called lipid A into the beer which is a powerful endotoxin. This is a stretch but interesting as you technically kill yourself with an infection in your beer. You would probably have to do this deliberately and Im sure that it would smell so bad you wouldnt drink it anyways.

But seriously RDWHAHB, your beer is fine.:rockin:

 

[thakoolaidkid]

My first batch I started last Sunday took hours to cool. I underestimated how cold I should make the water that I add to the primary with the boil in it. Took about 4 hours before I could add the yeast and close her up. Next time COLD water all the way!

 

[chris48083]

RDWHAHB? not to sound to much like a noob, but, what?

 

[thakoolaidkid]

RDWHAHB? not to sound to much like a noob, but, what?

They just started a thread on this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/im-huge-dope-86781/

 

[fishnfever]

RDWHAHB? not to sound to much like a noob, but, what?

Relax Don't Worry Have A Homebrew

As stated every where In, The complete joy of home brewing by Charlei Papazian.

Also to help cool your wort next time, I fill my sink with ice and a litttle water and just place my pot of wort off the stove to the sink full of ice and water. It cools my partial boil with in 15 minutes give or take a minute or two.