Chilling wort in swimming pool

[Aussie Mick]

Apologies if this has been covered before. I did a quick search and only found chilling cubes in pools.

I just put on a BIAB 20 litre batch. Up until now I have chilled in the laundry trough with many changes of water and a ton of ice. Today I carried it up to the pool and placed it on the tops step with a wooden cutting board underneath to protect the fibreglass.

Well, it was chilled in less than an hour to a fermentable temperature. Very happy, hope it helps somebody.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Pretty common to use the pool

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Good as a quick chill option. Otherwise cubeing to me is like canning preservation to set aside for up to months and in that case you want to fill the container as hot as possible, seal it and leave hot for as long as possible for longer time storage before fermenting.
Edited: ah **** I didn't see the pic!

 

[AJS2154]

Yeah, I use the pool too.

I no chill in a 23 litre corny, then ferment in the same vessel. Works for me. I haven't tried it, but you could probably use it as the serving vesel if you were lazy. I have the dip tube cut off leaving 2 litres in the bottom of the corny.

If I don't cool it in the pool I turn the corny upside down and store it that way until I am ready to use it. Never had a problem with that method.

See you, Anthony

 

[Danscraftbeer]

All you need is a pool.

 

[Aussie Mick]

I haven't got round to trying a Cube yet, but it sounds like a great option.

Anthony, that sounds like a great way of doing things, one that I would never have even thought of. I have a couple of spare kegs, so I will give it a go.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

When we were kids we'd put drinks into the mountain streams where we lived for an ice cold beverage (snow melt water). Very effective.

 

[AJS2154]

I haven't got round to trying a Cube yet, but it sounds like a great option.

Anthony, that sounds like a great way of doing things, one that I would never have even thought of. I have a couple of spare kegs, so I will give it a go.

Yeah, dont mess around with a cube mate. I was always too worried about putting boiling liquid into plastic. Perhaps irrational, but would rather have it in stainless........ Not looking for a fight guys, just airing my OCD laundry.

 

[Lionman]

Adding boiling liquid in any old plastic, no.

High-Density Polyethylene is fine.

 

[rude]

Who uses a pump to chill into a chiller with their pool & what type of pump do you use

 

[labels]

Who uses a pump to chill into a chiller with their pool & what type of pump do you use

I do, running the water through a counter-flow chiller. Draw water from the bottom of the pool and return it to the top. You need to source a reasonably high flow rate submersible pump (I think they're called basement pumps in the USA).

They are an extremely efficient and environmentally friendly way to chill wort being you don't waste any water and minimal power to do the job

 

[Maheel]

or just brew when you need to top up the pool
use tapwater / garden hose to chill dump into the pool and then swim in the heated pool

i have a 2000l tank i use to chill
just circulate back to the tank using a pump

 

[rude]

Great responses thanks got the pool but no pump yet will look into it

My boss calls me the mirror probably true but Ill get there

 

[rude]

Hey Maheel what pump do you use

Heated pool nice

 

[Schikitar]

I'm just about to get into brewing and, coincidentally, I have a pool (and in Tassie at the moment it's damn cold). So, I was originally thinking of using a Crown 40L urn and then no-chill with ~28L cubes - could I still cube but do a rapid cool in the pool, then transfer to fermenter after (guessing, 1-2 hours), would this have any negative effects??

If using a submersion chiller I really like the idea of recirculating the pool water, one of the reasons I was going to do no-chill was because I really didn't want to waste water, that could be another option...

 

[Lionman]

I'm just about to get into brewing and, coincidentally, I have a pool (and in Tassie at the moment it's damn cold). So, I was originally thinking of using a Crown 40L urn and then no-chill with ~28L cubes - could I still cube but do a rapid cool in the pool, then transfer to fermenter after (guessing, 1-2 hours), would this have any negative effects??

If using a submersion chiller I really like the idea of recirculating the pool water, one of the reasons I was going to do no-chill was because I really didn't want to waste water, that could be another option...

You could definitely cube the wort hot then stick the cube in the pool to help cool it quickly. I don't think it would be anywhere near as quick as using an immersion chiller though.

I wouldn't bother though unless you wanted it cool for some reason that day.

There is another big advantage of no-chill, you can brew and pitch on different days. This means you can brew when convenient and then store the wort until your fermenter is ready. If you only have one fermenter you need to package (if you want the fermenter always full), clean, brew, chill, pitch all in one day which can be a marathon effort.

 

[QldKev]

i converted it from no-chill to slow-chill

 

[bradsbrew]

That pool needs a vacuum, coulda done that while your brew was chilling.

Sound like my wife.

