Pot only gets up to 95C with the lid off

[Andy_27]

What's the drama here? Is it boiling? If it is then job done. Water doesn't boil at exactly 100°C all the time. The lower the air pressure (primarily altitude) the lower the boiling temp.

I just got a 20L pot from Big W plus a digital thermometer. I just did a test boil to see how long it took etc and to test the thermometer. The water was at a good boil but the thermometer registered 97.1 degrees. I was thinking ah well 3 degrees I can work with, until I read this and looked at a table. Water boils around 97 at 800m altitude where I am!

 

[Gigantorus]

Okay, it's now the morning after, and I have problems number 2 and 3.

I was hoping to leave my pot after the boil to just sit and cool overnight (with the lid on), and then in the morning I could pour my wort into the fermenter and start brewing.

Problem 2: The wort is still around 50 degrees after 12 hours

Problem 3: This pot is way too heavy for me to pour singlehandedly into my fermenter

Can I combine 2 and 3 into a siphon + chiller combo? Or should I siphon straight into cubes?

In terms of cooling the wort. I have 4 x 2litre ice cream containers that I fill with water and put in the freezer 3 or 4days before I brew. I sit the pot of hot wort into the laundry tub (with lid on) and put the 4 big blocks of ice around the outside and fill with tap water. This takes the temp from 100C down to 20C in 20 to 30 mins. So don't find getting down to pitching temp that difficult.

I once used a bag of party ice - but that melted way too quick and didn't bring the temp down that quick.

Cheers,

Pete