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Chilling Alternative?

MikeinRH

Grandmaster Brewer
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I was watching a Youtube video regarding procedures for chilling wort post-boil. The guy was tossing snow and ice directly into his kettle, which I thought was hilarious for obvious reasons. Then I started thinking that it might be possible to chill wort by adding sanitized bottles of frozen H2O. Just toss 'em into the kettle. Clarity is an issue that I have not had much success. Conversely, I can make great tasting beer. I'm going to try the above procedure on an Irish Red. It's hard to knock down a boil during the summer.
 
Have you tried an immersion chiller? I had that same problem living in the south, the hot summer months making it a challenge to get down to pitching temps within an hour. Just not a fan of tossing anything other than what was designed to go into the wort post-boil - contamination fears and all that...

Bottles of frozen water will thaw quickly requiring replacement, and the more you're in and out of the wort (changing bottles) during chilling, the higher your risk of contamination.

If cost is an issue, there are sites selling copper tubing pretty cheap and you could make your own chiller as I did. Search for "Immersion Chillers" on this forum and you'll get lots of ideas.
 
Sounds like a good way to contaminate the brew. Think about the hitchhikers those bottles will pick up. They may start off sanitized, but I doubt they'll stay that way in the freezer.

I agree that an immersion chiller is the way to go. I built mine from stuff picked up at the hardware store. You'd be surprised how helpful those folks can be when you tell them it's beer related.



 
I agree that there's risk involved. But you can say the same about an immersion chiller. My idea is to sanitize the frozen bottles immediately prior to dumping them into the kettle. The same way as I do with my chiller.
 
In addition to my IC that sits in the brew kettle (edit - I put my IC in the pot 15 minutes prior to knockout to sanitize it), I also employ the help of an additional coil in an ice bath when my tap water is too warm to give me good chill times. The quicker the better. As long as sanitation is on the forefront, I say whatever method works best for you is the one to use!

Cheers - Phil
 
@Mike

One other concern might be the cheap plastic in a Coke bottle being dunked and stewed at 210F down to whatever. 

Could it leach plastic phenols you don't want in beer?

 
You can fill up a dozen or so water bottles and freeze.  Then, buy one of those cheap, large containers from walmart, fill it with water, and chill via ice bath.  It's a little slower but it'll get you chilled in 20-25 minutes.  The only reason to chill quicker is that it helps the clarity of the beer.

IMO

Mark
 
merfizle said:
You can fill up a dozen or so water bottles and freeze.  Then, buy one of those cheap, large containers from walmart, fill it with water, and chill via ice bath.  It's a little slower but it'll get you chilled in 20-25 minutes.  The only reason to chill quicker is that it helps the clarity of the beer.

IMO

Mark

This is the exact way I use to chill (big blue tub from WW ;)), have since got an IC and a fountain pump, chill time about 12 to 15 min.
 
I use ice in a bottle to pre-chill water for my therminator.  I find the bottles create a thermal barrier between the inner ice and outer plastic that significantly reduces the chilling capacity.  This requires agitation which means you are risking infection.    It is significantly safer to prechill the immersion chiller or plate chiller.

The immersion chiller should be added to the boil kettle 10 minutes before the end of the boil.  There is no need to sanitize it.  Plastic bottle will leach chemicals when dropped into boiling wort.  It is not the infection that is the big risk there, it is some nasty plastic taste.
 
OK OK ... I get the risk of imparting plastic flavor to the beer. Don't want that. My main reason for trying something different is to speed up the chilling process in order to get more clarity. I already use an IC that is hooked up to a recirculating sump pump situated in a 20-gal container of ice water. Takes about a half hour to get to pitching temp. I suppose I can speed that up by also placing the kettle in a bin surrounded by ice bottles in H2O.
 
if you agitate the wort (shake the immersion chiller up and down with a lid on the kettle) you will chill faster.  This moves the chilled wort away from the copper.  you can also stir constantly but that means you are leaving the wort open to whatever falls in and yeast love to surf into wort on dust.  A buddy uses the "Jamil" recirculation arm connected to a march pump and circulates wort through the copper coils.  He advises he knocks down 10 gallons in 10-15 minutes. 

Cheers
 
I use a counter-flow wort chiller, home made, and that thing is a champ.  It contributes a bit to loss as you can never really get all your wort of the chiller but it drops temp fast.  Compared to my immersion chiller it is night in day quicker.
 
Hi Humble Brewer,
Do you have more information or pictures etc. regarding your home made counter-flow chiller?
Regards,
Slurk
 
50 feet of 1/2" ID copper, Immersion Chiller

Cooled 6.75 gallons yesterday in 14 minutes.

1.  4 minutes to 105F
2.  3 minutes more to 93F
2.  switched to recirculating ice water through the chiller
3.  7 minutes to 61F

No loss, no risk of infection, cools the entire batch at once below 140F less than 90 seconds.  That pretty much eliminates any chance for DMS formation, and locks in the hops profile at the time of flameout. 

 
Slurk said:
Hi Humble Brewer,
Do you have more information or pictures etc. regarding your home made counter-flow chiller?
Regards,
Slurk

Sorry for late reply.  I basically followed this guide from youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LIkr30LqgM

I found that wrapping the copper wire around the copper tube to create a rifling effect greatly increased the cooling capacity of the chiller from just threading the copper tube through a hose.  I also found that wrapping the copper wire around the copper tubing made it obnoxious as heck to thread through the hose.  In the end my came out around 18' long, not the 20'+ that I was hoping for.  It still cools like a champ though.  I set the outflow hose to a sprinkler out in the yard and water the lawn while cooling my wort.  Then I don't feel like I am wasting water  :)
 
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