Brewed up a batch today and didn’t bother with the IC. Filled a bin with water and snow made a slush bath cooled to 70deg in thirty min. I found that acceptable. Did a five gallon BIAB in 4 hrs including clean up. Those are my best times yet. Nailed my volume and gravity to boot. I’m a happy man. :cheers:
Can’t go wrong with that! :cheers:
Brew, couple weeks ago I did a 5gal batch. When I do 5’s I use my IC as the BK isn’t set up for the pump and recirculation. Got it down to 56° in 8 mins with just ground water. Hate brewing in cold but the cooling rocks!
That’s awesome. My chiller is only 25’ so it’s not that fast. It’s faster than the slush bath but last week I had to fight with a frozen hose and ice slick in the driveway. Hence the slush bath. I figure since it’s so cold out there is nothing in the air to affect the wort while it’s chilling so I just used the extra time to clean up while I waited for the chill.
Been there and done that! I try to remember to bring the hose in a day before brewing but sometimes I forget. Nothing worse then going to chill 10gals only to realize the hose is frozen.
Bought an 8 gallon brew kettle, used a 2 1/2 gallon boil only to find out that the thing wouldn’t fit in my sink for an ice bath, so I put it outside on the deck on top of a metal mesh like table top in 28 degree temperatures and 20 mph breeze for an air cool. Still took an hour and a half to get it to 100F, but my Irish Red Ale seems to have turned out pretty good for my first brew.
I don’t know if I have room for all the equipment you need to brew a batch according to instructions!
My ten gallon doesn’t fit in my sink either . I have a heavy duty plastic bin I store some of my supplies in and I used that.
Has anyone tried putting the IC in the fermentor and draining the beer onto it? I’m thinking that may cool the wort faster.
I don’t understand.
??
I’m thinking by draining the hot wort slowly on top of the coil it would put more wort in contact with the chiller initially.Of course I would have to move the wort to another bucket to remove the cold break. I believe old school breweries used to do something like that.
Last week when I brewed it was in the negative territory through the day and the night. I filled one of those round picnic ice holders with about 6 gallons of water two days prior to my brew and mixed in about six cups of CaCl salt and left it outside. When I measured the temp on brew day is was liquid and about 15 degrees. I did not break out the IC as I feared running any water through my hose bib, hose, or IC with the frigid temps.
It worked like a charm. I was cooled in no time flat. If only everything could go that smooth on brew day. :cheers:
The bigger the difference you can get between the coil and the wort, the better efficiency you will get for chilling. That’s why plate chillers and counterflow chillers work so well - they cool the hottest wort with the coldest water.
Your idea could help, if you poured over the chiller but didn’t have it submerged in the fermenter until after all the wort was in.
Also, cold break in the fermenter is not a problem.
“Also, cold break in the fermenter is not a problem”
What if I want the yeast?
The bigger the difference you can get between the coil and the wort, the better efficiency you will get for chilling. That’s why plate chillers and counterflow chillers work so well - they cool the hottest wort with the coldest water.
Your idea could help, if you poured over the chiller but didn’t have it submerged in the fermenter until after all the wort was in.
Also, cold break in the fermenter is not a problem.[/quote]
The contact area might make a difference but I think it is different than the plate chiller/counterflow situation. Plate chillers and counterflow chillers are most efficient because they maintain a temperature gradient throughout the chiller (hottest wort is chilled by the warmest (output) cooling water; coolest wort is chilled by the coldest (input) water). The same principle is found in biology like fish gills–blood and water flow in opposite directions to maximize absorption of oxygen into the blood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countercurrent_exchangeDear rebuilt – please don’t take this as a jerky comment.
No worries, you are right. But he might be able to get some benefit by chilling that way. It won’t have the same efficiency as a CFC or plate, but might be faster than using a IC the normal way.
And you can still harvest the yeast, it will just be mixed with the cold break and thus be more difficult to measure accurately. But even with the increased total volume, still about 1/3 of the ‘dirty’ cake will be about the right amount to use for a quick repitch of a similar gravity wort.
For the first time this happen to me two weeks ago. Thought i could bend the hose and to allow the water past the ice, didn’t work. Soaked in laundry sink and at least 5+ feet of ice came out. So i bought a laundry sink hose attachment in advance of yesterdays brew session.
Just chilled a pilsner in an ice bath and my IC. I just recirculated the ice bath water with a drill pump. It didn’t seem to speed the chill until the wort got below 80 then it went quickly to 55.
Actually had a warmish day today- temp around 30 instead of the negatives it’s been for the past… forever. So, took advantage and brewed in the garage for the 1st time in over a month. Everything went pretty well, mash temps held OK, boil fine, chill down pretty quick, and the hose only froze at the very end when I was cleaning up.
I missed brewing, but I had enough variety left to hold me over while I froze my tushie.
Hang in there brother spring is coming :cheers:
The Cat is right, just around the corner. I have a 5 gal bev cooler and a grain bag, for when the temp stays too cold. I cut my batch sizes to 2.5-3 gal batches, mash in the bag, then boil on the kitchen stove. Sort of a BIAB. Done it half a doz times, seems to work OK.
