Using frozen meat and vegetables to chill wort

Northern Brewer General
21

I am not too sure how much wort you made, or how it was prepared; All Grain or Extract. But if it’s All Grain, I know it takes FOREVER to air cool. My first AG batch I covered the boil kettle and then placed it outside in the February air (keep in mind I live in the North East). The next day the wort was still too hot to pitch the yeast.

As far as what you did, I am sure you are fine and it will work, but I tend to agree with the others, why risk ruining your food?

I may have just left the kettle covered and ran out and got some ice.

You stated “In six more batches, I’ve never bought ice (costs money, I’m cheap)”, but ice seriously is like $3 for a 20 lbs bag. And I would imagine that would have cooled you down to where you should be.

Good luck

:cheers:

22

An invite over to try one of your brews would be nice, but don’t ask me to stay for dinner.

23

I challenge the OP to get cold break like this using frozen bags of veggies and meat.

24

[quote=“MullerBrau”]I challenge the OP to get cold break like this using frozen bags of veggies and meat.

[/quote]
Looks a lot like mine. I use an immersion chiller with pre-chilled H2O. Cheap and affective. Probably the best brewing purchase I’ve made other that the initial brewery in a box.
Just get an IC…you won’t regret it.

Namaste!!! :cheers:

25

Getting ready for my next brew. Just bought a 50 lb. bag of frozen wings at Costco. HeHehe :smiley:

26

Troublemaker… :lol:

27

If my wife ever found out I had used this this technique, I guarantee at dinner she would say “My beer tastes like steak and my steak tastes like beer”.

28

“Definitely. I think anyone serious enough about brewing should have at least an immersion chiller.”

I live in a small apartment in a major city, so the minimalist approach is mainly a factor of lack of storage space. There’s a ton of stuff I got rid of in order to move from suburbs into metropolis, and it was worth it.

“I am not too sure how much wort you made, or how it was prepared; All Grain or Extract. But if it’s All Grain, I know it takes FOREVER to air cool.”

It is usually steeped grain plus liquid extract, although I will be moving to 100% BIAB in the immediate future. The bag presents no storage/additional space issues. I did have the opportunity to put wort into a snow bank (had to pile it up) this year. If I could count on that, it would become my preferred minimalist method.

“why risk ruining your food?”

I have never noticed any effect whatsoever on the food, and I probably would have noticed by now. I respectfully note that I’m the one eating the food going through this process, and that most of those here who advise against it do not seem to be speaking from any first hand experience.

“but ice seriously is like $3 for a 20 lbs bag”

Plus the time/effort to carry it home (don’t keep a car in the city). If brew plans change, total loss because it does not fit in the fridge.

“An invite over to try one of your brews would be nice, but don’t ask me to stay for dinner.”

I usually serve fresh Mediterranean, pizza/pasta, or if I really like you, raclette. No frozen stuff in that. Your loss.

“I challenge the OP to get cold break like this using frozen bags of veggies and meat.”

Looks like the separation happened. But if I were not trying to precipitate out proteins or whatever, I would skip chilling since cloudy beer does not bother me. As different as possible from the big commercial beers is fine by me.

“Getting ready for my next brew. Just bought a 50 lb. bag of frozen wings at Costco. HeHehe”

As the CIALIS guru I advise you that is unusable, too much stuff in one bag, won’t fit well in the sink/wrap around your pot. Here is a complete list of stuff I’ve successfully put into the water bath: orange/apple juice, nuline freezer packs, balls of ice made for cocktails, frozen corn peas carrots and stir fry mixes, pot roast, whole leg chicken quarters, hamburger, bacon, pork chops, ribs, a fask mask meant to cure headaches, some leftover double-bagged frozen stew.

"If my wife ever found out I had used this this technique, I guarantee at dinner she would say “My beer tastes like steak and my steak tastes like beer.”

My wife thinks brewing beer in the kitchen is so bizarre that the sink chilling aspect is the least of it. But she loves the beer, especially my Abbey Ale with 9% ABV.

There are plenty of weird names from brewers who graduated from HB to micro. “Floating Chunk Ale” is probably a highly marketable brand. I would drop CIALIS going commercial though. It would be impractical.

