cooling wort

[cosmondo]

Sorry if this sounds dumb.

I'm not on mains water, which is good - as I get fresh Scottish water straight off the hills, which I'm hoping will be good for my Ale. However it means I don't want to go straight into having a IC or CFC (perhaps I'll make one that ejects back into a water butt, in the future) as I don't want to waste the water.

I'm very new to brewing & don't even have any equipment yet, just at the reading up stage.

I've decided to start at Extract & move onto AG eventually. I want to do this as cheaply/easily as possible.

I've read Jim's tutorial on Extract & he chills the wort with a CFC, however I've read elsewhere that liquid evaporates & it is possible to replace the evaporated liquid - with frozen water. Thus reducing the temp of the wort, so that the yeast can be added without killing it. Or I can just decant it all into the FV without going through a CFC, seal it up airtight & leave it over night.

Jim's tutorial doesn't mention adding any additional water to replace that which was lost to evaporation, so am I totally barking up the wrong tree here then?

Hope that all makes sense

P.S. I'll be making a boiler from a FV & 2 x kettles as seen on here - with upgraded tap, I'll have another FV with decanting tap & hose, a thermometer, 2 x kegs & associated jugs, sieves, bleach etc... I reckon I can get away with this lot for now, before making the step up to AG....am I missing anything? I know I can go for a pot, but as I aspire to AG, I may as well get a boiler now.

Thanks for any replies.

[OldSpeckledBadger]

You can leave it to cool overnight. I used to do that back in the late 60s. Never had a problem. It's better to use some form of forced cooler though.

[Manx Guy]

Hi,

I used to cool my extract worts in the pot I used to boil them on the stove...

My stainless pots would fit in the sink (with the lid on) I would then fill the sink with as much cold water as possible and stir gently every 5 minutes...
This would easily get the wort down to about 40 in 'summer' or on warmer days and down to ~30 in winter...

You could then transfer to your FV (replace lid- to keep nasties out) and let it chill on its own until pitching temp is reached...

I now have a Immersion cooler whic I plan to use recirculated rain water from a pair of 200litre water butts to cool the beer...
However I have the 'luxury' of mains water should the recirculation cause the water in the butts to heat up to the point it cant chill the wort...

Good luck !

All the best

Guy

[cosmondo]

OK thanks, so was I waay off the mark with adding frozen water to repace evaporation?

I'd hoped that was really going to speed my process up, but if not - then overnight in the sink ain't such a big deal.

[Blackaddler]

OK thanks, so was I waay off the mark with adding frozen water to repace evaporation?

I'd hoped that was really going to speed my process up, but if not - then overnight in the sink ain't such a big deal.

I've used the ice method before now. Several ice cream tubs in the freezer overnight, usually. In a 50L brew they would each account for about 1C drop in temp. Not brilliant, so I don't bother any more.

[cosmondo]

OK thanks, so was I waay off the mark with adding frozen water to repace evaporation?

I'd hoped that was really going to speed my process up, but if not - then overnight in the sink ain't such a big deal.

I've used the ice method before now. Several ice cream tubs in the freezer overnight, usually. In a 50L brew they would each account for about 1C drop in temp. Not brilliant, so I don't bother any more.

Ah well, it's all good anyway I suppose - I just had visions of this being a great method.

Is it normal to add extra water anyway, as Jim doesn't seem to advocate this in the tutorial.