Quick Cooling...

[Shed101]

I'm about to take a 6 litre extract boil off the hob to cool it ... and was wondering:

Can I add chilled water (that's been set aside for the lager wort) to dilute it and thus cool it? Or is there some reason this is bad?

Everything I've read before says I have to stick it in a tub of cold water / ice, etc.?

 

[Banshee]

I would place it in a tub of water or iced water. Only so when you add your chilled water the tempurature does not rise so much. That way you could pitch your yeast faster.

 

[Shed101]

yes - I didn't explain, i've got a tub of water with the pathetic amount of ice I could get together and i'll sit the pot in that... i just wondered if diluting it would help achieve the cold break or if it will bollocks it up

 

[King Brown]

Even with out much ice the water bath should chill it somewhat, then you can add chilled water. If your going to add tap water to the brew after the boil anyway then there is no extra risk of infection by adding chilled water (Although if your worried you could boil the water the night before and chill it overnight)

When I did extract brews doing 16L boils I found buying two 5 kilo bags of ice from the servo with some water in the laundry trough was enough to get the wort down to well below ale pitching temperatures.

I would put the lid on the pot after boiling and fill the tub with water and one bag of ice, then lower the pot into the trough and lift the lid, id stir gently, without splashing (to get a slight whirlpool/improved heat exchange without risk of hot side aeration) then once all the ice had melted, id put the lid on the pot (to avoid getting any trough water in there) add the second bag of ice then lift the lid to stir (once the wort is under 28C you can stir much more vigorously, splashing to aerate the wort and get a good whirlpool) I'd check the temperature whilst doing this with a sanitized thermometer, would get to pitching temp within about 20 minutes.

I should probably add that now that I AG, I no chill

 

[Hatchy]

I've had some success with a 10L goon bag of water in the fridge overnight, for kits/extract that's almost half of yr wort pre-chilled assuming yr doing a single batch. If yr a tightarse (like I am) you can pull the tap off to use it time & time again.

 

[Yob]

+1 for 10lt cooled water, I almost always chill 10 lt of water in a 10lt spring water tub, I put one in last night doing such then top with tap water, I got a temp of 20'c and pitched pretty much streight away. using this method Ive never got a brew over 24'c even in summer when the tap water is a little warmer.

:icon_offtopic: I managed to bottle a brew (25lt) and put one in last night in just on 4 hours... process getting better!! :icon_chickcheers:

 

[kelbygreen]

i just cool in plain old tap water in a sink might have to change it once or twice and thats for 12lt

 

[Shed101]

+1 for 10lt cooled water, I almost always chill 10 lt of water in a 10lt spring water tub, I put one in last night doing such then top with tap water, I got a temp of 20'c and pitched pretty much streight away. using this method Ive never got a brew over 24'c even in summer when the tap water is a little warmer.

:icon_offtopic: I managed to bottle a brew (25lt) and put one in last night in just on 4 hours... process getting better!! :icon_chickcheers:

That's the sort of thing i'm talking about ... except it was for a lager so trying to get it down to 12c asap.

I added a bit of chilled water from the 16 litres cooled in the fermenter in the end, but I was a bit concerned about splashing it too much before it was at room temperature.

 

[Yob]

what you need is my fridge, I clocked that bad boy the other day at -2 in the fridge.... what sort of bloody fridge gets down to -2'c? and that was on a timer for an hour on hour off type setting what that fridge wont cool in 2 hours has probably gone Super Nova already...

effing thing, its frozen the last 3 of my beers to some degree. from quite minor to 2 inches of ice plug on the top.. gotta think seriously about a tempmate...

if your doing AG and full boil amounts I would say as above as others have suggested with ice water and laundry sink, gently swirling as you go...