How long between chilling and pitching

[Meatymc]

Despite this being my 75th all-grain brew I used my 2 new (to me) 50l pans, a copper immerson chiller and a pump on Sunday aiming to get the wort into the fermenter same day for the 1st time. Cooling using 3 x 25l containers of cold water (c8C )and 2 x £1 bags of ice, it took just over 30 minutes to get down from 102C to 20C which, for a 1st attempt, I didn't think was too bad.

Having only previously done no chill however I then got a bit concerned about having the cooled wort hanging around for too long hence the wort that went into the fermenter was very cloudy - not having given the break time to settle out before transfer.

I'm fairly sure I can get the cooling down to under 30 minutes even with this non-mains water set-up by pre-chilling the containers down to close-on 0C in a spare fridge plus agitating the coil but this mixes up the break obviously.

So my question is, is it safe to leave it in the pan after 'chilling' to settle down - and if so for how long, or should I transfer the cooled wort to a sealed container to settle - and again, how long should that be left?

[Cobnut]

Great stuff!

Before I became a GF user, I did BIAB and used a copper immersion chiller (home made).

I noticed lots of trub going through into the fermenter (in itself, never really an issue as it settles out during fermentation - some even argue the trub helps the fermentation).

I did find that leaving it post chilling to settle for half an hour or so (covered, of course!) helped to reduce this as the cold-break settles quite quickly.

As an aside, using the CFC with the GF, I get lots of cold break in the fermenter (it's formed inside the CFC), but the beer is usually nice and clear.

So I wouldn't stress it as it'll still be beer!

Enjoy!

[Kev888]

That does sound like an excellent result, especially under the circumstances quite an achievement!

If you are cooling in the kettle, then it has been reasonably well disinfected by the boil so just cover it loosely once it starts to get cooler, to stop flies and wotnot getting in and normally things will be fine.

It is common to rest at (e.g.) about 80c for hop steeping, but once you begin to cool more fully then in an ideal world I like to do it fairly quickly as the medium-warm stage is most conducive to any nasties that might still be present. Your half an hour sounds pretty reasonable so I doubt there will be any issue there.

There is never 'no' risk with un-fermented wort, but once cooled then personally I'm happy to let it sit in the kettle for half an hour to an hour for hops to settle over the hop stopper, forming their filter bed, and for other stuff to begin settling out. The cold break will also carry on forming for a while and that too will start to settle out.

If you recirculate just a bit of wort before running off to the fermenter then things should become pretty clear. In practice a bit of kettle sediment getting to the fermenter isn't something to become paranoid about if it does happen, you'll likely see no adverse effect, but it is best to leave the vast majority of hot break, hops and any other general kettle debris behind (whatever that often-raised brulosophy test failed to show).

CFC and plate-chiller users, who normally get cold break in the FV, can see this as somewhat beneficial in offering additional nutrients for the yeast (which it does). It shouldn't normally be necessary in good quality well aerated wort, but if in any doubt or if wished then an IC user can employ yeast nutrient instead (which actually is my preference in any case, being more specifically designed for the job).

[Meatymc]

Thanks for the reassurance guys.