Would this work for a lager?

[petep1980]

I want to get into lagering more seriously and fermenting at true lager temps, pitching around 50, and being patient for uber long conditioning periods.

Anywho, I have no idea how to get 5 gallon of boiled wort down to 50° using an immersion chiller and tap water. For an approach like that it could take something alot more efficient than my coil.

This is my idea. On day 1, I do the first half of the batch. I do a partial boil and I top off with ice cold water after pre-chilling the wort and I should be able to get it close to 50° I think. I'll treat this as a big starter. Then like 2 days later I do the remaining boil and top that off with ice cold water and get that around 50°. Then I combine the two batches.

Calculating IBU's is a nightmare doing this I know, but it's a lager, so who cares. Gravity will be simple because it'll be extract. My only real concern if that would actually be too big of a starter and may end up pooping the yeast out.

 

[EdWort]

Get a pond pump and use a cooler full of ice water to get past your tap water temps. Use tap water to get to 90 degrees and then switch it out for the pond pump and ice water. It works great.

 

[petep1980]

Brilliant. Thanks.

 

[chefkdub]

How big is that pond pump? I saw one that was 22GPM, that seems like a lotta presure.

 

[Ryno]

I use a 800 gph bilge pump in a bucket of ice water with good results. I have to use my filet knife cord to convert the a/c to d/c.

 

[ghack]

I picked up a 258 gph pump at Harbor Freight for $20. If someone gave me a larger pump I would take it, but for $20 it works just fine and cooled the wort right down.

 

[chefkdub]

I got one that is 1350gph and it works great! Thanks for the idea.

 

[petep1980]

After research I learned how stupid this plan was.