Chilling the Wort

When making beer, contamination is most likely to occur between the boiling and the transfer to the primary fermenter. Since wort is unfermented beer, there is a lot of sugar that can attract contamination. The temperature is ideal, and there is no alcohol. It is critical to keep the wort covered and to get the temperature down quickly to properly pitch the yeast.

If you do not own a wort chiller, you can chill a 2-3 gallon wort with your sink. I don't completely understand thermal dynamics, but the key points to use are temperature differential and container material. You may have been under the impression that it is best to combine the 2-3 gallons of wort with 2-3 gallons of cold tap water in your fermenter, and then chill it in the sink or tub. It may seem counter intuitive, but it is easier to cool something that is at a higher temperature. It also helps to leave the wort in the metal pot, because it transfers the heat better than plastic or glass.

So take your pot directly off your burner and place it in your sink. You need to have water contact the sides of the pots, so that the heat from the pot transfers to the water in the sink. That means you need to change the sink water and replace it with cold water from the tap. I find it best to partially plug the drain, so that some warm water escapes while cold water comes in from the tap. You can add some ice to the sink, but it is not necessary. Once the temperature reaches 100 degrees you can put it in the primary fermenter. If you do this properly, it should only take 15-30 minutes. Top off the primary fermenter so that you have a total of five gallons. The temperature should now be in range for most yeasts, but just to be safe you will want to take a reading and refer to the yeast packaging or the recipe. Remember to do your specific gravity reading before pitching the yeast.