Immersion chiller in fermenter

[Shady Lane Brewing]

Hi, all. I'm thinking of buying a stainless steel fermenter. I was wondering if it's possible to skip transferring the hot wort into a kettle for chilling and instead move the wort straight into the fermenter, where it could be cooled by an immersion chiller. I have nothing against kettles, but I wondered if it would be easier that way.

 

[Minbari]

That is basically how I do it. I chill the wort using the herms coil first, down to about 120F. Then transfer and let the chill coil in the fermentor did the rest. (With the help of the glycol chiller)

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Alot of ways to chill beer, I've tried many and found 0 works perfectly or fast without spending too much money so my advice is search the internet before trying 2 or 3 and failing lol, good luck

 

[Semper Sitientum]

Hi, all. I'm thinking of buying a stainless steel fermenter. I was wondering if it's possible to skip transferring the hot wort into a kettle for chilling and instead move the wort straight into the fermenter, where it could be cooled by an immersion chiller. I have nothing against kettles, but I wondered if it would be easier that way.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding your post. Are you saying you currently transfer wort from a boil kettle to another kettle for chilling and then to a fermentor? My process is very standard. I chill my boil kettle and then transfer to the fermentor.

 

[Shady Lane Brewing]

Maybe I’m misunderstanding your post. Are you saying you currently transfer wort from a boil kettle to another kettle for chilling and then to a fermentor? My process is very standard. I chill my boil kettle and then transfer to the fermentor.

I use an all-in-one. I transfer the hot wort to a kettle, cool it there with an immersion chiller and then dump it into my plastic fermenter. If I buy a stainless steel fermenter, I thought I might be able to move the wort from my all-in-one straight into the fermenter and then chill there. I have a crappy 5-gallon kettle that really doesn't do the job. I guess I'm trying to avoid buying another kettle!

 

[jschein]

Why don’t you use an IC in the AIO and transfer to the fermenter when cooled to pitching temperature?

 

[Minbari]

Why don’t you use an IC in the AIO and transfer to the fermenter when cooled to pitching temperature?

this is how I would do it too, use an IC or chill coil in the fermentor would work too. I would not be transfering it to another kettle for chilling then to fermentor after that.

 

[Shady Lane Brewing]

Why don’t you use an IC in the AIO and transfer to the fermenter when cooled to pitching temperature?

Yeah, this is where it gets a bit complicated. I brew upstairs and chill downstairs because the faucet in the basement is the only one that works on it. Lugging that heavy all-in-one downstairs (with 5 gallons of wort) would be a very bad thing for my back. Using the immersion chiller in the all-in-one makes perfect sense, but I can't do it. Hence the question about the chiller in the fermenter.

 

[Minbari]

Yeah, this is where it gets a bit complicated. I brew upstairs and chill downstairs because the faucet in the basement is the only one that works on it. Lugging that heavy all-in-one downstairs (with 5 gallons of wort) would be a very bad thing for my back. Using the immersion chiller in the all-in-one makes perfect sense, but I can't do it. Hence the question about the chiller in the fermenter.

there is nothing wrong with chilling it in the fermentor instead. in some ways this might be better, since it will sanitize the fermentor by the heat from the wort. but how do you get the wort downstairs?

 

[Shady Lane Brewing]

there is nothing wrong with chilling it in the fermentor instead. in some ways this might be better, since it will sanitize the fermentor by the heat from the wort. but how do you get the wort downstairs?

I lug a 5-gallon kettle filled to the brim and pray I don't spill any on the way down the stairs!

 

[Sunfire96]

I lug a 5-gallon kettle filled to the brim and pray I don't spill any on the way down the stairs!

This seems like the worst option with boiling hot wort. You could try no chill in the kettle? Put the lid on after flameout and leave it til the next morning

 

[GFHomebrew]

I lug a 5-gallon kettle filled to the brim and pray I don't spill any on the way down the stairs!

Wow that will get old quick!

Good luck with it def don't wanna lug hot wort down the steps

 

[Zambi]

And I thought I was bad, carrying 8 litres hot wort to the sink that's about 6 metres away

 

[Shady Lane Brewing]

And I thought I was bad, carrying 8 litres hot wort to the sink that's about 6 metres away

I know. It's ridiculous. Hence the need for change. It's that or a hernia.

 

[Minbari]

Is it just that the electrical is upstairs and the water downstairs?

I would be tempted to just run a hose up the stairs to chill it.

 

[Donoroto]

From the all-in-one, the transfer to the SS fermenter happens through a counterflow chiller. Essentially boiling wort in, pitch temperature out into the fermenter.

In winter I have to throttle back the cooling water or it gets too cold, low 60s. In summer, I get 80s so I wait a short time to pitch.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Sounds like you are brewing in your kitchen but the sink doesn't have a hose connector. If this is the case, get a $15 aquarium pump, cut the hose connector off the immersion chiller and connect that to the pump and collect water in a bucket from the sink faucet and run that water thru the chiller. Sounds crazy but that's what I do when I'm not "no chilling". I also have to lug stuff from the basement to the kitchen. I also think if my brewing was all in one room, I'd be an alcoholic and weigh 600 lbs. Lugging equipment around makes you be very strategic.

 

[RoadRoach]

Doesn't really matter whether you chill in the kettle or in the fermenter, and as some point out, if you chill at all. There's always waiting til the next day and let it cool naturally. There is some infection risk in open-air fermenters doing this, but if you can blanket it with CO2, you're golden. Just gotta keep the baddies out.

I'm gonna second what the others are saying about hauling hot wort around. You're flirting with disaster. I'd find a way to cool in the kitchen, somehow. Whether in the fermenter or in the kettle, doesn't matter. Carrying hot wort downstairs is a horror waiting to happen.

Similar issues made me move my operation out to my tractor shed. I have 14 steps to my basement, either inside, or outside, which is a LONG flight of stairs when you're carrying something as awkward as a FastFerment 7.9G fermenter. Now all I have to do is carry the bottling bucket inside after I drain the fermenter. I'm not yet set up for kegging or washing bottles out here, but the bottle washing will come out here soon. Once that's done, I don't handle anything hot more than a few feet, and even that will likely be via pump.

It's a fun hobby/craft, but face it, a nasty burn from it would get un-fun very quickly.

 

[Good_brew]

I use a water cooler mash tun with ice and water and a pond pump to chill lower when the water is too warm to get to pitching temp. One idea is to use that setup with your immersion cooler. One caution is the first 10 gallons of chill water is probably too hot to recirculate so I usually pull the wort down with hose water and then replace with the pond pump and mash tun to go low. In your case, you probably need to dump the first 10 gallons or so then you can go with recirculation and/or ice. Works like a champ and you can go as low as you like. Jaded immersion coolers work great and fast. Nice to not waste a lot of water as well.

 

[Good_brew]

As an add on, everything in the cooling loop is standard hose connections outside of the pond pump to garden hose with hose clamp. The pond pumps often come with adapters that will work to hook up a hose remnant with little effort. Hope this helps and keeps you from issue.