Pool Chiller Method

[SJW]

I must admit to being a recent convert to the NO CHILLER method of AG brewing. Over the past 6 weeks I have managed to put down a Kolsch, Golden Ale (Kolsch yeast), Golden Ale (US-56), Vienna, Doppelbock and a Barry's Choc Porter (or what I call "Any Porter in a Storm).
Anyway what I am getting at is now that winter is setting in I have been No Chillering into a cube and then tossing it into the pool. What I have found id that the temp is dropping down to under 20 deg C within 2 hours. I turn the filter on to circulate the water, but it works a treat.
I was wondering if using this method, and bearing in mind the speed that the temp is coming down, would it be quick enough to produce cold break?

Steve

 

[Screwtop]

I'm, on the lookout for a SH 240V pump so I can pump/circulate pool water through my chiller without wasting water.

 

[winkle]

Thats what I do - but I usually leave them overnite (until last week Brisbane's weather required it), plenty of crap ends up in the bottom of the cube.

 

[Tony]

i remember years back doing partials i would run the boiled wort and hops into a small cube and chuck it in the pool.

It would fleat around for a few hours and cool down well.

Id then pour it into the firmenter and pitch.

cheers

 

[Phrak]

Beware the chlorine and salt in the pool water and your equipment.
It shouldn't be a problem because the levels are reasonably low, but I'd suggest rinsing fresh water through the equipment afterwards.

:beer:
Tim

 

[Darren]

I would suggest that the levels are not low (certainly not during summer here). Those levels of chlorine will eat through your copper chiller in no time at all. Simply float apiece of copper in the pool overnight and see how clean it looks.

Chlorine/salt is the most corrosive substance ever. Unless your chiller is made of marine grade stainless steel, then forget it.

If you are really worried about water wastage then "no-chill" overnight and pitch in the morning (yes I did say that).

Just dont attempt to store the "no-chilled' wort (as I have always said). It is only then you are asking for problems.

Just in case you didnot realise, your household uses more water every day than you would use to chill your beer. Make bigger batches and use your "run-off" to clean up if you really care.

cheers

Darren

 

[///]

Just dont attempt to store the "no-chilled' wort (as I have always said). It is only then you are asking for problems.

Agree if your recycling the cube. The extended heat will kill most nasties, but the quick chill may cause issue. After a few no chill worts made in my time the only infection I have had was a trial batch made at home and chilled in the pool with a recycled cube. Net result was a very round container.... nasty.

Scotty

 

[Tony]

leaked in through the tap as it cooled and the pressure reduced in the cube i suspect.

I think i may have had a similar problem, thats why i stopped.

cheers

 

[PostModern]

My theory is that the extended time the plastic is exposed to hot wort kills any resident bugs and destroys spores. Rapid chilling of the wort could let anything in the cube live. Pasteurisation requires temperature AND time.

I regularly re-use my cubes and have not had one infection yet. I clean the cubes with PSR after emptying, and iodophor no-rinsed before filling. I've kept wort for up to 4 months and made perfectly fine beer. Never rapid-chilled tho.

 

[Darren]

My theory is that the extended time the plastic is exposed to hot wort kills any resident bugs and destroys spores. Rapid chilling of the wort could let anything in the cube live. Pasteurisation requires temperature AND time.

I regularly re-use my cubes and have not had one infection yet. I clean the cubes with PSR after emptying, and iodophor no-rinsed before filling. I've kept wort for up to 4 months and made perfectly fine beer. Never rapid-chilled tho.

PM,
You wouldn't happen to belong to a HB group where someone aka Grandmaster Ken was involved ?

cheers

Darren

BTW, pasteurisation and time do not kill beer spoilage organisms. Yeast and alcohol are the defining protectorants. YMMV

 

[PostModern]

No, I'm an IBU. What has this got to do with Ken?

There is no yeast or alcohol in unfermented wort. Hence temperature and contact time to prevent growth of spoilage organisms prior to pitching yeast.

