# Pouring Hot Wort Into Fermenter



## mark68 (24/3/06)

After doing almost three quarters of my brews the old way by just pouring the hot wort into the empty fermenter,i cfinally came to the realisation that i may be causing problems for my finished brews,by possibly oxidising the wort while still hot.Now i pour around 8 liters of cool water into the fermenter first,then the hot wort goes in on top of that so as to hopefully eliminate the problem of oxidisation.Just wondering if this is possible or not with kit worts,or am i worrying for nothing.


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## Kai (24/3/06)

Any wort is oxidisable. Pour carefully and it shouldn't be too much of a problem, though. Of course, it can be hard to carefully pour several litres of hot liquid from one big container to another. Pouring onto water already in there sounds fine.


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## vlbaby (24/3/06)

mark68 said:


> After doing almost three quarters of my brews the old way by just pouring the hot wort into the empty fermenter,i cfinally came to the realisation that i may be causing problems for my finished brews,by possibly oxidising the wort while still hot.Now i pour around 8 liters of cool water into the fermenter first,then the hot wort goes in on top of that so as to hopefully eliminate the problem of oxidisation.Just wondering if this is possible or not with kit worts,or am i worrying for nothing.
> [post="116067"][/post]​


mark, have you noticed off flavours due to what youve been doing? All the brewing info out there suggest what you're doing is a BIG no no. If you must transfer hot wort, it must be done by very gently siphoning it to another container. If too much splashing is allowed to happen, then oxidisation will occur that will produce a wet cardboard flavour to your beer.
The cold water at the bottom thing, I dont think this will stop the oxidisation very much, plus the fact youve watered the bejesus out of your brew. I'd definetly recommend racking from now on.
Wort kits on the other hand are different. If you are splashing the wort cold prior to pitching a yeast, splash away to your hearts content. The more oxygen you can disolve into the cold wort , the better chance the yeast will have of a full healthy ferment. 


cheers

vl.


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## RobW (24/3/06)

Mark, instead of pouring the hot wort onto cold water, if you have room in your boiler add blocks of ice made by freezing boiled water in sanitized containers the day before. This cools your wort quickly & gives a decent cold break too. Just be careful dropping the ice blocks in - they have a tendency to go kerplunk & make a big splash.  You can tip them into a sanitised colander first and then lower that in gently - gives better control.


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## pint of lager (24/3/06)

When I started doing extracts and partial mashes I asked lots of people what was a good temperature to start splashing and airating the brew. Concensus was, above 40 degrees was bad, below 40 degrees was ok.

Can you sit your boiler in a laundry tub? Put the lid on the boiler for the last few minutes to sanitise the lid with steam (watch out it doesn't boil over) then put it in a laundry tub, fill the tub to about the same level as the wort in the boiler, let stand, change the water a few times and sometimes very gently swirl the boiler. This will drop the temp.


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## mark68 (24/3/06)

I will try the laundry tub method and see how it goes.The only thing is i will have too leave a little bit of temp in there so as to get wort to pitching temp.Cheers ,mark


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## Kai (24/3/06)

pint of lager said:


> Can you sit your boiler in a laundry tub?




Sure! She might object a bit though.

Um, I mean, cooling in the laundry trough is a great idea and it's what I did for all my partials. Two changes of water and I would almost always get the temp down to desired levels.


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## sah (24/3/06)

I'm no expert in judging beer however in my experience oxidized beer rarely tastes like cardboard as is so often quoted. Who samples cardboard anyway?

To my taste oxidized beer tastes dull and flat and often has a dull and dry kind of powdery aftertaste unlike a dry crisp lager. It might kill your hop flavour. It isn't the kind of fault that generally stops you drinking the beer, it just makes you a little less than happy with it.

What do others think?

Scott


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## pint of lager (24/3/06)

Different people's perception of different faults is a really interesting topic.

Often oxidised beer is described as a wet cardboard aroma, rather than flavour. Other descriptors are wine and sherry like.

Dull flat flavoured is another descriptor of beer that is slowly aging. Hop flavour seems to be the first to go.

Helping out at judging is a great way to listen in on what the judges are saying, and then trying the beers.


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## Kai (24/3/06)

And next time you taste a beer that you think is oxidised, go outside and wet some cardboard, then rip it up and smell it. It sounds like a stupid descriptor but it really can be very apt.


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