Posted: 1/13/2012 8:36:51 AM EDT
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I ruined a batch of beer a couple days ago. Cooled the wort down to about 100 degrees in the pot, in my bathtub full of cold water, transferred to a bucket and went to boil the rest of the water while the bucket continued to cool. Left the water running and forgot. Wife came in just in time to see the tub start to overflow with bucket floating on its side. Fuck. Won't make that particular mistake again. I'll try another batch today.
Anyone else have some really stupid moments? |
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I think the worst thing I've done, relating to beer, is being a bit drunk making beer with my brother, then putting the hops in the boil in the wrong order. The beer came out ok, just not what it was supposed to be.
For my wife, it would have been breaking my drying hydrometer 
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I'll make one eventually but even homemade, they are expensive. |
| A sink has far less water in it and is therefor a much smaller heat "sink." The water in the sink will warm quickly and the smaller temperature differential results in significantly slower heat transfer. The right answer is the wort chiller as mentioned above. I just can't afford one right now. In the mean time, the tub works well and I managed not to mess up the batch last night. |
Sorry about your bad batch!! Been there, done that. 
I've had a copper wort chiller for years. Love it. Not a fan of counter-flows, too much crap comes through. Each devise has their own techniques. Anyhoo, here is what I do when I didn't have one: 1. Get Spring water from grocery store(brand unnecessary.) 2. Put 2-3 gallons in freezer 2+/- hours before you brew. 3. Brew, - then cut off heat. 3.a Towards end of brew - Get a knife, pot holders, Thermometer & Hydrometer ready. 4. take jugs out of freezer. 5. Dump 1 -1gal jug of water into sterilized fermenting bucket. You may have to cut jug if ice layer is formed.(Hence, the knife) 6. Dump wort into bucket give it a little height. But, not enough to splash out of bucket. This is to aerate it. [It's OK to leave some dregs in the pot.] 7. Dump rest of water to desired level. (Again, cut jugs of water if needed.) 8. Take Thermometer reading (w/sterile thermometer). If below 80oF I'd say your good to go pitch yeast. If you want it lower than the temp you have, follow directions below; Once desired temp is achieved. Take a Hydrometer reading - dump yeast & close lid & put liquid in airlock. If above 80oF: 1.Put bucket in large sink/basin bucket or old wash tub. 2. fill with water & ice as high as you can to the wort level. 3.Stir wort one direction(genteelly) with sterile stir spoon. While stirring ice water in other direction with hand or other implement. (This should dissipate heat quickly.). You may need to add more ice after a while. Once desired temp is achieved. Take a Hydrometer reading - dump yeast & close lid & put liquid in airlock. Rule of thumb: "The key is to get the wort cooled below 90oF within 1 hour (sooner the better) to prevent [decrease the chance] infections." Hope this helps! 
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| How clean do you think prepackaged ice is? I'm considering using a 10 lb (maybe 20 lb) bag and enough chilled water to bring it back up to five gallons. If it hadn't been so long since chemistry, I could calculate how much 28 degree water is necessary to bring 2.25 gal of 200 degree water down to 75 degrees. Water weighs 8.34 lbs per gallon so there's definitely room for a 20 lb bag of ice, especially considering I lose a quart or more to evaporation. I think I'll try the next batch with 10 lbs and if that doesn't get me close enough, I'll use more ice. It should be just as clean as purified water. |
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Quoted:
How clean do you think prepackaged ice is? I'm considering using a 10 lb (maybe 20 lb) bag and enough chilled water to bring it back up to five gallons. If it hadn't been so long since chemistry, I could calculate how much 28 degree water is necessary to bring 2.25 gal of 200 degree water down to 75 degrees. Water weighs 8.34 lbs per gallon so there's definitely room for a 20 lb bag of ice, especially considering I lose a quart or more to evaporation. I think I'll try the next batch with 10 lbs and if that doesn't get me close enough, I'll use more ice. It should be just as clean as purified water. It should be OK. Try it. |
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Quoted: Alton Brown did it on his episode about brewing beer.Quoted: How clean do you think prepackaged ice is? I'm considering using a 10 lb (maybe 20 lb) bag and enough chilled water to bring it back up to five gallons. If it hadn't been so long since chemistry, I could calculate how much 28 degree water is necessary to bring 2.25 gal of 200 degree water down to 75 degrees. Water weighs 8.34 lbs per gallon so there's definitely room for a 20 lb bag of ice, especially considering I lose a quart or more to evaporation. I think I'll try the next batch with 10 lbs and if that doesn't get me close enough, I'll use more ice. It should be just as clean as purified water. It should be OK. Try it. |
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When I was doing extract I would sanitize 2 liter bottles, fill with water, and put in freezer when I started my boil. By the time I was ready for them, they were perfect temperature. I would transfer slightly cooled wort to a bucket and mix in so I didn't shock the glass carboy. I also froze water in tupperware containers, then moved the frozen blocks to bags to freeze more for ice bath ice. Now I use a IC with a fountain pump in an icewater bath in my brew sink. I chilled 5.5 gallons down to 70 in 15 minutes last time I brewed. Quoted: How clean do you think prepackaged ice is? I'm considering using a 10 lb (maybe 20 lb) bag and enough chilled water to bring it back up to five gallons. If it hadn't been so long since chemistry, I could calculate how much 28 degree water is necessary to bring 2.25 gal of 200 degree water down to 75 degrees. Water weighs 8.34 lbs per gallon so there's definitely room for a 20 lb bag of ice, especially considering I lose a quart or more to evaporation. I think I'll try the next batch with 10 lbs and if that doesn't get me close enough, I'll use more ice. It should be just as clean as purified water. |
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Quoted:
I can buy from a plumbing supply shop. I bought a 50' coil for my chiller and it was $82.00 25' will still cost $40-$50 for most people. Quoted:
http://youtu.be/iw4OvyUHfnw AT 55 seconds 20-25 feet of copper Local big box store price is $36 for 20 ft of 1/2 copper pipe. That's before you buy the fittings that go with it too, obviously. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I can buy from a plumbing supply shop. I bought a 50' coil for my chiller and it was $82.00 25' will still cost $40-$50 for most people. Quoted:
http://youtu.be/iw4OvyUHfnw AT 55 seconds 20-25 feet of copper Local big box store price is $36 for 20 ft of 1/2 copper pipe. That's before you buy the fittings that go with it too, obviously. You can always go with Stainless steel. |
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3 Hours cooling time with ice/cold water bath to 15 minutes..
Not jut the time savings, but the cold crash of everything in your wort settling faster is worth the $50 bucks or so you spend on copper tubing... Buy the copper, make a cooler, have better beer... Not really a question |
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Didn't take me 3 hours before. Took about 20 min to take 2.5 gal from 200 deg to 80 deg in a bathtub full of really cold tap water. Last batch I just threw 20# of ice in the bucket before pouring the wort, which turned out to be too much, but not by a lot. I'll use 10# next time and slowly add ice chips until temp is below 80, then just add purified water.
ETA: I do plan on making a chiller, just not high on my priority list. Beer has been turning out well and frankly, I'd like an excuse for the process to take longer. Keeps me in the garage with my buddies drinking beer longer. "Can't bother me now, babe. I'm busy. Precise timing, blah, blah..." ETA2: Dammit, that was post 8556. |