[jaftak22]

So I am getting ready for the big brew day. The only thing I am concerned about is how well my wort chiller is gonna work in a hot keggle. Will it take a long, long time to cool??? Any advice besides buying a counterflow chiller and pump?

[Stevie]

All depends on your chiller and the volume you are chilling. I have two chillers, one I made with 50 feet of 3/8" copper tubing and the other is this beast from MoreBeer.

Both work about as well and I can knock 11 gallons down to 90 in about 60-70 gallons using one as a pre-chiller with 30lbs of ice. I have pretty warm ground water in North Texas.

[jaftak22]

Right, well since this is gonna be my first all grain batch I am gonna do just a five gallon. The ground water here in Colorado Springs is pretty cold this time of year. I might actually carefully run some cold water on the sides of the keggle just to chill the metal down a bit.

[Stevie]

You could do that, but swirling the beer slowly with the chiller will work better. While the stainless conducts heat very well, it doesn't insulate. The heat you feel on the outside after you start chilling is from the wort not the metal. Moving it around will allow more wort to come in contact with the chiller and prevent warm/cold spots.

I envy your cold Colorado water.

[jaftak22]

Ahh, I did not think of that. What would we do without this forum. People have helped me out so much. Yeah I guess with our cold water I will have to keep a real close eye on it. I dont want the wort to get to cold. The water must be 40 degrees. Would send you some if I could

[dolecek21]

One thing that will also help is to keep your keggle in the shade if possible while chilling. Even on a relatively cool day I've found that it makes a difference in the last 10-20 degrees. It is nice once the water gets colder here. Cuts chill times way down.

[denny]

I might actually carefully run some cold water on the sides of the keggle just to chill the metal down a bit.

I guess it couldn't hurt, but I don't think it will help much.  Before I started using a pump to recirculate the wort during chilling, my 50F (average temp) groundwater would cool a 5 gal. batch in a keg kettle hjsing a 50 ft. 3/8" COPPER immersion chiller to pitching temps in 20-30 min.  With the pump it's about 10.

[klickitat jim]

So I am getting ready for the big brew day. The only thing I am concerned about is how well my wort chiller is gonna work in a hot keggle. Will it take a long, long time to cool??? Any advice besides buying a counterflow chiller and pump?

What is your wort chiller?

I do 5 gal batches. I currently use a homemade IC that is only 25' of 3/8" nonreciculating. Generally I run it for about 30 min to get below 100° then I use my mix-stir on a variable speed drill to whirlpool. Takes about 10 more minutes to get down to <65°.

This winter/early spring I'm going to 10 gal batches, adding a pump and 50' 1/2" RIC. I'm hoping for ~20 min chills then.

[theDarkSide]

The water doesn't need to be cranking through the chiller to work effectively.  I also collect the water out the other end in a large bucket to use for cleaning..it will be nice and hot when it first come out.

I also leave the lid off the kettle while it's above 140F to let some of that heat escape (unless it's windy and I'm afraid large things are going to blow into it).

Once you get it below 140F, you can lift the chiller up and down in the kettle a few times.  This helps move the wort around as Steve in Tx mentioned and assists with aeration of the wort. 

I added a pump and the wort chiller recirculation arm that Jamil made famous on Morebeer.  Now it gets down to pitching temp in 15-20 minutes and make a nice whirlpool in the kettle, leaving all the junk in the middle.

[duboman]

Ahh, I did not think of that. What would we do without this forum. People have helped me out so much. Yeah I guess with our cold water I will have to keep a real close eye on it. I dont want the wort to get to cold. The water must be 40 degrees. Would send you some if I could

With water that cold you should get the wort down into the mid to high 50's or low 60's. I'm sure there is math to figure it out but that's not my forte:)

Keep in mind that it is beneficial to pitch colder and allow the yeast to self-rise to the desired fermentation temperature. This produces a nice clean lag phase and is much better than pitching warm and cooling down so don't fret too much if things go a bit lower than you think, all will be fine.

If it does go colder, active fermentation may take a bit longer to take off as things come up to temp so don't worry if you don't see anything happen right away!

[jaftak22]

Hey guys thanks for all the good tips. I have a copper immersion chiller for now, plan on building a counterflow chiller in the Spring. Just hope it's big enough, I bought it from Midwest and it's only 25 feet. Had to bite the bullet and go with the cheaper one since I am on a budget. Aka ( three young daughters to feed). Just want to make good beer. That's all I am really worried about. Will also not be so hesitant to pitch a the low 60's.