Waiting For Temp To Aerate And Pitch

[lobo]

hi all,

now that i have goe to the dark side, i have been thinking. (uh oh)

after the boil, i have a plate chiller, if i cant get the wort temp down in a single gravity pass, especially in summer, im thinking it wouldnt matter if you put the fermenter into the temp controlled fridge (lets say its at 25deg) wait till it gets down to 18, or less if i were to do a lager, and then get some oxygen into it via a airpump, airstone, and air filter.

my reasoning is that my fermenter is spotless (obviously), after boiling an all grain there is apparently NO oxygen, why not leave it a few hrs to achieve pitching temp, then go for it.

ok, now i am ready for all you brewers who are much, much more experienced than myself to shoot this idea down in flames!

gotta ask.

Lobo

 

[Adamt]

Sounds very normal!

 

[lobo]

so that is exactly what you do adamt?

 

[Adamt]

Very similar... After chilling I'm usually down to 25-30C, I throw it in my chest freezer (fridge) at 4C, then i set the fridgemate to fermentation tempearture. Once it's down to an appropriate temperature (sometimes 6 hours or so after chilling) I aerate, pitch, etc.

 

[darrell.wallace]

Very similar... After chilling I'm usually down to 25-30C, I throw it in my chest freezer (fridge) at 4C, then i set the fridgemate to fermentation tempearture. Once it's down to an appropriate temperature (sometimes 6 hours or so after chilling) I aerate, pitch, etc.

+ 1 with what adamt has said. I have never achieved pitching temp from a pass through my plate chiller. I have tried faster and slower water flow, slower wort flow but the lowest i have achieved is about 24 - 25 degrees and that was on a cold canberra morning (hence colder water) just last weekend.

 

[mickoz]

I do the same thing.

The only thing I'll add is that I stick a wad of vodka soaked cotton ball into the airlock to try and kill any bugs that may get drawn in as the fermenter cools.

Mick

 

[lobo]

thanks fellas, i thought it was a bit of a stupid idea. obviously i was wron, or right, depending on how you look at it!!

lobo

 

[peas_and_corn]

I use a CWC and I do the same thing when I don't get it down to pitching temperature.

 

[samhighley]

The cotton ball soaked in vodka is an important point.

I had a brew get infected that I had chucked in the fridge to cool down from about 30C to 18C.

I wacked it in the fridge, wacked in an airlock, and came back the next morning to find the airlock mostly empty.

It appears it sucked the contents of the airlock back into the fermenter.

It developed a nasty infection.

I now put a piece of folded paper towel soaked in isopropyl alcohol over the airlock hole while cooling in the fridge.

Sam

 

[justsomeguy]

Putting the fermenter in the fridge before pitching is a very normal thing for me.

I use an immersion chiller and get down to around 35-40 degrees during summer and a little below 30 as the cooler weather sets in. I just put the fermenter my little fermenting fridge and wait until its at pitching temp. Depending on what I'm brewing it could be around a 6 hour wait for an ale or up to 18-24 hours for a lager.

Only ever had one infection though that may have been due to other factors though.

gary

 

[reVoxAHB]

Yep, agreed with all. It's fine to chuck yer ferm into the fridge to finish cooling.

The advantage to pitching a nice big fresh yeast starter to say 18C (no lag in cooling) is you will be giving the yeast an upper hand against potential nasties. If something mild is kicking about, your yeast has a better chance of blowing it off/pushing it out of your beer.

The reverse is applicable, where if you wait say 18 hours to pitch.. those nasties have had 18 hours to multiply and take their hold. Granted, this process will be reduced at lower temps (as the wort is being chilled in your fridge).. but then your now pitched yeast has (lag time and the need) to fight those increased nasties.

When I've had to chill from say 30C to pitchable temps, I've chucked a sanistised bung into my carboy, wrapping with cling film. The few hours it takes to get down (with fridge on coldest setting) does not create much suction or internal pressure to pose a risk. An airlock with water would certainly lose it's water to the carboy (and airlock).

Have you tried pumping your kettle thru the plate chiller with valve restricted on output (of pump) to moderate flow thru chiller? I do it this way, with garden hose straight on the water side (which can then be regulated at the tap), and regularly chill direct to 18C. Hit 17C on Saturday . Come summer, I'll be looking for chilled water alternatives, however.

reVox

edit: added word increased

 

[BenH]

+1 with the above, but I do use an airlock. I always use phosphoric acid (diluted) in my airlock and haven't had a problem with infection. I also don't fill the airlock very much, that way if it does suck air in, it doesn't bubble the liquid into the wort.