JonK331

Recipes 

Before I had a chiller, I used to buy the more expensive alhambra ice from bevmo. Never had a contamination problem with that.

ghpeel

Recipes 

I've used homemade ice with good effect. Either boil the water and freeze it the day before, or use water straight from a sealed water jug. Either way, santize the container you freeze it in.

Also, break up the ice before you add it to the kettle. 1 pound of crushed ice cools a lot quicker than a 1 pound block that floats around for 20 min before it melts all the way.

But do yourself a favor and go either the No-Chill route, or get a good immersion chiller and a submersible pump. Both ways are superior to using ice baths, imho.

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Kegged: Mr. Hyde's Dark Hearted English Ale, Pumpkin Lager, Bro'Hemian Pilsner
Lagering:
Primary:
Resting: Stinky Pete's Midnight Wheat
No-Chill: Graham's Cracker Brown Ale
Bottled: Lowland Oatmeal Porter, Adieu Travail Belgian Sour, Golden Blossom Braggot

Butcher

Recipes 

I just finished my fouth batch and feel cooling the wort is the biggest hassle. I was thinking next time boil up 2 or 2.5 gallons of water, throw the whole pot in the freezer and on brew day put the block in the fermentator and siphon out the hot wort onto the block of ice. I think the slow siphon would make things cool quicker than simply dumping the pot onto the ice block.