Stopped at Scotzin Bros. supply shop in Harrisburg yesterday. Great selection of items for both beer and wine making; everything from oak barrels to auto-siphons with an impressive variety of bottles. I purchased some small miscellaneous items that don't bear mentioning, but was very excited about buying a new wort chiller.
This is a copper immersion chiller made by L.D. Carlson. It was $69.00. I'll be brewing a Scotch ale in the next few days and am looking forward to seeing how much faster I can chill my wort (the sweet boiled liquid of malted barley and hops that will be fermented into beer) to pitchable temperatures.
The wort comes off the stove at 212° F and needs to be chilled down to around 70° - 75° F so that when yeast cells are pitched they survive; pitching yeast into high temperatures would instantly kill them and the fermentation process would never begin. I've been using an ice bath to chill my wort which takes anywhere from 45 mins to 1 hour to reach desired temperatures. This should improve with the use of the new chiller.
Fast chilling of wort is important because after it is removed from the boil the hot, sugary-sweet wort is a perfect environment for bacteria to grow. By chilling fast and adding yeast, so that fermentation takes hold, there is less chance for contamination that can off-flavor your beer.
