Chilling wort: best practice

What would the amount of time be when you would start degrading the worst because it's not cooling down and being transferred into a carboy quick enough?

 

Kinda hard to understand, but I think the answer is, "it depends"

Seriously, old school: 30 minutes...Aussies: overnight

 

I hope you just stuck it in the snow and moved it twice. Don't overthink it guys, its a one gallon batch.

 

I don't think it's so much 'degrading the wort' as it is keeping a sterile liquid exposed to the elements that can contain unwanted 'bugs' that can do great damage to your beer before you get it chilled, the yeast pitched and then sealed. The two books that I've read encourage 'asap' but it really depends on the environment where this wort is kept before you can pitch the yeast and seal it. 'Asap' is subjective for its definition, but same day is probably advisable.

 

My understanding is that the temperature range from 140 F down to 80 F is the most critical when cooling the wort. Above 140 F the wild yeasts and bacteria are inhibited, but between 80 F and 140 F is when oxidation and contamination can occur the most. Rapid cooling also encourages precipitation of proteins (referred to as "Cold Break"). These proteins can cause chill haze later.

 

Am I the only one that is picturing a small pot in the snow with a lid on it? Relax guys. A 1 gallon batch should chill sufficiently in the snow to have a decent cold break, and as long as the lid stays on, no bugs should enter. I'm sure we've all done more questionable things.

 

A gallon kettle in a snow bank would take a pretty long time to chill. I can't speak to the cold break.

 

@VikeMan yes the snow wouldn't be a good bet, but I can't imagine 1 gallon left on the patio in -10* air temps wouldn't chill within an hour or two

 

I agree. It's the actual contact of the kettle with constant cold that speeds up cooling. As Mothergoose mentioned above, putting it in a snow bank would just melt the snow adjacent to the kettle and create an air space. The air space in turn would warm up. The quickest way to cool by direct contact is when the kettle is placed directly in ice cold water, and the water constantly circulated around it to prevent warm pockets of water building up surrounding the kettle. The water itself can warm up, so you might need to add more ice later, or replace the water with new cold water/ice.

 

-10F air would definitely be faster than a snowbank.

 

I understand that snow is a good insulator, but a hot pot sitting on snow in -F is a different story. Move the pot a couple of times and your good. Again, it's one gallon..

 

But not as fast as cold water. Air doesn't transfer heat anywhere as well as water.

 

When it gets that cold you don't really need an ice bath.

 

A fifth of bourbon us what you need here

 

The optimum cooling occurs when a change of state occurs (solid -> liquid) since energy (heat) is needed for this to occur. In other words the largest cooling effect is when ice (or snow) melts since this means that these materials are absorbing heat from the object to permit the change of state from a solid (e.g., ice) to a liquid (i.e., water).

If somebody was motivated to constantly move their pot from snow bank A to snow band B to snow bank C, ... this would be an efficient cooling method; the 'trick' is that you need to ensure that there is constant contact of the pot with snow to have a condition of continual change of state (melting).

The easier solution would be to place to pot in an ice bath of plenty of cold water and plenty of ice cubes.

Cheers!

 

In my experience, the snow banks tend to insulate and not cool the beer

 

Scientifically, the best way to do this is to add the nice cold snow to an ice bath in the sink.

Running water cools solids faster, a la convection. Gasses work the same way ("just sit it outside in -6*") but do not work as fast because air isn't as dense as water. The dense, cool water pulls the heat out and transfers it away!

Solid snow will insulate because the heat has no where to go, so it's slower.

Fill your sink with water and put a bunch of snow in it. No need for ice!

 

Yup, that will work too since the snow is the functional equivalent of ice (since it is in the solid state). As the snow changes state (solid -> liquid) it will absorb the heat from the kettle (heat transfer).

The advantage of ice is that there is more mass per unit volume; snow has lots of air in it. I suppose you could take the snow and compact it (e.g., make snow balls) in order to increase the mass per unit of volume.

Cheers!

 

I've recently picked up a reverse flow wort chiller. It works like a charm, I took a boiling wort and cooled it down to 55℉ instantly while going right into the fermenter. Granted, you'll need a boil kettle with a ball valve and a garden hose, but if you've got those I suggest picking one up or even making one.

 

Nothing beats a wort chiller, but the issue was a choice between a snow bank or an ice bath. Based on the choice, an ice bath beats a snow bank by far.