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cooling wort in freezer

DryCreekTX

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May 27, 2013
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Location
madisonville, tx
If I boil 5 gallons of wert and place stainless kettle and wert in freezer at zero degrees will this cool it quick enough? How long will it take to get it down to 80 degrees? Has anyone else tried this method? The reason I am asking is I ordered a chiller with hose fitting and it leaks so bad I am looking for a alternatine.
 
I'm thinking 2 hours? maybe 40 minutes with stirring.


Is your hose chiller missing a gasket?
 
+1 

The most common leak in a chiller is going to be gaskets or clamps. both are very easy to repair.
 
There is no direct contact to the wort just sitting in a freezer.  I would think a very LONG time.  Much easier to de-bug the chiller.  Gaskets, clamps, add some teflon tape, whatever the leak source would indicate. 
 
Take the leaky thing to the hardware store and tell them you use it to make beer. They'll set you right up. Seriously.
 
It is something wrong with the female fitting on chiller. It has hose fitting chiller. Yes I did install hose washer but fitting simply will not tighten on hose. Contacted Midwest and they are sending new one and said to send this one back when new one arrived. I was wanting to make a couple batches this weekend is why I was wondering. Thanks for the replies, guess I will just have to wait.
 
I don't know if your hooking up to a garden hose or sink. Home Depot or Lowes both sell male and female barbed hose fittings. I never made a chiller for kitchen sink. Got booted out of the kitchen a long time ago.
 
The problem here is you have to have movement to remove heat. Yes the freezer with cool the wort but with out movement it will do it very slow.  In the freezer the only ovement you have is the air from the frezzer over the wort sureface the is not going to cool it very quick.  The is why when you put a ice cube tray in the freezer the sureface of the cube freezes first.
 
I have a problem getting my Wert down to temperature for pitching, because my tap water is fairly warm.  I solved the problem by first starting the cooling with my wert cooler using tap water, then switching at about 120 degrees to a system I put together using a cheap fountain pump from Harbor Freight Tools.  The pump costs about $10 and is available at their store or on line.  I put the pump in a cooler with 20 lbs of ice and a little water to prime the pump then reconnect the lines to circulate the ice water into the cooler then back into the ice.  The system supplies water at about 40 degrees which gets the temp down in a hurry.  I melt about half of the ice getting the wert from 100 down to 65 degrees, the rest cools some bottles of the last brew. 
Give it a try, it's quick, cheap and you have cold beer as a reward. 
Good Brewing
MB
 
This might not answer your question, but I boil 2 gals (45 mins) when I brew my extract beers. Meanwhile I have 3-4 gals of bottled water in the freezer. I chill my wort in an ice bath for approx. 12 mins. and it gets down to approx. 120 -130 degrees. I pour that in the fermenter, top it off with 3+ gallons of ice cold water and I pitch my yeast at approx. 65 degrees. I know its not a wort chiller, but I'm pitching my yeast just as fast and at the proper temps. I haven't had a problem yet. The only reason I haven't bought a wort chiller (yet) is I just don't want more equipment to clean :)

Clem
 
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