Is it necessary to cool down the wort quickly - as in using an ice bath? Would the taste be affected if it were to cool down at room temperature?
Faster cooling to yeast-pitching temperature helps prevent infections and helps reduce “chill haze”; in my own brewing, it also seemed to make an improvement in flavor profile.
I’m a new brewer and certainly no expert. I DIYed my own immersion chiller and have been cooling my wort as quickly as possible to mid 60s to pitch. There is a school of thought that its unnecessary. I hate wasting so much water personally. Australians let their wort cool on its own due to their water situation. Look at Crustys posts for mor info.
Search the forum for “No-chill” (or “no chill”) and then you decide.
i go driectly into an ice bath. takes about 15-20 min to get to just under 100. my chilled water in the primary gets me to about 68 degrees.
This is like asking which religion is the “right one”. You certainly don’t have to chill. As others have posted, read up on “no-chill”. The no-chill myths of infection and chill haze have long since been disproven, so what it comes down to is personal preference. If you don’t mind letting it cool several hours/over night, then no-chill is fine. However, if you prefer to pitch immediately and be done with your brew day, a chiller would be a good investment for you.
I for one have a wort chiller that I haven’t used in over a year. After several experiments I found that I could make the same (if not better) beer without the chiller, so I stopped using it. I would recommend reading, experimenting, and deciding for yourself.
:cheers:
I use a home made counter flow chiller that uses a TON of water. It also can get me from boiling to 63F in under 15 minutes. If you think about it that is probably less water than goes down the drain in an average shower. I don’t see it as that big of a deal. Plus I like gadgets!
