Cube for cooling wort

[davidgrace]

I am thinking of using a cube to cool my wort. Can anyone let me know where I might get a good one online? Also, I only do 11.5 litre brews so would a 25 litre cube be suitable or would a smaller one be absolutely necessary? So far, I can only find 25 litre cubes online.

 

[Gulpitdarn]

I also do brews of a similar capacity (13L) and have only just recently wondered if I could get away with freezing some 500ml PET bottles sprayed with starsan and then dunk them in the wort.

 

[Druncan]

Anyone coming up here I have four 25L ex HLME HDPE jerrycans available for free!!

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi

... I only do 11.5 litre brews so would a 25 litre cube be suitable or would a smaller one be absolutely necessary? So far, I can only find 25 litre cubes online.

... smaller isn't absolutely necessary, but it helps not to have too much air in the cube (the more air, the more the cube will collapse as it cools) ... something like that Jerry Can there (link) would seem to fit your bill

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Slid]

I also do brews of a similar capacity (13L) and have only just recently wondered if I could get away with freezing some 500ml PET bottles sprayed with starsan and then dunk them in the wort.

My guess is that you could do a lot of the cooling in a sink filled with cold water and then just add the frozen, sterilised bottles to finish the job.

 

[MmmBeer]

Although I have never done a no chill brew, my understanding (possibly incorrect) was that the cube should be flexible, so that it can have the majority of the air squeezed out and also contract as the wort cools. When I looked, none of the major online HB suppliers listed one, but thinking laterally managed to find something that seemed to fit the bill for sale in camping shops as water containers.

This sort of thing seems appropriate for 10-15L brews. https://www.jdwilliams.co.uk/shop/s...details/show.action?pdBoUid=1156#colour:,size:

 

[MyQul]

You don't need to bother with a cube if your just no-chilling for less then 48 hours, just so you can cool the wort down to ambient temps to be able to pitch, and not storing long term. This is how I no-chill. I just jug the near boiling wort from the kettle into the FV and cover with cling film (held on with a big elastic band). The cling film goes alarmingly convex as the steam pushes it up, then alarmingly concave as the wort cools, contracts and sucks the clingfilm down into the fv towards it.
I then just pitch the yeast the following day when it's cooled to ambient temp

 

[MyQul]

I also do brews of a similar capacity (13L) and have only just recently wondered if I could get away with freezing some 500ml PET bottles sprayed with starsan and then dunk them in the wort.

Yes, can do this, I've done it loads of times. You do need to cool the wort part of the way in a sink with cold water then finish off with the frozen pet bottles. You need quite a few of them too. Also stir the wort with the pet bottles in every so often (like 15-20 mins) as ths maximises contact of the hot wort with the bottles and speeds things up

 

[Drunkula]

Was just about to quote MyQul from previous threads - If you're storing wort for months like some people do the squeeze and scald thing might be right, If you've just doing it the next day - relax a bucketload. I got so tired during my first all grain I didn't have time to chill, just shoved it in a fermenter with an airlock, shoved it in the side passage, came back the next day and everyone scored that beer a 9/10.

You don't need to crap your pants about these things if you've been clean along the way. I just bottled a few beers which I brewed in 5 litre fermenters with cling film on and no airlock and I swear the one is going to be the best beer I've brewed if the taste at bottling is anything to go by.

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi MmmBeer

... thinking laterally managed to find something that seemed to fit the bill for sale in camping shops as water containers.

This sort of thing seems appropriate for 10-15L brews. https://www.jdwilliams.co.uk/shop/s...details/show.action?pdBoUid=1156#colour:,size:

... I agree with your approach but you need to think how, for carrying water back to your tent/van type applications, they don't need to use plastic that will cope with 100C wort ... I'm really not sure about the temperature stability of polyurethane

Davidgrace, if you're going to go down this route you really want something either polyethylene (probably HDPE, but I suppose you could use PET) or polypropylene (PP) based. Personally, I use my no-chill cube to give me flexibility, I might transfer and pitch tomorrow, but it might be in a few days or a weekend or two away, it all depends on things like when I could fit in a brewday, how organised I've been with my yeast, when I've got space in my FV/brewfridge ... but as the guys above have said, if you're always going to pitch the next day, you may not need one

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Mavroz]

Fv in sink with plug in. Turn tap to cold, let sink fill around FV and allow water to run out via overflow.

Works for me, cool a 13 litre boil down to 40 degrees in around 10 minutes.

 

[JonBrew]

Was just about to quote MyQul from previous threads - If you're storing wort for months like some people do the squeeze and scald thing might be right, If you've just doing it the next day - relax a bucketload.

Please don't store unfermented wort for months. You run a very real risk of botulism developing. How long is too long? Have a read at the following:

http://beerandwinejournal.com/botulism/

 

[davidgrace]

Fv in sink with plug in. Turn tap to cold, let sink fill around FV and allow water to run out via overflow.

Works for me, cool a 13 litre boil down to 40 degrees in around 10 minutes.

Thanks. Some good ideas have been given on this thread, but I think this will work for my 11L pot. I'll be trying it out with my next brew.

 

[Nicks90]

I'm with myqul
Just dump the hot wort directly into the fv and put the lid on and leave it overnight.
Added bonus is that it will be hot enough that if any nasties got in to your freshly sterilised bucket before you fill it, the hot wort will kill them

 

[MyQul]

.
Added bonus is that it will be hot enough that if any nasties got in to your freshly sterilised bucket before you fill it, the hot wort will kill them

I dont even bother to sanitise the bucket, just make sure it's clean, as the near boiling wort (and the steam from it) will sanitise the FV