[brian424]

Just brewed 5 gallons of pale ale and as soon as the 60 minute boil was done I transferred it into a plastic bucket style fermenter to bring inside and cool down with my immersion chiller.  As soon as I had it in the bucket I started to think maybe this wasn't a good idea because the wort may have been too hot for the bucket at this point and now I'm worried I may have ruined the whole batch by doing this.  My concerns are that the wort being that hot may take on some off plastic type flavors.  Has anyone ever done something similar? And is this going to be a failed brew because of this?  Any help is appreciated and if it makes any difference, its a northern brewer bucket.  Thanks

[bassriverbrewer]

Most plastic fermenters are made of food grade plastic you should be fine i'd be more concerned with scratching it with the immersion chiller.  If they are deep enough it gives the bugs a place to hide

[dutch]

Also, chilling in the fermenter means that your cold break will end up occurring inside the fermenter as well.  Not that it would ruin the batch, but would be better leaving the trub in the BP away from your brew....  Nonetheless, get it cooled down quickly, keep it clean, and let the yeast do their thing.  You'll likely be just fine.

[jamminbrew]

I would cool the wort in the brew pot with your chiller first, then transfer to the bucket.  But I did this twice before, and had no problems.

[brian424]

Im not too worried about the trub being in the fermenter as lately I've given up on racking to secondary which I typically would do with every beer I brewed until a few months ago as I've heard its not necessary (my clarity hasn't suffered any from my experiences either) The only exception to that would be a beer that I planned extensive aging on (multiple months, in which case I would rack to secondary) Anyways my O.G is 1.053 so it won't be in there too long.  And I agree its best to cool in the boil kettle, I've got a therminator I use but with freezing temps outside lately I opted out of using it and used the immersion chiller instead.  The reason I transferred to the bucket first was because of the shape being much less wide that my brew kettle, the chiller seems like it would be more effective this way.  Thanks for the replies, Im happy to say I've got an airlock bubbling away as I type this and I'm not quite as concerned as I originally was.

[majorvices]

With an IC you really need to add it 20 minutes before the boil is finished to sanitize it, thats one of the big conveniences of using an IC, easy to sanitize. That said, I'm with the rest of the group, no harm done but I wouldn't make it a practice. And there is some good reason to leave the break behind in the kettle if at all possible, especially if you plan on repitching yeast.

[euge]

Just brewed 5 gallons of pale ale and as soon as the 60 minute boil was done I transferred it into a plastic bucket style fermenter to bring inside and cool down with my immersion chiller.  As soon as I had it in the bucket I started to think maybe this wasn't a good idea because the wort may have been too hot for the bucket at this point and now I'm worried I may have ruined the whole batch by doing this.  My concerns are that the wort being that hot may take on some off plastic type flavors.  Has anyone ever done something similar? And is this going to be a failed brew because of this?  Any help is appreciated and if it makes any difference, its a northern brewer bucket.  Thanks

You should be fine with no off flavors. However, I've found that pouring hot wort into the fermenter and then picking it up can leave small stress cracks in the bottom surface's periphery. These cracks can harbor bacteria as well.

I occasionally sterilize the buckets with stress cracks. You can submerge them in 200F water for 15 minutes- say in the brew kettle and let cool before lifting out.