Wort chill question

Lord Callahad

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Doing my second brew tomorrow. I noticed it took a solid hour to get my wort down to 22C/72F with the chiller I have. So I am planning on doing a half hour chill which should get most of the way there, and then just stick it in the fridge for an hour or so and pitch the yeast later. Am I doing something wrong by doing this? I figure an hour on the stove top is as much a risk to infection as sealing it and keeping it in the fridge
 
Under the same circumstances, I'd use this procedure to reduce chances of DMS: Chill to 120 degrees, then put the wort in the refrigerator to complete cooling. You can even pitch slightly warm (in the high 70's) without fear of adverse effects and if you're concerned, give it a diacetyl rest near the end of fermentation by letting it get warmer.
 
Yes, your plan will work, but I'd like to know more about the chilling method you are using. What type of chiller are you using and what is your ground water temperature?
 
Yes, your plan will work, but I'd like to know more about the chilling method you are using. What type of chiller are you using and what is your ground water temperature?

So it was 17 today, and I use an aluminium chiller, medium size. Just drop it in there. I got down to 29C/84F in about 40 mins, it's now in the fridge and I'm feeling a little twitchy about the lack of yeast in there! Will pitch when it hits 22 or so. Using us05

Update: had a little leak of water from the inlet of the cooler to the wart during chill. Was just tap water but was getting a bit anxious about infection so pitched the yeast at around 26C/75F or so to get things going. Bit too hot but only slightly out of range
 
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So it was 17 today, and I use an aluminium chiller, medium size. Just drop it in there. I got down to 29C/84F in about 40 mins, it's now in the fridge and I'm feeling a little twitchy about the lack of yeast in there! Will pitch when it hits 22 or so. Using us05

Update: had a little leak of water from the inlet of the cooler to the wart during chill. Was just tap water but was getting a bit anxious about infection so pitched the yeast at around 26C/75F or so to get things going. Bit too hot but only slightly out of range

That is a little warm to pitch the yeast, but not terrible. I assume you are using an immersion chiller, if so how many feet of coil is it and what is the ID of the tube? The reason I ask is that I use an immersion chiller and for a 20 liter brew I can get from a boil to 20c in about 10 minutes with 17c tap water. Your chilling time seems long to me, so I was hoping to help you get your times down a bit.
 
That is a little warm to pitch the yeast, but not terrible. I assume you are using an immersion chiller, if so how many feet of coil is it and what is the ID of the tube? The reason I ask is that I use an immersion chiller and for a 20 liter brew I can get from a boil to 20c in about 10 minutes with 17c tap water. Your chilling time seems long to me, so I was hoping to help you get your times down a bit.

Yeah luckily got down to range pretty quick as the fridge was cold. Wow that's real quick, I bought this one

https://www.angelhomebrew.co.uk/en/...inless-steel-immersion-wort-chiller-25ft.html

Stainless steel not aluminium. It's not a very big one, probably should have went for next size up!
 
That is a good chiller, my only other question is do you stir while chilling? If not, I believe doing so can cut your chill times.
 
That is a good chiller, my only other question is do you stir while chilling? If not, I believe doing so can cut your chill times.

Actually not really, the first brew I did I did a little stirring, was kinda trying to avoid leaving the lid open too much. Do you? Usually do my sanitizing during cool down too!
 
Moves the hot wort into contact with the chiller coil. Otherwise, you get locally cold wort near the chiller and are relying on convection to mix the hot with the cold wort. Since I added whirlpool capability to my kettle, I can chill a batch in a half hour, where it used to take two to three, stirring occasionally.
 
It doesn't matter how you stir, the idea is to keep the wort in motion so that you don't have a layer of cold wort around the chiller, keep it mixed to take full advantage of the chilling potential of your chiller. That being said, creating a whirlpool while you stir can help concentrate the trub in the center of the kettle, which helps if you are draining your kettle through a valve or a siphon
 
That's great. Was doing a little stirring before but didn't think it made that much difference. Will give it a go!
 
You can also try to carefully spread the coils a bit to allow more wort to flow around them. Dont go too had or fast or you'll kink the tubing though
 
yeah just swirl it around in the kettle will really reduce cooling time. I don't even bother with a lid as it just gets in the way. I've put wort in my fermenters and left it for a solid 24 hours before without issue, it's not the panic situation a lot of people will tell you it is.

12 hours in the firdge to get it down to 18C? Not a problem.

It's actually really hard to truly fuck up beer.
 
So i had similar problem, seemed to take too long with my immersion cooler. And didn't like how much water I was wasting.
So My solution i just use 2 days ago was to buy this pump https://www.amazon.com/bayite-BYT-7..._1?keywords=bayite+pump&qid=1569350275&sr=8-1 and fill my bottling bucket with couple bags of ice and water, and connect to chiller with outlet running to top of bucket. (important to keep at top so water has time to chill before being recirculated)
Was able to to get down to 60F in roughly 30 mins and only used 5 gallons of water plus $3 of ice. ( in future will plan ahead and use my own ice)
 
Now that I have gone to 10 gallon batches, chilling has become a bit of an issue. What I have done is chilled to under 100F, transferred to carboys, placed in ferm fridge, and pitched yeast the next day. Good results so far, but I plan to have whirlpool via pump soon, and will use my second pump to recirculate cooling water through a cooler filled with ice water, and see how that works.
 
Now that I have gone to 10 gallon batches, chilling has become a bit of an issue. What I have done is chilled to under 100F, transferred to carboys, placed in ferm fridge, and pitched yeast the next day. Good results so far, but I plan to have whirlpool via pump soon, and will use my second pump to recirculate cooling water through a cooler filled with ice water, and see how that works.
Im sure once the weather your side of the globe starts cooling you'll find chilling easier as well
 

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