Cooling wort

[Polcho]

I have a Grainfather conical fermenter, my question is, could I just put the wort straight into that, hot, lock it down, then cool it via the water jacke and pump to pitching temperature. Then inoculate with yeast?

I wonder whether cooling with the chiller and leaving it open that long to cool is doing it any good?

 

[Clint]

As the weather warms up so does the temp of your incoming water so eventually a submersion chiller becomes almost useless at getting to ale pitch temps of around 20c.
I've not used a counter flow or plate chiller so can't comment.
Other options are brew beers that like higher temps or use a kviek yeast.
You can,as you say force chill if you have the kit or leave it to cool over night in a sealed container.
Leaving the wort exposed for any length of time increases the infection risk.
As the year progresses I'll chill to around 30c which is manageable then put it in the brewfridge to get to temp,with a lid and airlock in place.

 

[phettebs]

I use plastic buckets for an FV. When my tap water warms up enough that I can't get the wort to pitching temp, I put the FV into a chest freezer (not my kegerator) and that gets it down to pitching temp pretty quickly. I just need to make sure I don't forget about it and end up with a wort slushy.

 

[moto748]

A chest freezer big enough for a plastic bucket is big enough for a body.

Just sayin'....

 

[phettebs]

Indeed...

 

[Buffers brewery]

As @Clint says as the weather warms up so does the mains water which makes chilling down to 20C more of a challenge. I got around this by using 2 immersion chillers connected in series. The first (connected to the mains water) in a bucket of ice water which is then connected to the second chiller which is in the wort.

 

[Worf]

A chest freezer big enough for a plastic bucket is big enough for a body.

I hope you are not speaking from experience?

I have a submersion-cooling coil, but I've always found is causes to much residual material to remain suspended in the wort. I place the (sealed) wort in my fermentation fridge for a day, then pitch the yeast.

 

[Polcho]

I hope you are not speaking from experience?

I have a submersion-cooling coil, but I've always found is causes to much residual material to remain suspended in the wort. I place the (sealed) wort in my fermentation fridge for a day, then pitch the yeast.

You don’t have issues with keeping sealed for a day worf?

 

[Worf]

You don’t have issues with keeping sealed for a day worf?

I do move to a fermenter (w/airlock) after it's as cool as possible. Understand I'm in the desert and 'as soon as possible' means from now until next November the water supply won't go below 85f.
Plus I always use a secondary fermenter after it's beer, just to remove the trub from the bottling environment which typically happens 2-4wks latter.

 

[Hoppyland]

Up until now, I've always left my wort to cool naturally in the kettle after boiling. Depending upon ambient temperature, and the volume of wort, this can take quite a while (typically 24-36hrs). To minimise the risk of infection, I normally pull a new bin-bag over the top of the kettle & pull it tight, straight after the boil, to exclude air and also fruit flies etc.in the summer. I have never had a spoiled brew using this method (I really, really shouldn't say that, should I?!!)
I've only just acquired fridge for fermentation quite recently. So far, I've only used it as an insulated box, not as a fridge, employing heating only to keep the fermenting beer at temperature. I hadn't thought of using it to cool the wort, but thanks for the idea - it sounds like a decent plan to me.
Of course, I am in a hilly part of SW Scotland - so it rarely gets all that warm, never mind hot here. At the moment, I'm still using central heating and a woodburner to maintain 20°C in our living rooms morning and evenings. Unheated rooms are about 12-15°C at the moment (all day if on the shaded side of the house).

 

[hoppyscotty]

Wouldn't it be better using the no chill method in a cube rather than the Grainfather. As the wort cools you have to ensure air is fed in or as everything contracts wit the risk of sucking in infected air (unlikely I'm sure), or you can just put on a CO2 line. But in a cube you just pour in and leave overnight and should be at pitching temp. next day, and the flexible container will just suck in as the wort cools.

 

[Hoppyland]

Yes, hoppyscotty, everything you say is entirely logical. I suppose that the only reason I don't do that is because I wouldn't want to ferment in the "cube", so once he wort had cooled I'd have to transfer it from the cube to my fermenting bucket. For me, an unnecessary additional step.

 

[moto748]

I'm going to say this again, but once again tonight, I've done what I always do, and left a batch to cool in the kitchen overnight in the bucket. It is covered, but only as a 'dust cover'; it is not air-tight (otherwise, it's going to take forever to cool!). In the morning, when it's typically down to 20 deg C or so, I'll pitch the yeast. I have never had the slightest problem doing this.