Well the warm weather is upon most of us and soon it will be for everyone else. Well there are many posts about wort cooling and warm weather brewing, I thought I would start a sticky thread on methods people are using to beat the heat. I know here where I am ambient water runs into the high 70's and low 80's making cooling difficult.
So lets hear your methods and ideas on cooling solutions for both wort and how to keep fermentation temps down during the warmer months.
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I use a long lead hose, from faucet to chiller, and use the ice cream making trick. I fill sink with ice and rock salt to get a very cold ice bath. I stuff as much of the hose possible into the sink.
My fermentation is easy as my cellar only gets to 70 at best no matter the outside temp.
Living in AZ its already over 100 degrees for the highs. I use a pre-chiller before sending the water into my immersion chiller to cool wort. During fermentation I wrap my carboy in a tee shirt and then wrap a swamp cooler pad around that and put it in a tub of water. I use a small fountain pump to pump water to the top of the carboy and put holes in some tubing so the water disperses evenly and soaks the cooler pad. I then use a small desk fan to blow air across the cooler pad and can usually drop the temp 10-15 degress. I keep my thermostat set at 78 so it works pretty good for me.
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In de hemel is gee daarom drinken wij hee.
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I ususally just have to quit brewing, here in Arkansas it is really almost already to warm to keep brewing, the house is around 80-85 during the day, but this year I think I am going to get a fridge. As far as cooling the wort, I use the sink as an ice tub method also.
I'm in the same boat as laneto. Living in the heart of AZ brings on some extremely warm weather. At this point I'm only doing partial boils and can chill my wort in a sink full of ice water with a slow runoff into the second sink. It'll be down to 110 in 20 minutes then I can top it off with refrigerated water to finish it off at 70 degrees.
As for fermenting, I'm lucky enough to own a second chest freezer to act as my fermenter.
W
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The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.
I typically leave my fermenter/carboy in a water bath with the t-shirt method and a fan on it. This usually keeps it about 3-4 degrees below room temps, which I try not to let get above 75 (but sometimes it happens when I'm not at home... we get temps in the 90's in Georgia, sometimes 100+)
For cooling my wort, I use the same method I use in the winter. I put my pot into cold tap water (fill up the sink) and let sit 10 minutes. I let the water down the drain, put new water in, stir the wort with a sanitized spoon, and let sit 10 more minutes. Drain, add more water, add Ice this time, let sit 20 minutes.
I usually get it down to about 75-80 degrees this way, and since I only boil 3.5 gallons, I have another 1.5 gallons of room temp sterilzed water in my fermenter, so the final temp for pitching comes out around 72-74.
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I made a PreChiller out of copper tubing. I put it is a cooler full of ice (and beer) I run my water hose thru it into my wort chiller. Works pretty well. Right now my carboy is in the hall closet in the house, it stays about 72-74 with the AC running. I might have to figure out something better when we move into the new house. I dont think my wife will let me keep it in the new house.
I use a wort chiller hooked up to my cold water outlet for my wash machine. The outlet of the wort chiller goes into the wash machine. So once my wort is 75*F, I aerate , pitch the yeast, toss it in the primary, and do a load of laundry.
Of course, the ambiant temp that day was 72*. If the temps were warmer... around 80*F, I'd do the same as above, and then chill it down atleast another 5 degrees w/ an ice bath.
Does anyone have a chiller large enough to run wort through copper coils immersed in an ice bath? Eventually, I wouldn't mind converting to that method of cooling....
Originally posted by Dropzone I use a wort chiller hooked up to my cold water outlet for my wash machine. The outlet of the wort chiller goes into the wash machine. So once my wort is 75*F, I aerate , pitch the yeast, toss it in the primary, and do a load of laundry.
Of course, the ambiant temp that day was 72*. If the temps were warmer... around 80*F, I'd do the same as above, and then chill it down atleast another 5 degrees w/ an ice bath.
Does anyone have a chiller large enough to run wort through copper coils immersed in an ice bath? Eventually, I wouldn't mind converting to that method of cooling....
