Wort Chiller

Northern Brewer General
1

So for valentines day my wonderful girlfriend got me a wort chiller, and after using it yesterday I had a few questions about proper techniques on using it.

  1. Are you suppose to put it in the wort as its still boiling? I read this somewhere at one point in time and this is what I did yesterday, just making sure thats correct.

  2. When you finish cooling it are you suppose to take it out before transfering the wort to the fermentor, or leave it in there? We took it out but it seemed like it really stirred up the sludge that had setttled.

  3. There was a lot of “sludge like stuff” that seemed to accumulate on the chiller. Is that just the cold break? This was by far the fastest and most efficent cooling i’ve ever done, so i’m hoping that that is what its suppose to look like (and that in previous times I had just been cooling too slowly)

Thx for any advice

2

I put it in while it’s still boiling, just before flame-out. I doubt it’s necessary, but I like to think it helps sanitize the chiller a bit more.

I remove the chiller to get it out of the way. That does kick up some sludge; I usually put the lid back on the kettle and let it sit for a few minutes to let that stuff settle back down.

3

Get ready for some clear beer. I think chilling fast to form good cold break really helps make clear beer.

You used it right. Don’t worry about some of the trub and cold break getting into the primary. It settles out and does not hurt your beer.

4

I put it in a good 15 min. before end of boil. Lift it out after chilling and rinse it off.

I have recently been reading about chilling. And found many believe the best system is an immersion chiller with re-circulation to provide a whirlpool effect. I don’t have a pump to do this but also saw ingenious designs of slow speed motor driven wort stirrers. I just brewed a couple weekends ago (Chicago area) and tried stirring the wort with my big brewing spoon while chilling. The ground water was about 50 deg. F but I was able to chill the boiling wort to 63 deg F (a little too much) in about 8 minutes - this is less than half my usual time. I know the water was cool but my water is in the high middle 50’s in the summer.

Mike

5

I’ve been wanting to build a whirlpool chiller. But deep down in my heart, I have to admit that I don’t believe it will make the beer noticeably better. At least not at the size of batches I’m doing right now. I just like gadgets and making things. :smiley:

6

My goal is not to make beer better but to save water & time :slight_smile: .

Mike