Lawrence Brewers Guild

I got some yeast nutrient and did a yeast starter for this brew (my 3rd time brewing, recipe this time is Lawnmower de Saison from Midwest Supplies), mainly to make sure my yeast were doing ok to avoid having to pitch dry yeast like last brew (my liquid yeast died in transit because I forgot to add an ice pack to my order). I figured since I had it, I would add the yeast nutrient to the boil, too - it said to dissolve a 1/2 tsp in warm water and put it in the boil with 10 minutes left. I was manning the boil so I had my wife do the dissolving part. After the boil was done I brought the wort inside to use my new wort chiller (got the adapter so I could use the garden hoses with the kitchen sink), and I see the empty yeast nutrient container on the counter. She dissolved the entire 1.5 oz container of Wyeast yeast nutrient instead of 1/2 tsp - and I added it all to the boil. Wort is chilling now. Going to use a blowoff tube instead of an airlock, with a 5 gal bucket with about 1 gal of sanitizer in it. Hopefully it won't overflow that and make a mess in my freshly completed fermentation chamber. To be fair, I'm not sure I told her to only use 1/2 tsp...

On top of that, my new wort chiller refused to get the wort below 81 F. Even when running it through a very chilly ice bath. I have no idea why. This immersion wort chiller seems like a waste of money to me. Sat there and watched it for an hour and a half. Now the wort is in the freezer.

Waiting on my third bad thing to happen.

jboehle wrote:I got some yeast nutrient and did a yeast starter for this brew (my 3rd time brewing, recipe this time is Lawnmower de Saison from Midwest Supplies), mainly to make sure my yeast were doing ok to avoid having to pitch dry yeast like last brew (my liquid yeast died in transit because I forgot to add an ice pack to my order). I figured since I had it, I would add the yeast nutrient to the boil, too - it said to dissolve a 1/2 tsp in warm water and put it in the boil with 10 minutes left. I was manning the boil so I had my wife do the dissolving part. After the boil was done I brought the wort inside to use my new wort chiller (got the adapter so I could use the garden hoses with the kitchen sink), and I see the empty yeast nutrient container on the counter. She dissolved the entire 1.5 oz container of Wyeast yeast nutrient instead of 1/2 tsp - and I added it all to the boil. Wort is chilling now. Going to use a blowoff tube instead of an airlock, with a 5 gal bucket with about 1 gal of sanitizer in it. Hopefully it won't overflow that and make a mess in my freshly completed fermentation chamber. To be fair, I'm not sure I told her to only use 1/2 tsp...

On top of that, my new wort chiller refused to get the wort below 81 F. Even when running it through a very chilly ice bath. I have no idea why. This immersion wort chiller seems like a waste of money to me. Sat there and watched it for an hour and a half. Now the wort is in the freezer.

Waiting on my third bad thing to happen.

You should be fine on the yeast nutrient, other than it was an added albeit small cost to your brewday. As far as IC's go, they can be as efficient as you'd like them to be. It sounds like you've got a case of stratification around the coils. One way of combating this is to recirculate wort with a pump while chilling. This causes turbulence around the IC and chills much faster. Other options if brewing sans pump are periodically stirring the wort with a sanitized spoon or simply moving the IC around to get some wort flowing around the coils. Even doing this you will only get the wort down to ground water temps, same goes for CFC's and plate chillers. The way around this is to use a prechiller or post chiller depending on your setup. I use a submersible pump in an ice water bath that pumps near freezing water thru my IC. I can get wort down to pitching temps in less than 30 min this way. Congrats on your brewing, I can't wait to sample some of your creations!

meisel wrote: The way around this is to use a preachier or post chiller depending on your setup. ...an ice water bath that pumps near freezing water Thur my ICC. I can get wort down to pitching temps in less than 30 min this way.

If using Lawrence tap water, from mid June till mid Sept, the tap is too warm in almost all cases to get your wort to pitching temp. Ice, pre or post is your friend. Else you waste a lot of water and time for such little gain...

Agreed. Stratification and warm ground water this time of year. But moving the IC up/down to combat stratification will help you tremendously.

I use a CFC. And in these warmer months i get the CFC to knock my worst down close to ground water temps, then it goes thru a 2nd coil which is submerged in a ice bath which uses a recirc. pump to move the ice water around the coils. If im not careful, i can get temps into the lowers 40's.

In your case you could use the IM until you knock the heavy heat off first, then have a 2nd pot with a small pump and ice water to recirc. cold water thru the IM.

Welcome to the world of chilling in warm months in Lawrence Ks.

Thanks for the tips, guys. The main thing I learned is that I need to start brewing earlier in the day so it can be laid back even if things do go wrong. I'll be prepared next time with ice & a plan to get it down to pitching temps. I just gotta keep brewing, only way I'm going to work on my technique.

Do you have a ferment fridge? If so, you can put it in there for a few hrs to crash it some more before pitching.

I do, I built a fermentation chamber out of a mini fridge and some scrap lumber I had. Got some 2" pink foamboard insulation and sealed it all up, that's where my brew is fermenting now. Even better, my turkey fryer pot that I currently use as a brew kettle fits in my garage fridge's freezer, that's what I ended up using to finally cool it past what my IM chiller did.

I guess I was just expecting too much from the IM chiller - 20 min wort chill times. Another thing, I boiled 4 gallons this time instead of just 3, so that helped extend the cooling duration.