My chilling proceedure has evolved to pitching the next day. I chill a bit and then just wait untill pitching temp is reached. I haven’t noticed any ill affects. Just wondering what others do and why?
I have been doing this and have good results. My next brew I’m going to take a litre of wort from the batch, and pitch yeast and shake method[ using a gal. jug] and at high krausen [ 8 hrs. or so later] pitch to the batch. It’s a new method I’ve been reading about on the AHA Forum.
You guys chill overnight in a ferm chamber? Temp controlled chest freezer?
I like the idea of the high krausen starter pitch. You’d chill that 1 gal of wort to your desired pitching temp for the beer first correct?
I use a plate chiller becuase it’s chills fast.
My chilling process varies a bit. In warm weather, my water is occasionally too warm to bring the beer all the way down to fermentation temperature, in which case I’ll leave the bucket in my chamber a few hours or overnight then pitch. But for the most part, I have no problems getting the wort down to where I want it with my plate chiller, then pitching right away. In the winter, I actually have to dial back the water flow so I don’t end up way below fermentation temperature. One of the benefits of living at 60°N latitude.
I do the same thing sometimes. I chill by immersion of the boil kettle in a large tub sink with cold Wisconsin ground water. After about 20 minutes I change out the water that has warmed up a lot. After another 20 minutes if it is not at pitch temp then I either change water again or often I will give up and just pitch the next day if it is getting late in the evening. Sometimes you just want brew day to be done! Either way seems to work fine.
I’ve done the high krausen pitch before. I save the last runnings from a previous batch in the freezer. A day or so before brewing I set it and a jar of yeast on the counter and mix them together when the temp is right. This way it’s bubbling away when I toss it in. Fermentation starts or should I say just continues right away. Of course since I have to remember to take it out it doesn’t always happen but in a perfect world…[quote=“dannyboy58”]You guys chill overnight in a ferm chamber? Temp controlled chest freezer?
I like the idea of the high krausen starter pitch. You’d chill that 1 gal of wort to your desired pitching temp for the beer first correct?
I use a plate chiller becuase it’s chills fast.[/quote]
I usually just set it on the basement floor which is usually in the mid to low 60s a lager will sit on the floor for a few hours and then into the chamber to get my lager temp[quote=“rebuiltcellars”]My chilling process varies a bit. In warm weather, my water is occasionally too warm to bring the beer all the way down to fermentation temperature, in which case I’ll leave the bucket in my chamber a few hours or overnight then pitch. But for the most part, I have no problems getting the wort down to where I want it with my plate chiller, then pitching right away. In the winter, I actually have to dial back the water flow so I don’t end up way below fermentation temperature. One of the benefits of living at 60°N latitude.[/quote]
I’m thinking of using an counter flow but I might just let it rip and then let the buckets temp stabilize before I pitch
Thanks for the input “CAT”, since I some times wait overnite to pitch and have had no problems, virgin/shaken starter method looks really simple and economical to me. Will let yo know how it comes out, still recovering from shoulder surgery.
I chill to anywhere between 62 and 74, depending upon the ground water temp. Then I pitch and put the fermenters in my Bierkeller
http://www.mullerbrau.com/Bierkeller.html
to ferment nice and cool.
I use an immersion chiller. I brew mostly partial mash/partial boil so I use distilled water to top up. In the summer, when the ground water is too warm to get it to pitching temp, I put the 2.5 gal container in the fridge or freezer a few hours before brewing which gets it to pitching temp pretty quickly when combined. I also put the carboy or bucket in a water bath with frozen water bottles to help get it to and stay at pitching temp while fermenting. In the winter I also crack the window in the room to keep it pretty cool in there so I don’t need the frozen bottles usually. Using these methods, I can consistently keep the fermentation in the low to mid 60’s. :blah:
I typically do this but I will use my copper IC to chill it down below 120*, then use this extended cool method. Somewhere I read that getting it quickly below 120* removes chance for hot-side aeration. Not sure if its true or not, but I also see this as a way to generate some cold break that I can leave in the kettle.
My MO is to cool as far as I can with my immersion chiller usually around 80 then I dump it into the carboy and stick that in my ferm chamber (chest freezer) and chill it down to pitching temps which usually takes about an hour or so. I’ll usually aerate and pitch within a couple hours of cleaning up.
99% of the time, I chill to just a bit below fermentation temp then pitch. Occasionally I’ll put the wort in the fermentation freezer and wait til the next day. Whatever the situation calls for.
I’m cheap… but my labor is free. :cheers:
( I feel like I just posted this elsewhere. :lol: )
In other words, I’m still chilling with a water bath in a large swamp cooler- type tub.
3 changes of water generally work fine. The last change I add the contents of my ice tray from the freezer. But I live in the water-rich Northeast, and water from my well stays pretty chilly year-round.
In the summer I can get the temp down to 60 within 1 hour. In the Fall/Winter when I do my Alts and Lagers, down to 50.
Would I use a chiller if I had one? Sure, but currently I’m fine with my techniques and using my $ on quality ingredients.
I use an immersion chiller and generally can cool a 5.5 gallon batch to 58-60 degrees in 15-20 minutes or so depending on the time of year (and the temp of my well water). I generally pitch ale yeasts at that temperature. For lagers, I leave the wort in my fermentation chamber until it’s at the appropriate pitching temperature for the yeast I’m using. For starters I usually do a big two step starter,let it ferment to high krausen, then cold crash, decant, bring it back up to pitching temp, then pitch.
I use an mmersion chiller and when I reach 100 f I switch to a pump in a bucket of ice water till I get to 62~. I live in so cal and my water temp sucks year round but in summer it’s really bad.
Cold crashing the starter and decanting and warming back up to me seems like a lot of extra steps for no gain actually probably a loss of viable yeast
.[quote=“gdtechvw”]I use an mmersion chiller and when I reach 100 f I switch to a pump in a bucket of ice water till I get to 62~. I live in so cal and my water temp sucks year round but in summer it’s really bad.[/quote]
I’ve done it that way, which is exactly why I don’t any more.
Cold crashing the starter and decanting and warming back up to me seems like a lot of extra steps for no gain actually probably a loss of viable yeast
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Especially becasue there’s evidence you’ll get better performance by not warming it back up.
Cold crashing the starter and decanting and warming back up to me seems like a lot of extra steps for no gain actually probably a loss of viable yeast
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That’s why I make big starters. I don’t like dumping the wort from my starters into my fermenter. It might not make a noticeable difference, but I’m betting it does make some difference…
And, I usually do those extra steps for the starter in between the busy times while I’m brewing, so it makes little difference to me timewise.