 

[Stouter]

i converted it from no-chill to slow-chill

I've read a few recommendations for this method and will give an overnight cool down a go sometime. Cubes allow the flexibility of something ready to put in the fermenter for a quick or unplanned change over.

 

[jeremy]

Not sure if I was just unlucky but one of the very few times I have had an infection (and the only time I have had an infection in the cube) was when I immersed it in the pool. I think the problem was immersing it completely such that the cap was also underwater, such that the pool water could seep under the cap and dry there. OP would not have had this problem as they rested the cube on the step with the cap high and dry.

One to watch out for...

 

[Maheel]

i use the pump thats on my tank, some sort of house hold pressure pump

I find it works best if i have a T so most of the pump pressure just goes back to the tank and some goes to the chilling equipment.
I have a valve on the T and use it to increase the pressure to the chilling side or open it to allow more back to the tank etc.

The chiller makes a lot of restriction otherwise and pressurizes the pump and it turns off.

 

[QldKev]

That pool needs a vacuum, coulda done that while your brew was chilling.

Sound like my wife.

stop complaining and get to Bundy for another beer

 

[Aussie Mick]

That pool needs a vacuum, coulda done that while your brew was chilling.
Sound like my wife.

PMS.

I'll stick a broom up me arse and sweep while I'm walking too.

 

[AJS2154]

stop complaining and get to Bundy for another beer

Geeez.....they lose 1 game of footie and we have 2 Queenslanders arguing already. That was quick!!

 

[Schikitar]

You could definitely cube the wort hot then stick the cube in the pool to help cool it quickly. I don't think it would be anywhere near as quick as using an immersion chiller though.

I wouldn't bother though unless you wanted it cool for some reason that day.

I was thinking it might more quickly shorten the bittering time of cube-hops or late additions, getting the temp down more quickly and reducing the isomerisation time, but hey, I'm just starting out at this so I'm really not sure, there may be no benefit at all and I would submit to those far more informed than I...

i converted it from no-chill to slow-chill

I like that term!

Not sure if I was just unlucky but one of the very few times I have had an infection (and the only time I have had an infection in the cube) was when I immersed it in the pool. I think the problem was immersing it completely such that the cap was also underwater, such that the pool water could seep under the cap and dry there. OP would not have had this problem as they rested the cube on the step with the cap high and dry.

Yeah, if I was to do this I was thinking I'd only submerge the cube to just below the handle - I would think there would be equalised pressure on the bung BUT you definitely would want that well sealed (any pro tips for doing so?). I'm led to believe that the caps need constant re-tightening due to expansions etc., putting the lid under water is probably not a great idea if that's the case...

 

[Lionman]

I was thinking it might more quickly shorten the bittering time of cube-hops or late additions, getting the temp down more quickly and reducing the isomerisation time, but hey, I'm just starting out at this so I'm really not sure, there may be no benefit at all and I would submit to those far more informed than I...

It probably would, but then you will have to work out by how much so you will know how to adjust your recipe.

It is fairly well established that no-chilling and cooling at ambient air temp has a 15min impact on hop additions. I find just moving anything less than 30min to the cube gets great results. I just tapped a IIPA and it is bursting with hop flavour and aroma with just a FWH addition and the rest in the cube and dry hopping.

 

[Garfield]

I've used the pool for over a year as its thermal mass can cool wort with little effort. I brew seasonal to suit ambient tempurature and i find the terminal tempurature of the wort cube under water as a good indication of current climate.

FWIW be safety conscious with filling cubes with hot wort. I had a long trip to casualty after splashing my hands and feet while trying to bleed air out of the hot cube. Otherwise it's a great option

 

[Logman]

I tried a big 100 ltr tub ages ago but of course that got hot quickly and didn't really do anything. Tried a few other things that didn't work, then one day loitering around my water tank I thought of this idea....best improvement to my beer so far.

One big hole at the bottom to let the water flow back into the tank, four small holes about 1 cm below the cap level, that means you can turn it up full boar but the water sits at the right level. After one hour I get them out, hose them and spray with Starsan.

 

[Garfield]

That's unreal! Are they at pitching temp after an hour?

 

[Logman]

Hey garfield,
I never ferment the same day so haven't looked at it that closely but they feel close to 'room temp' on the outside of the cube by hand ...this is in qld so the tank water is cool but not cold. Put it this way, if they're not pitching temp it would be less than 90 mins tops to get it there.

If you have a tank I'd definitely try it, my beer is significantly better.

Edit...just saw above you have a pool. Would be interesting to see the difference as the water around the cube never warms this way. ..how long to 25 degrees in a pool?

.