[MagicRat]

Living in Florida, groundwater only gets you so far using a wort chiller.  I have been using an ice bath once the wort is chilled to 90-95F.
If instead of an ice bath, I were to just place the wort in a refrigerator at 38-40F how long would I expect it to take to cool to ale pitch temp (typically 64-68F is where I pitch depending on the yeast)? 
There was a time 30 years or so ago when I would have known how to calculate something like this but I couldn't find any formula online.
I may just take a temp reading every half hour or so but I want to avoid this if I can.


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[Stevie]

Get to 80° and rack to a fermenter with a stick on thermometer.

[Richard]

Chilling a kettle in a fridge would take a long time (I can't give a number without knowing more, but I would guess hours) because air contact isn't a very efficient method for cooling a bulk liquid.

After your wort gets cool enough that the ground water isn't doing much, you can run ice water through your immersion chiller rather than using an ice bath. My kettle is too large for my sink, so I can't use an ice bath. Instead, I have an immersible pump (for water fountains, etc) in a small picnic cooler that pumps water through the immersion chiller. I run tap water into the cooler at first, then begin adding ice later. When the return water gets cool enough I put the return water back into the cooler to make a closed system. This will take roughly the same amount of ice as an ice bath but will cool the wort faster, and it is a lot easier because you don't have to move the kettle.

[dls5492]

I listened to Denny Experimental Brew podcast and he recommends the Hydra wort chiller (see link below). As a former Florida resident, I wished I had this product. I bought this last winter and it's definitely worth it. Here in Iowa, it get to 90 degrees. But, now I can get my wort down to 60 degrees in 12-15 minutes.
The procedure is use this wort chiller to get the wort down to the temperature of the hose water. Then, using the immersion pump (see link below) submerged in ice water, pump thru the chiller to get down to temp.  Jiust me 2 cents worth.

https://jadedbrewing.com/products/the-hydra

https://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/pumps-well-tanks/sump-utility-pumps/barracuda-reg-1-4-hp-thermoplastic-submersible-utility-pump/p-1444428713624-c-1474908537231.htm

[BrewBama]

I chill as far as I can with the immersion chiller, drain to a fermenter, place in a fridge, and wait until ready to pitch --usually overnight.

I like the submersible pump in ice water idea.

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[HoosierBrew]

I listened to Denny Experimental Brew podcast and he recommends the Hydra wort chiller (see link below). As a former Florida resident, I wished I had this product. I bought this last winter and it's definitely worth it. Here in Iowa, it get to 90 degrees. But, now I can get my wort down to 60 degrees in 12-15 minutes.
The procedure is use this wort chiller to get the wort down to the temperature of the hose water. Then, using the immersion pump (see link below) submerged in ice water, pump thru the chiller to get down to temp.  Jiust me 2 cents worth.

https://jadedbrewing.com/products/the-hydra

https://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/pumps-well-tanks/sump-utility-pumps/barracuda-reg-1-4-hp-thermoplastic-submersible-utility-pump/p-1444428713624-c-1474908537231.htm

I use a 1/4 hp sump pump for chilling, too. Really glad I made the purchase. Nice to be able to get lager wort quickly down to the mid 40s, even in mid-summer.

Edit for spelling.

[bucknut]

I live near Atlanta and during the summer it's impossible to get wort cool enough using just tap. Bought a small submersible pump from harbor freight for about 20 bucks and put some qd's on my immersion chiller hoses. Put the pump in a cooler drop a bag of ice in and I'm down to pitching temps pdq.

[cdawson]

I use either my IC and and ice bath. Or recently I acquired another IC and use one in the wort and one in a bucket of ice water as a pre-chiller. This can help get things down to pitching temp quick if you don't have the time to wait or space in your fridge.

[blatz]

I live near Atlanta and during the summer it's impossible to get wort cool enough using just tap. Bought a small submersible pump from harbor freight for about 20 bucks and put some qd's on my immersion chiller hoses. Put the pump in a cooler drop a bag of ice in and I'm down to pitching temps pdq.

this is the way to go in the south; been doing this for years. 

[zwiller]

While I think the pump and ice is the way to go, to answer your question: I've done it your way a few years now and takes longer than overnight to chill and it takes about 12+ hours.  One time I just put the kettle in and it was faster but it still needed a good overnight rest. 

[charles1968]

Another option is to make your wort slightly more concentrated than normal and then dilute with ice just before pitching. This is surprisingly effective as the average domestic freezer has a temp of 0F (-18C), which is much lower than the freezing point of water.

To give an example - if you brew a 5 gallon batch of beer, reduce your liquor volume so you end up with 4.5 gallons of wort to chill. Chill this to 90F with your wort chiller. Then dilute with half a gallon of ice at 0F to make up your full 5 gallons. The ice will lower the temp of the wort to 66F in a matter of seconds.

Water temp calculator here:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/mixing_water.htm

The only snag is you need to prepare your ice a couple of days before brew day to make sure its temperature is low enough.