Usually, I let the wort cool down on its own (which takes forever). For this batch, I am doing an ice bath to speed it up a little. It felt very strange carrying the wort outdoors. (Though, I will eventually be doing most of my brewing outdoors.)

There's one new variable I discovered -- bugs.

#RetroBrewing
#UpperWillamette

@Mutedog
I did stir the cold water but was hesitant to lift the lid over the bucket of wort because of the bugs. The wort cooled down quite a bit faster than in the past (when I did nothing).

What prompted me to do this is I tend to pitch the yeast when the wort temperature is fairly high (30 to 35C, Nottingham's rehydration range). The last batch of Kölsch I did had a fairly strong green apple-like taste. So now, I'm not going to pitch the yeast until it's around 20C.