 

[Henno]

I have just bought a property on 4 acres that has a dam. I was going to use one of the many taps I have that run off the dam pump into a wort chiller and take the output through another hose back to the dam to avoid wastage. My concern with this was sediment building up in the wort chiller over time.

Would chucking a cube into the dam be a problem?

 

[blackbock]

Only if it sticks in the mud and you can't get it out again!

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

SJW,

I am an unrepentant NoChilla, but recently have taken to accelerating the cooling by immersing my cube in a perpetually-full tub of percarbonatey water. I pour all my wort into the cube, hot break, hop yuck and all. I then filter into my fermenter.

I can't say if the cold break will form at this stage. What I can say is that I have been playing with CSA-like grain bills recently and my beer is clearer at Aussie Beer Drinking Temperatures than Coopers'. It generally doesn't last long enough for me to be able to speak about long-term stability.

 

[goatherder]

I was wondering if using this method, and bearing in mind the speed that the temp is coming down, would it be quick enough to produce cold break?

Steve

I've seen cold break form in no-chill brews. I think cold break forms regardless of speed of cooling. I don't know however if there is more break formed by a faster chill. I think this debate might continue for a while before it is resolved.

 

[Bazza]

Just in case you didnot realise, your household uses more water every day than you would use to chill your beer. Make bigger batches and use your "run-off" to clean up if you really care.

Most household consumption is ~400L per day, depending on number of people. Work out how much you use in your chiller and decide whether to no chill or not. As the campaign says, every drop counts.

 

[Sammus]

not really about a pool chiller, but water saving chilling none the less. I've seen those 200L drums go pretty cheap sometimes. I was thinking of getting 2 of em, one of them full of water. gets pretty cold under my house, so I pump from there thru the chiller into the empty one (so theres no chilling-water warming-uping happenings) then I have one of 2 options:
1) Hope it cooles back down to the ~8C of my cellar ready for the next brew in a week or so.
2) get one of those 120mm radiator/fan thingyies used for water cooling a cpu (something like this with a 120mm 12V fan attatched - 2 and 3 fan models also available) and recirc the water thru if a week isnt enough time to cool down

any comments? constructive only please, darren.

PS noone tell me to no chill please!
and sorry for the hijack...

 

[Darren]

Sound reasonable to me. One way I found to speed the chill process is to direct some of the chill run-off over the sides ok the kettle. Theres alot of heat stored in the stainless after boiling.

cheers

Darren

 

[Ross]

not really about a pool chiller, but water saving chilling none the less. I've seen those 200L drums go pretty cheap sometimes. I was thinking of getting 2 of em, one of them full of water. gets pretty cold under my house, so I pump from there thru the chiller into the empty one (so theres no chilling-water warming-uping happenings) then I have one of 2 options:
1) Hope it cooles back down to the ~8C of my cellar ready for the next brew in a week or so.
2) get one of those 120mm radiator/fan thingyies used for water cooling a cpu (something like this with a 120mm 12V fan attatched - 2 and 3 fan models also available) and recirc the water thru if a week isnt enough time to cool down

any comments? constructive only please, darren.

PS noone tell me to no chill please!
and sorry for the hijack...

Sammus, That's pretty well what i do. I run 70L from our dam into a holding container with pump to my chiller, which I then use on the garden (as it's not in short supply, yet). I then run 50L from 2 cubes which I've chilled in the fridge - this is collected back into the cubes, where I let it naturally cool, before putting back in the fridge for a brew day.

Cheers Ross

 

[Screwtop]

Sound reasonable to me. One way I found to speed the chill process is to direct some of the chill run-off over the sides ok the kettle. Theres alot of heat stored in the stainless after boiling.

cheers

Darren

Ahhh! Darren, by god you've got it, what a genius. Save time, save containers, save water, heat the pool. PUT YOUR KETTLE FULL OF HOT WORT IN THE POOL BREWERS!!! Wish I'd thought of that.

Now for some fool proof method of fast chilling the cube for all of the NO-CHILLERS :blink:

Mods feel free to put this in the WALOC folder!