Grainfather and Aroma steep

[xozzx]

Until now Ive made 7 brews with my grainfather, all from recipe packs, mostly to get to grips with it and build up a stock of beer. Now Im branching out and planning a few clones and maybe a few experiments.

In a few recipes Ive been reading there are aroma steep additions which are added at the end of the boil, after cooling the wort to around 75C. What is the best way to do this step? Should I start cooling the wort with the counterflow back into the GF or should I just leave it to cool?

The issue I see with the counterflow is that the wort going through would be cooled to around 20 then mixed back into the hot wort and heated again, bringing the overall temp down. Could these many changes in temperature do any harm to the wort?

 

[DoctorMick]

I think running it through the chiller back into the gf is the best way to do it, it’ll certainly cool quicker. Personally, I’ve never been comfortable with doing it that way so I don’t bother, it seems more bother than its worth and I’ve always managed o get decent aroma withou...I’m getting a hop rocket at Christmas tho as I reckon that’ll be the best way of getting maximum hop aroma without any fuss.

Interestingly, aroma steep is very popular with home brewers (I blame James Morton) but does anyone know of a commercial brewery that does it?

 

[djheaton321]

Use a hop back, I use a Blichman Hop Rocket, great piece of kit.