Wow!! You get the Homebrewer Environmentalist Award for that one! Good Job
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O2 Mash
“Brewing beer is neither complicated nor expensive, however it is the responsibility of the brewer to make it as complicated and expensive as his wife will allow."
Originally posted by O2 Mash Wow!! You get the Homebrewer Environmentalist Award for that one! Good Job
Hehe, thanks. Can't waste all that water since I'm paying for it. ^-^ Uncle Sam doesn't pay me all that much. ^-^ Hey, I like your signature block, btw. If that were true, then I should be able to get my own brewpub when funds become available since the wife supports my homebrew 100%. When I get myself a beer, I gotta make sure to pour her one or else there will be hell to pay. 'course, she also helps, which is nice when I need another set of hands. ^-^
Hey thanks. The signature block quote is stolen, but I just couldn't help myself. Saw it on a website once.
You gotta love the wife being behind you 100% on the homebrew. My wife is pretty tolerant, but she has no interest in helping. She may fetch a spoon or thermometer now and then, but that's as far as it goes. The important thing is she lets me spend the money, finding the time is what kills me. I will often wake up at 5:00AM to brew on a weekend, that way I'm done by 10:00AM to do family stuff.
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O2 Mash
“Brewing beer is neither complicated nor expensive, however it is the responsibility of the brewer to make it as complicated and expensive as his wife will allow."
Fast cooling is essential for precipitating proteins, yes?
Oxygenation of the wort is useful for short lag-times.
So: why not fill a keg with enough water to dilute the boiled wort to the batch size (leaving at least 2/3 head space in the keg) and then pressurise the keg with oxygen. You could then cool the water in a freezer to less than 0*C without it freezing (because it is under considerable pressure). To cool the wort, depressurise the keg quickly and pour the contents directly into the hot wort. If you got the water temperature right, the wort would not freeze and would bubble with oxygen, oxygenating the wort fantastically well. This would cut down on cooling times and on the proteins left in the wort due to the extremely quick cooling. Pitch the starter directly after dilution (and temperature reading!) and away you go!
Would that work?
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Originally posted by stronk Ha! I've just had a (brilliant?) idea:
Fast cooling is essential for precipitating proteins, yes?
Oxygenation of the wort is useful for short lag-times.
So: why not fill a keg with enough water to dilute the boiled wort to the batch size (leaving at least 2/3 head space in the keg) and then pressurise the keg with oxygen. You could then cool the water in a freezer to less than 0*C without it freezing (because it is under considerable pressure). To cool the wort, depressurise the keg quickly and pour the contents directly into the hot wort. If you got the water temperature right, the wort would not freeze and would bubble with oxygen, oxygenating the wort fantastically well. This would cut down on cooling times and on the proteins left in the wort due to the extremely quick cooling. Pitch the starter directly after dilution (and temperature reading!) and away you go!
Would that work?
I had to read this a couple of times to get the idea -- I've been drinking a little bit - it is Thursday after all..
So you're proposing cooling the wort with very cold highly oxygenated water, right? I can't think of a problem with this approach for partial boil extract brewers.
Recently there have been some grumblings about excessive oxygenation of a wort - but I don't think this would approach those boundaries. Maybe slightly cost prohibitive.
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It's the oxygen tank that'd be expensive. The rest of the stuff is standard fare for kegerators.
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Some useful sites I think deserve promotion:
For craft-roasted coffee: www.hasbean.co.uk
For European beer: www.beersofeurope.co.uk
For rare beer: www.pitfieldbeershop.co.uk
For quality reviews: www.bottledbeer.co.uk
Originally posted by stronk It's the oxygen tank that'd be expensive. The rest of the stuff is standard fare for kegerators.
The O2 and maybe an additional keg and room to cool the keg(I keep four beers on tap at all times - so no real room to cool down a keg of water). Seems to me the added benefit might be small compared to using a chiller and aerating it by hand.
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