Brew Pot in Freezer?

I got a new brew pot and it doesn't fit in my sink, which is where I usually chill the wort. Is it safe to put a lid on it and stick it in the freezer for a little while? Please reply quickly, I have about 25 mins left in the boil. Thanks!

It would be highly inefficient. You'll completely warm up the freezer compartment and the humidity will ice it up. It will not cool your wort off.

yes, do it if you have no other alternative

oooh nope man sorry, it'll cool down REALLY REALLY slowly...

You're freezer isn't meant to take THAT much heat out.

How about you're bath tub? And buying an IC!

Even in the bath tub with cold tap water will probably cool it faster. Sens someone out to grab a couple bags of ice and put them in the tub too.

Putting a hot pot of water in a freezer is how you DEFROST a freezer.

all good points, thanks, i'll just go to the tub

get a lot of ice, if not, keep checking the temp of the tub; if the temp creeps up refresh it with more cold water.

Speaking of cooling wort, when brewing with extract you usually only boil about three gallons. Could you not just add ice to the hot wort to cool it down quickly? Would there be a problem with that?

only issue i can think of would be sanitation of the ice, but then i just started with the home brewing

I thought about that, but I always just add tap water anyways (which I doubt is any cleaner than the ice). Thanks for the reply!

pavlovsdog said:

Speaking of cooling wort, when brewing with extract you usually only boil about three gallons. Could you not just add ice to the hot wort to cool it down quickly? Would there be a problem with that?

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I have been putting ice in my batches lately with great sucess. I use these to make the ice, and it chills the wort in about 10-15 mins. I clean and sanitize the rubbermaid containers, then use the same water source that I use to top off to 5 gallons. I have been happy with that method so far.

ArroganceFan said:

I have been putting ice in my batches lately with great sucess. I use these to make the ice, and it chills the wort in about 10-15 mins. I clean and sanitize the rubbermaid containers, then use the same water source that I use to top off to 5 gallons. I have been happy with that method so far.

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I did that with my first brew but figured since its such a simple idea and no one else was doing then it must have some negative effect on the beer. However, that was probably the best brew I've made (it was a wheat)

I top it off with tap water as well and havent had any problems yet. It drops the temp very quickly too

Why not take 2 gallon water jugs and put them in the freezer so you can just cut the bottle open with a sanitized knife. Then you have really big ice cubes.

Hell Brew said:

Why not take 2 gallon water jugs and put them in the freezer so you can just cut the bottle open with a sanitized knife. Then you have really big ice cubes.

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I tried this but it was a big ol pain in the a$$, the rubbermaid containers are much easier to get the ice out of.

I will have to try the Tupperware icecubes. Good thing about being married is I have a whole cabinet in the kitchen devoted to Tupperware! Every size imaginable. Apparently we registered for them?

Ice is definitely not a good idea for brewing even for extract. I will start off with a list of reasons.
First unless you are boiling your water first you are taking a huge chance of having non-sterile water. The freezer is a haven for bacteria that are just waiting to thaw.
Second, Ice is wildly inefficient as a cooling method. Cold water actually convects heat ( or lack there of) better than ice.
Third if you only have 3 gallons of wort. You really only need to cool it down to around 90F and when you top off the carboy with your cold water, it will go down to 70F. Placing your pot in your bath tub with cold water will quickly and safely in around a half hour.
Fourth never use tap water for anything when you are brewing. (unless you filter it) I work in a micro lab and our RO water has around 4400 bacteria units in per ml and is 2-300 times cleaner then your water at home. Legal specs for water are 200 fecal coliform units in your water per ml (fecal is exactly what you think it is). You will see a noticeable difference in your beer from your first batch when you switch to a filtered water.


Visit my shop at DIY brewing Company

I use ice and have great success, I buy 2 gal of distilled and freeze it. set it out 20 min before end of boil to defrost a little. wack it a little with a hammer to break up the ice and cut it. I have done 4 batches this way and no problems. From what I have read from miller is if the water is good to drink then it is good to brew.

I scoop out the ice in about 5 min. it is a quick cold cooldown. to each there own, i'm drinking a brown ale now I brewed that way......... tastes pretty good.

I have small pots and a wimpy stove so that I did for my last beer was this:

1. Split up the DME into three small pots on different burners add water and turn on the burners.
2. For the smaller two pots as soon as they boiled I stuck one in the freezer and one in the fridge with the lids on (also had a bunch of water bottles in the fridge).
3. With the third bigger pot I did the regular stuff.
4. When I'm ready to pitch I stuck the bottled water, the brew pot on the stove and the two in the fridge/freezer all in together and mixed them up good. Thanks to the fridge the combined wort was at a good temp for pitching right away.

Bit inelegant but it worked for me, yeast is healthy and there's no signs of infection.

ArroganceFan said:

I have been putting ice in my batches lately with great sucess. I use these to make the ice, and it chills the wort in about 10-15 mins. I clean and sanitize the rubbermaid containers, then use the same water source that I use to top off to 5 gallons. I have been happy with that method so far.

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How many gallons is your wort? I've tried this method with 2 gallons of wort and it dropped the temp down to 100 quickly. But then it took another 30-40 min to get down to 80 and melt the remaining ice.