How to Chill Homebrew Fast

Drew

How to chill homebrew fast

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This is a method you can use to chill your homebrew fast. I mean really fast. I mean like immediately.

This method works really fast but it might not be optimal for everyone. That’s because we are going to do this by adding cold water to your homebrew.

First let’s talk why it’s important to chill your homebrew quickly.

  1. Because you reduce the amount of time your wort is exposed to open air
  2. So you can preserve more flavors, especially hop flavors
  3. You want your wort at a good temperature for yeast and fermentation

This might not be optimal because it can be tricky to calculate and you need to have sterilized clean cold water. So if you’re making a 5-gallon batch that means you’ll need about 4 gallons of cold water.

In order to chill your homebrew fast you’ll need to do some math.

Here’s what you need to know.

  1. Temperature of your hot wort
  2. The temperature of your cold water
  3. Goal Temperature of combined liquids
  4. Total volume of beer

Now let’s make the problem by identifying our variables

Total volume = 2 gallons (256 ounces)

H = Hot Liquid

C = Cold Liquid

Goal Temp = 70 Degrees Fahrenheit

Hot Wort = 200 Degrees F *– (High Altitude for me) (water boils at 212 degrees at sea level)

Cold Water = 40 Degrees F (Temperature of average fridge)

Now we convert that to a math problem.

We have 2 different liquids that we want to combine and we want the combined liquid to equal 70 degrees. The hot liquid is 200 degrees and the cold liquid is 40 degrees so how much of each do you need?

Here’s our math problem

H + C = 256 which can also be represented as C = 256 – H

200H + 40C = (70) (256)

200H + 40 (256 – H) = 17920

200H + 10240 – 40H = 17920

160H = 7680

H = 48 ounces

Final Answer

H = 48 Ounces

C = 208 ounces

208 is 4 1/3 times more than 48

For every 1 part hot, you need 4 1/3-part cold = 1:4.33

Keep in mind that is the final volume so you need to calculate for any boil off.

Here is my recipe:

Boil volume water = 9 cups water (added 50% more for boil off)

Cold Water = 26 Cups

2 pounds light malt extract

.5 ounces hops

Directions:

Boil 2 pounds malt extract in 9 cups water

Add ¼ ounce hops 45 minutes

Add ¼ ounce hops 15 minutes

Total boil time 60 minutes

Remove hop bag combine hot and cold water in fermenter

Pitch yeast and ferment 2 weeks.

*Water boils at 200 degrees at 600 ft. That’s where I am located.

There you have it! How to chill homebrew fast.

Now that you have tasty beer see how you can use mini kegs here: https://homebrewtutorials.com/how-to/mini-keg/

Items that I use often for homebrew:

Refractometer (Paid Link)

2 gallon fermentor (Paid Link)

Airlock (Paid Link)

Whirfloc Tablets (Paid Link)

Yeast Nutrient (Paid Link)

StarSan Sanitizer (Paid Link)

Corn Sugar (Paid Link)

Bottle Capper (Paid Link)

Golden Light Malt Extract (Paid Link)

Bavarian Wheat Malt Extract (Paid Link)

Porter Malt Extract (Paid Link)

2 Row Malted Barley (Crushed) (Paid Link)

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.