What a difference having a wort chiller makes. I haven’t perfected the usage of it yet, but even still, it cut my brew time down by at least an hour and a half. It would have cut it more if I didn’t shoot water all over the kitchen with the hose. It’s a learning process. I think next time I’ll use the sink faucet as the source of my water instead of the hose.
It was great though. Two passes through the chiller brought the temperature of the wort from 212 deg. F down to 75 deg. F. all in only 10 minutes.
Afterwards, I placed it in the fermenter to let the yeast do their thing. Then I put it in my new mini fridge, although, I did have to take a hack saw to the door panel to make some more room. Fits perfectly now. And I didn’t even have to remove the freezer section.
It will take a little more time to get my beer situation fully set up here, but it’s getting there. Once it’s all set up, Ill be able to whip out batches with the greatest of ease once again. And that makes me very happy, which I need right now. Some people drink lots of beer in times like this, but me? I like to make lots of beer. It makes for great therapy.