Regarding cooling the wort. Living in S. Florida, my tap water runs at about 82 (f). An immersion chiller would take a very long time and not get down to pitching temp. This would be costly water wise as well.
I’ve used chilled spring water as well as a 10 lb bag of ice. Regardless, it just takes a great deal of time. Any ideas on a cost effective way to cool the wort?
one option: pick up recirculation pump and you can use cooler with ice and water to run through your wort chiller.
this is one i picked up: Amazon.com
I chill with well water until the wort gets under 100F then run it from the kettle though 20 feet of copper tubing in an ice water bath to the fermenter. It helps to keep the tubing moving or the ice bath recirculating. You can control the temperature pretty well by controlling the flow of wort.
Fellow Florida brewer here, isn’t summer brewing fun? (sarcasm) How are you controlling fermentation temps? In my case, I get it down to around 80. that point, there isn’t a lot of risk of infection. Simply move the wort into your house and pitch in the morning, or throw it into your chest freezer to chill.
+1 to this.
TX brewer here and groundwater isn’t much cooler. I get it down to 75-80, put some sanitized foil over the fermentor, move to fermentation chamber and pitch the next morning. Never had a problem with infection.
Before moving to a plate chiller, I ran two 50’ copper coils - one in the wort and one in a big bucket of ice and water. I’d hook up the garden hose and start with just water in that big bucket, and run the hose until temps got below 100 F, then I’d add bags of ice to the bucket and take it the rest of the way down. I’ve gotten the wort down to 58 F in less than 15 minutes in July here in Georgia with the ground water measuring in the upper 70’s to the low 80’s. For a 5-gallon batch, I could blow through two 20 Lb bags of ice on the hottest of days but heck; it worked!
That is a nice technique. Do you run the boiling wort through to sanitize? Just flush with water to clean?
I have been able to cut my chilling time in half with a smaller second immersion used as a pre-chiller. Tap water goes to the prechiller in in a bucket of ice water then to my main chiller in the kettle.
A cheap and easy solution if you can’t or don’t want to spend much more money is a chilling wand. I put mine in the wort with my immersion chiller. I also use it to cool down a mash that is too high.
To Pete B:
What is a chilling wand?
Thanks
This: San Jamar RCU1282 Rapi-Kool® ; 4L (128 oz.) Rapid Cooling Paddle - 2/Pack
They are made of food grade plastic and designed to have a lot of surface area. You fill with water and freeze. The foodservice industry uses them to quickly get hot food down below safe temperatures fast. Before I had an immersion chiller I used one plus ice baths in the sink to cool wort. Now I use it in conjunction with the wort chiller.
I sanitize the chiller first, then run the hot wort through it back to the kettle at an angle to create a whirlpool. After chilling I pump sanitizer through it during the rest of the clean-up.
To Pete B.
Thanks for the info. I have used bottled water that was frozen with the outside dunked in sanitizer before immersion into the cooling wort. Same principle as bottle wand, but not as much surface area.
Might have to try that.
I have a half dozen orange juice bottles that I use this way (filled about 90% with water). They’re about 2 quarts or so in volume, so I can drop two in my fermentation bucket once I get the wort down to maybe 80 or so. I use the same ones in my “swamp cooler” to keep fermentation temps down.
I wouldn’t use that soft plastic in hot wort though.
I use my garden hose to bring the wort under 100 then unhook it and hook up my pond pump in a cooler full of ice water. If you try to chill from the cooler from the beginning the hot water will immediately melt the ice.
You could always do a concentrated brew then dilute method. Cool the 3 gallons down to 100 then have 2 gallons of near ice cold water and pour it in. That will get you to 74 or so. Draw backs are You will have to learn the concentrated brewing method and some say its not ideal but can still make good beer this way.
Much appreciated everyone. Some great advice as well as some things to try that I’ve not thought of.
I’ll raise my next glass of Pale Ale to all.
“Relax, don’t worry and have a homebrew”