29

The reason I believe no one is speaking from first hand experience on this is that the general guidance or conception out there is to not do what you’ve been doing with frozen meat. Me personally, I notice quite a difference between fresh and frozen then thawed hamburger meat in texture, but if you don’t then no big deal. There’s no reason to justify it if it works for you, and if no one has gotten sick then that’s most important.

One thing to add though based on something you said, maybe I am misreading though… Some type of chilling is necessary. A “no-chill” method just refers to leaving it alone to air cool to yeast pitching temperature by itself without any outside intervention. You need to chill the wort to proper yeast pitching temperature, or you will kill all of the yeast by pitching into a piping hot wort.

30

Someone mentioned having a coil[ copper/stainless matters not] to cool your beer. I agree. When I make half batches in the kitchen, I boil the beer with the coil in it. Beer boils, cooler boils. Sanitary.
When it’s done I move it to the sink, and hook it up to the spigot, and cool it there. Then rack it to the fermenter, cooled, for fermenting. If you’re worried about space, put the coil in the pot for storage. Simple. My beer is precious, so is the frozen food. I’m with those who believe in keeping them separate from each other. Usually, when experienced brewers offer advice, their experiences have good merit. That’s why we have this forum. You can do as you wish. Like I said, you can play with matches around gasoline if you like.

31

“The reason I believe no one is speaking from first hand experience on this is that the general guidance or conception out there is to not do what you’ve been doing with frozen meat.”

Right, inference and tradition, rather than direct experience. I get that. And yet, to me, it seems like an obvious solution to careful, space-constricted brewers.

“One thing to add though based on something you said, maybe I am misreading though… Some type of chilling is necessary. A “no-chill” method just refers to leaving it alone to air cool to yeast pitching temperature by itself without any outside intervention. You need to chill the wort to proper yeast pitching temperature, or you will kill all of the yeast by pitching into a piping hot wort.”

Right, understand that. Have also read that it doesn’t work well with all types of beer.

“Someone mentioned having a coil[ copper/stainless matters not] to cool your beer. I agree. When I make half batches in the kitchen, I boil the beer with the coil in it. Beer boils, cooler boils. Sanitary. When it’s done I move it to the sink, and hook it up to the spigot, and cool it there. Then rack it to the fermenter, cooled, for fermenting. If you’re worried about space, put the coil in the pot for storage. Simple.”

My brew pot hangs on a hook on a wall, tilted, so that it can store 3-4 loaves of bread. Perhaps a coil wouldn’t interfere with that. I know this has to sound like an excuse, but I am space-constrained.

“My beer is precious, so is the frozen food. I’m with those who believe in keeping them separate from each other. Usually, when experienced brewers offer advice, their experiences have good merit. That’s why we have this forum.”

There doesn’t appear to be anyone with direct experience who has offered advice. Perhaps this is evolution. All CIALIS brewers die of food poisoning, and therefore don’t post. :smiley:

“You can do as you wish. Like I said, you can play with matches around gasoline if you like.”

It’s not really about playing with matches. I’ve noticed the wort or beer is often times literally only half a foot away from an infection possibility. So it’s more about managing risk, what happens within that half a foot, and resources at hand when one does not have an abundance of space.

Again, I don’t think the frozen stuff has ever left the refreezing “safe zone,” but will check.

32

You are one tenacious dude responding to all posts. :cheers:

My IC is stored inside my kettle and I think if you design it correctly (near ID of kettle) there should be very little loss of space/storage and plenty of room for bread.

33

My IC is also stored inside my kettle. I also store other smaller things inside the kettle.

I’m just going to post this, here is what the USDA has to say about using cold water to thaw meat:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsi ... s/ct_index

“Foods thawed by the cold water method should be cooked before refreezing.”

Whether you want to admit it or not, the outside portion of that package of meat is probably thawed by the time you’re done chilling your wort.

34

When I read the title of this thread, I immediately checked the date of the original post. I thought it had to be an April Fools joke. My two cents: Around here, ice is cheaper than meat.

35

Made the mistake of cooking frozen peas once that we were repeatedly using for icing down sports injuries…tasted like green buckshot.

Wow this thread has legs :shock:

36

Here’s a recipe idea: Rancid Meat IPA!