Hi all,
I am in the middle of making my first brew (pale ale) and I have a
question regarding methods. Part of the recipe says I should "cool the
wort rapidly." I had an emergency come up and I was at the cooling
stage. Rather than dump the whole thing I decided to take a shortcut
based on physics. It goes as follows:

1. I was cooling the wort by placing the 4qt pot in a sink full of ice
water.
2. Problem comes and I have to go.
3. I take a second to think and come up with an idea:
a. At this point the wort is at 40C (my electronic meter only reads
Celsius- I do conversions) and my water is at 8C since it is winter here.
b. I pour about 3 gallons of cold water into the fermenter.
c. I pour the 40C wort on top of that (a little short of 2 gal).
d. the result is a wort at 20C which is right at the low end of the 68F
to 72F range of acceptable temps.
4. I then pitch the yeast.
5. Seal the fermenter and head out the door.

Fermentation started within the prescribed 24-48 hours and things seem
to be going OK. I just racked to a 6.5 gal carboy for secondary
fermentation.

I figured rather than try to get the wort to 70F and heat the water to
70F then mix the two, I would just let some of the heat transfer happen
by contact. With the wort volume and water volume just about equal(a
little more water), the final temperature should have been between the
two and a little to the cold side. It worked out that way. I didn't many
options at the time.

Finally getting around to my question, anyone out there experienced
enough to let me know if I am making a good batch or wasting my time
after a stunt like that?
If this works out, I might make this my standard procedure.

Thanks for any help,
Enrique
emorale2xatxoptonlinexdotxnet

It should work... I have added cold water to my fermenter before. I don't
think you will have any problems.
John
"Enrique" <emorale2_no_Spam_xyz@optonline_xyz_no_Spam_.net> wrote in message
news:20qsf.8853$LE4.8773@fe09.lga...[color=blue]
> Hi all,
> I am in the middle of making my first brew (pale ale) and I have a
> question regarding methods. Part of the recipe says I should "cool the
> wort rapidly." I had an emergency come up and I was at the cooling stage.
> Rather than dump the whole thing I decided to take a shortcut based on
> physics. It goes as follows:
>
> 1. I was cooling the wort by placing the 4qt pot in a sink full of ice
> water.
> 2. Problem comes and I have to go.
> 3. I take a second to think and come up with an idea:
> a. At this point the wort is at 40C (my electronic meter only reads
> Celsius- I do conversions) and my water is at 8C since it is winter here.
> b. I pour about 3 gallons of cold water into the fermenter.
> c. I pour the 40C wort on top of that (a little short of 2 gal).
> d. the result is a wort at 20C which is right at the low end of the 68F to
> 72F range of acceptable temps.
> 4. I then pitch the yeast.
> 5. Seal the fermenter and head out the door.
>
> Fermentation started within the prescribed 24-48 hours and things seem to
> be going OK. I just racked to a 6.5 gal carboy for secondary fermentation.
>
> I figured rather than try to get the wort to 70F and heat the water to 70F
> then mix the two, I would just let some of the heat transfer happen by
> contact. With the wort volume and water volume just about equal(a little
> more water), the final temperature should have been between the two and a
> little to the cold side. It worked out that way. I didn't many options at
> the time.
>
> Finally getting around to my question, anyone out there experienced enough
> to let me know if I am making a good batch or wasting my time after a
> stunt like that?
> If this works out, I might make this my standard procedure.
>
> Thanks for any help,
> Enrique
> emorale2xatxoptonlinexdotxnet[/color]

Enrique wrote:[color=blue]
> Hi all,
> I am in the middle of making my first brew (pale ale) and I have a
> question regarding methods. Part of the recipe says I should "cool the
> wort rapidly." I had an emergency come up and I was at the cooling
> stage. Rather than dump the whole thing I decided to take a shortcut
> based on physics. It goes as follows:
>
> 1. I was cooling the wort by placing the 4qt pot in a sink full of ice
> water.
> 2. Problem comes and I have to go.
> 3. I take a second to think and come up with an idea:
> a. At this point the wort is at 40C (my electronic meter only reads
> Celsius- I do conversions) and my water is at 8C since it is winter here.
> b. I pour about 3 gallons of cold water into the fermenter.
> c. I pour the 40C wort on top of that (a little short of 2 gal).
> d. the result is a wort at 20C which is right at the low end of the
> 68F to 72F range of acceptable temps.
> 4. I then pitch the yeast.
> 5. Seal the fermenter and head out the door.
>
> Fermentation started within the prescribed 24-48 hours and things seem
> to be going OK. I just racked to a 6.5 gal carboy for secondary
> fermentation.
>
> I figured rather than try to get the wort to 70F and heat the water to
> 70F then mix the two, I would just let some of the heat transfer happen
> by contact. With the wort volume and water volume just about equal(a
> little more water), the final temperature should have been between the
> two and a little to the cold side. It worked out that way. I didn't many
> options at the time.
>
> Finally getting around to my question, anyone out there experienced
> enough to let me know if I am making a good batch or wasting my time
> after a stunt like that?
> If this works out, I might make this my standard procedure.
>
> Thanks for any help,
> Enrique
> emorale2xatxoptonlinexdotxnet[/color]
That's pretty much how I do every batch, except for the cooling part. I
have an immersion chiller that I can get my concentrated word down to
about 80F in about 10 minutes. Them add it to my fermenter that has
water right from my tap (well water). I haven't had any probs. If you
have "city" water that has chlorine in it, this wouldnt be a good
method, but since you said that fermentation has started, I would say
that everything should be fine.

Cheers,

--
Michael Herrenbruck
DragonTail Ale
Drunken Bee Mead

On 28-Dec-2005, Enrique <emorale2_no_Spam_xyz@optonline_xyz_no_Spam_.net>
wrote:
[color=blue]
> Finally getting around to my question, anyone out there experienced
> enough to let me know if I am making a good batch or wasting my time
> after a stunt like that?
> If this works out, I might make this my standard procedure.[/color]

I put the water to be added to the wort in the refrigerator the night before
I brew. I put the pot with the hot wort in the sink, surrounded by tap
water, which rapidly drops the temperature to maybe 130-140F or so. Then I
add the cold water and hit pitching temperature in a minute.

Been doing this for about 3 years.

-Hershel

Hershel Roberson wrote:[color=blue]
> On 28-Dec-2005, Enrique <emorale2_no_Spam_xyz@optonline_xyz_no_Spam_.net>
> wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>>Finally getting around to my question, anyone out there experienced
>>enough to let me know if I am making a good batch or wasting my time
>>after a stunt like that?
>>If this works out, I might make this my standard procedure.[/color]
>
>
> I put the water to be added to the wort in the refrigerator the night before
> I brew. I put the pot with the hot wort in the sink, surrounded by tap
> water, which rapidly drops the temperature to maybe 130-140F or so. Then I
> add the cold water and hit pitching temperature in a minute.
>
> Been doing this for about 3 years.
>
> -Hershel[/color]

Thanks for all the feedback. I just bottled my batch. This is a great
idea: putting the water in the fridge.

Enrique