I do some of that tooBuy a honking big colander and let gravity do the work! When I do BIAB, that's how I drain the bag...
I do some of that tooBuy a honking big colander and let gravity do the work! When I do BIAB, that's how I drain the bag...
That's pretty much it. Copper is noticeably faster, by a few minutes. The stainless chillers are sometime larger to create more surface area, but a smaller copper will be faster than a large stainless chiller. Stainless can be aggressively cleaned with scrubbing, chemicals, dishwasher, etc. without harming them. Copper should be rinsed right after using and should not be cleaned more than that unless it's super dirty.copper: slightly better heat transfer, cheaper
stainless: no chance of adding any copper salts to your beer
Hi. I am also just after my first brew and looking to move on to BIAB. Can't practically help since I have no experience, but here is an idea on chilling:
How about sanitizing a plastic bag/bowl, boil some water and put it inside there to freeze. Then when it's time to chill your wort, drop that ice block in there and whirlpool.
What do the experienced members say about this?
I think it goes:
copper: slightly better heat transfer, cheaper
stainless: no chance of adding any copper salts to your beer
I've found the colander approach that Nosy suggested is the best for me, but I only do about 12 litres, so the bag isn't as heavy as the bag for a 20+ litre batch.
And generally only fix something that's really annoying in the short term. Otherwise wait half a dozen batches or so to work out whether you'd prefer to change your process. That may also mean buying something, but it will probably be something that you didn't think about the first time you hit the problem.
A solid planOr do like me and spend 18 months changing and modifying your setup to basically end up with the same system you started with.
If you're going that route just make an ice bath in your sink or tub. Again not as fast as an immersion chiller but it won't water down your wort. I'd say go that route for a few brews and then maybe invest in an immersion chiller. Yes chilling faster is nice but the difference between chilling the wort in 20 minutes or in an hour isn't going to matter that much. My father-in-law, who is a much more relaxed brewer, doesn't chill his wort. He leaves it in the kettle covered overnight and then transfers it in the morning and pitches his yeast. I don't typically advocate following his example but he makes drinkable beer. Otherwise I'm with @Mark Farrall get your process down before you add new equipment that forces you to change it up a bitHi. I am also just after my first brew and looking to move on to BIAB. Can't practically help since I have no experience, but here is an idea on chilling:
How about sanitizing a plastic bag/bowl, boil some water and put it inside there to freeze. Then when it's time to chill your wort, drop that ice block in there and whirlpool.
What do the experienced members say about this?
I am going to dilute it either way so I don't mind. I will just have to substract the water of the ice block from tge water i was going to use for the dilusion. I also have an external freezer so thats not a problem as well.If you mean ice right in the wort? It could work, but you're watering down your beer so you need to account for it. That's also a lot of ice to store in your freezer for brew day, I'm not sure I'd get away with it.
A big block of ice will take a long time to melt.I am going to dilute it either way so I don't mind. I will just have to substract the water of the ice block from tge water i was going to use for the dilusion. I also have an external freezer so thats not a problem as well.
Whirpooling an ice block will definitely be faster than an ice bath. Moreover, I could do both!
There's a bunch of Australian brewers that use ice to dilute after the boil. Most of them add them as 0.5 - 1 litre blocks. I've planned to use it myself, but I'm small batch and don't need to dilute.I am going to dilute it either way so I don't mind. I will just have to substract the water of the ice block from tge water i was going to use for the dilusion. I also have an external freezer so thats not a problem as well.
Whirpooling an ice block will definitely be faster than an ice bath. Moreover, I could do both!
I did the same. Still chucking out bits and pieces I thought would solve my problems.Or do like me and spend 18 months changing and modifying your setup to basically end up with the same system you started with.
There's also the sanitation issue: Just because water is frozen doesn't mean it's sanitary. There's also the chlorine issue: They don't filter that water much before they freeze it. Better use an ice bath or some kind of circulating chiller.If you mean ice right in the wort? It could work, but you're watering down your beer so you need to account for it. That's also a lot of ice to store in your freezer for brew day, I'm not sure I'd get away with it.
Nice. I'm a big fan of conserving water while brewing. I also reuse frozen bottles and ice packs, and I use water from my rain barrel to mix with the ice. It's much colder than the water from my tap. Then it either goes in the garden or back in the barrel.I use an ice bath to cool my brew kettle, but my process is geared toward limiting the amount of water that I use. As I start my mash, I fill a pair of 1-gallon jugs with water, and place those in the freezer to cool. Meanwhile, I have several Gatorade bottles that are already full of frozen solid water. When it is time to cool the wort after the boil, I empty the now slushy water from the gallon jugs into a large plastic tub, put the kettle in the slushy water, then add the frozen bottles to the slushy water. When the wort is cool, I put the Gatorade bottles back in the freezer, then use the 2 gallons of no longer slushy water in the garden. Lather, rinse, repeat.