Cooling wort down - current setup and options

[madoIII]

Just a quick update on this.

I used some of the advice on this thread last Sunday:
- I made sure there was a gap in between the coils of my wort chiller. Previously there was none.
- I stir and stir and stir and stir like there was no tomorrow

The result was a much shorter time to reach 35C (15-20 min). I then prepared an ice bath, racked to my FV and waited a bit until it reached 19C. While I waited, I cleaned up and prepare the yeast. So overall, a massive improvement and a happy brewer (I don't think I need to invest on this part of the process).

More importantly, I didn't have to chuck in frozen bottles of water in the wort :):)

Thanks everyone for your feedback on this!

 

[Fil]

Fwiw when using an IC I would chill down to circa 30C with the chiller and then drain through a sieve into the FV, the sieve helped by :
1) filtering any odd debris out,
2) aerating the wort
3) help chill a few degrees off

Placing the brew in the brewfridge and setting the target to circa 19C for ales by the time i had then rinsed and scrubbed out the brew vessels the brew would generally be below 24c and ready for pitching, a 'warm' pitching temp should help the yeast start off into population growth.

 

[madoIII]

... a 'warm' pitching temp should help the yeast start off into population growth.

Interesting, do you mean pitching at 22C/23C for example and then continue to lower temp to 19C/20C in the next few hours?

 

[Fil]

Interesting, do you mean pitching at 22C/23C for example and then continue to lower temp to 19C/20C in the next few hours?

yep!!
.

 

[Dutto]

I also cool to about 30 degrees before decanting to the FV.

I am often under the 23 litre mark in the FV and I find that blasting in cold water does three things:

1. It cools the wort down.

2. It aerates the wort.

3. It produces a bed of foam on top of the wort.

If the temperature hasn't got down to the desired 22 degrees (but is within a few degrees of it) I regard the bed of foam as a "cushion" that will provide protection for any dried yeast sprinkled on top of the wort. :thumb:

 

[BeerCat]

My chiller is rather crap so i just let it get to 50 or 60c and put the lid on, cover with a bin bag and leave outside to cool. If i had a tap and a no chill cube would use that.
Fil i love your contraption, very cool.