Overnight cooling

[Friar-Tuck]

I have not finished my counterflow yet, and i have been letting my wart sit out overnight in the carboy with the airlock on it, am i endangering my beer?

[brewmeisterintng]

The longer you wait to pitch your yeast the better chance of infection or wild yeast establishing a foothold. I have read where CP allows his wort to cool unassisted with no problem however he didn't let it go for a day before pitching the yeast. I had a friend that was in the final stages of brewing an got called away. He left his wort for two days and ended up with five gallons of the worst smelling liquid. Drew flies for mile around especially when he dumped it next to his driveway.

[Friar-Tuck]

so leaving it over a period of 8-12 hours is ok, I would never leave it more than 12 hours anyhow. I usually finish brewing in the early evening and pitch yeast before I go to work in the morning. It takes that long before it cools down naturally anyhow.

[brewmeisterintng]

I know you are not going to make this a standard after you get your CF chiller operational. I have just read so much about hot, cold break and dropping the temp quickly to avoid the nasties taking a strong hold. I have also read where folks will mash over night. Me? I start early on a Saturday morning and am done by noon with exception of the yeast which I just pitched at 1630hrs.
Not sure when you cross the line of too long before pitching the yeast except from my buddy's brew; 2 days is too long. Good luck and I am sure that as long as you are sanitary in your practices it will come out fine.

[chils]

I cool wort by putting my brew kettle in a rubbermaid tub and dumping ice and water around it followed by gentle stirring of the wort.Every so often I will pick up and down on the kettle to circulate the water in the tub.I can usually cool a 6gal batch in this manner in 30mins or less with only 1 water/ice change.

[bfabre]

Friar-Tuck,
dude, invest in an immursion chiller it will be well worth the worries.

[chils]

I'm too much of a cheapo.I can brew 12gals. beer w/ that 50bucks.I was also speaking of an alternative to letting your poor beer sit out all night.As hot rodders say "Run what ya brung"

[Friar-Tuck]

I just finished my counterflow it will finally be utilized next batch!!!

[chils]

Good for you!!I definitely plan on buying a wort chiller but for now finances dictate ingredients over equipment so I'm stuck w/ the ice bath.Let me know how fast that bad boy cools off your next batch.

[beernut]

Overnight slow cooling is canceling out any benefit from late additions of aroma and tasting hops as these would only add bitterness. You would need to dry hop to get any benefit of aroma and taste of the finishing hops you were using.

[slimsparty]

I did this on my first couple batches and really had no problems.

I didn't know you could loose finnishing notes that way. Since then, I've been told by everyone that faster cool and pitch and less lag is paramount. The faster the good guys (your yeast) set up camp, then better chance of a good product being made.

SOOO, i mulled and wrung my hands and did the ice sink swish stir and hated it. Another 30-40 minutes that was generally already latenight.

Then I was thinking of buying an Immersion chiller. $39 on ebay plus shipping. $59 in the LHBS. (25' units) Then i thought, hmmmm- I'm a former hillbilly I can fabricate something!

Friday I got 60' of 3/8" OD Copper for $49 (Menards) 20' of 3/8 ID hose and fittings were about $12 and $2 for the spring bender I probably didn't need.

I have a 24" (including in and out tubes) chiller that should transition to all grain with me in the next month.

It was hard to start rolling, but then it was easy once I started. I used 2lb coffee can. Towards the end I had as much coil above the can and on it but I got it done. A Corny keg would be ideal.

Performance?

On two batches, I dropped it into the boil at 15mins. -it slowed the boil a little. Then I let it cook and sterilize.

Then I screwed it onto the slop sink and fired it up. 3 gallon boil went to under 80 degrees in about 7 minutes. (with constant stiring inside the coil) In fact the first time I got it too cold by the time I topped up in the carboy. But I was also using a late bloomer (Wyeast 1214 belgian abbey)

You can definately build a stanard 25' for about $35 + tax I contemplated making two and selling one, but I am trying to get to AG brewing and want something that can cool 5 or 10 gallon batches. Worst case, I might get a prechiller if I need one. Counterflow is better, but I like to Keep It Simple Stupid...

All my brewing advisors reccomend making as much gear as possible. I sort of feel like a moonshiner doing it, but it is quite rewarding too. Next up is a mash tun cooler

[brewmeisterintng]

I am for the KISS principle. That's why I have a problem with all the new fangled stuff. It's not about all the fancy stuff you HAVE to have to make a perfect pint; it's about makin a good beer. I think that pumps, CFWCs and all the gadgets take away from home brewing.