Cooling wort with ice?

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soontobepcv

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Just wondering, since I don't have my wort chiller nearby, if it's recommended to add 2 gallons' worth of ice to 3 gallons of hot wort to bring it down fast? If I would be adding tap water anyway...

Thanks.
 
It's come up a time or two here. A couple of times in the past I've frozen gallon jugs of bottled water, sanitized the outside (Star San) and then cut away the plastic and added to the hot wort (in the brewpot). I didn't have any problem, but it probably adds a risk. I use a chiller now.

Rick
 
Could be dangerous, lord knows what's inside the ice.

Better option for that ice: make a water bath. Fill your sink halfway with water, then put your pot in, add ice in the water around the pot. Stir frequently and add more ice to cool in about 20/25 minutes. I just buy the small bag from my local 7-11 for like $1.50
 
Could be dangerous, lord knows what's inside the ice.

Better option for that ice: make a water bath. Fill your sink halfway with water, then put your pot in, add ice in the water around the pot. Stir frequently and add more ice to cool in about 20/25 minutes. I just buy the small bag from my local 7-11 for like $1.50

That's what I do.... I pick up 2 bags of ice on brew day. I usually do 2 change overs of ice and water, and can get 4.5 gallons down in about 40 minutes...and 3 to 3.5 gallons down in a half hour.
 
On the food networks show GOOD EATS Alton makes beer from extract....boils 3 gallons.......has one 8 lb bag of ice in the primary plus one refrigerated gallon of water and adds the hot wort on top of it.
 
i just use an ice bath and with a 2 gallon boil got it down to 80 degree within 15 min then added more cool water and it came to 62 degrees
 
On the food networks show GOOD EATS Alton makes beer from extract....boils 3 gallons.......has one 8 lb bag of ice in the primary plus one refrigerated gallon of water and adds the hot wort on top of it.

Yeah and he made a few other mistakes in that episode as well:D

Here's some thorough deconstructions of those episodes....Here's a couple from teh googlze.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=46677

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=27212
 
Yeah and he made a few other mistakes in that episode as well:D

Here's some thorough deconstructions of those episodes....Here's a couple from teh googlze.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=46677

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=27212


Alton is awesome I will hear nothing of this bashing........dang it


ok ...so he did make a lot of mistakes, and maybe his beer wasn't actually "good eats" but I still love the man. Not in the gay sense either (pervs) like a man loves a fine cigar......or a good brew :)
 
Just wondering, since I don't have my wort chiller nearby, if it's recommended to add 2 gallons' worth of ice to 3 gallons of hot wort to bring it down fast? If I would be adding tap water anyway...

Thanks.

It works fantastically if you make your own ice from boiled or bottled water - just be extra careful to sanitize everything. I wouldn't use store-bought ice or in-fridge ice makers for this. What I do is use a couple of ice baths to quickly drop the temperature into the mid-100s, then I add my blocks of ice to take it the rest of the way down into the low 70s.
This is a great option for places where wort chillers don't work well because of high groundwater temperatures.
 
Amen brother. I put a gallon of wally world Spring Water in the freezer for a few hours, throw another 2 of 'em into the fridge...

that'll get your temps down in a hurry.

bags of ice directly into your wort - do-able, but riskier than other options. you might get away with it a hundred (or two) times before you get a contaminated batch, or you might get a contamination on batch 1. but the odds are a little more against you than with a sanitized chiller or even slightly frozen, slushy bottled water like i use.

they just don't clean those ice machines very much, even when they start with RO water.
 
im curious as to how you get the big chunk of ice out of the bottle to throw into the wort. do you cut the bottle open with a sanitized box cutter or something?
 
those cheap plastic containers from ziplock work great for sticking in the freezer to make big blocks of ice, and its easy to get the ice out.
 
Well what i want to do to minimize prep time is buy a few gallons of mineral water and freeze them. i would assume you use a sterile blade of some sort to cut the plastic from around the cube but was looking for some guidance.
 
Good tip Blindtiger.

Just get some Ziploc plastic food containers to freeze the water and then reuse them. How cool is that?

Pop open, pour in water, put on lid, stack in freezer, freeze, pot off lid and dump in pot. A lot easier than cutting open a gallon jug with water frozen in the handle.
 
I've used a combination of techniques. First, I hear that the ice bought in bags is made from distilled water. I've used it before with good results. A better technique is to freeze a gallon of spring water (not distilled....for better flavor's sake), cut away the bottle and add it to the hot wort. If you use this along with an immersion bath, the ice block may not completely melt and it cold bring your wort temperature down significantly below your desireed fermentation temp.......think delayed fermentation. Finally, I learned another good technique: Before you start your boil, put a gallon of Spring water or whichever water you're using) in the freezer. After flame out, use an immersion ice bath and add the water to the pot from the freezer.....it should be just the ight temp at this time to bring your wort down to the right temp in a quick manner. Keep an eye on the temp during the process....if it's too warm, add ice to the immersion bath water. All of the previous posts were spot on, I jus thought you'd like a few more techniques. Good luck!
 
I just put a couple of gallons of bottled water in the freezer just before I go out and start the burner. I brew, then cool the pot in the sink with ice. The top up water in the freezer is super cold, sometimes the top is starting to freeze, just barely. That water cools the wort the rest of the way down. maybe 20 minutes for the cooling process. I also salt the ice in the sink.
 
Good tip Blindtiger.

Just get some Ziploc plastic food containers to freeze the water and then reuse them. How cool is that?

Pop open, pour in water, put on lid, stack in freezer, freeze, pot off lid and dump in pot. A lot easier than cutting open a gallon jug with water frozen in the handle.

This is what I did when I did partial boils. However bag ice, if you are comfortable with it being sanitary enough, would be a lot faster.
 
This is what I did when I did partial boils. However bag ice, if you are comfortable with it being sanitary enough, would be a lot faster.

Like was said before (several years ago actually) bagged ice is made from RO water, which is pure.
 
Before I had a chiller, I used to buy the more expensive alhambra ice from bevmo. Never had a contamination problem with that.
 
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.
 
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.
 
I have brewed two batches thus far...knew from get go I was not the ice bath type nor want to spend money on copper tubing, etc...one guy on here said he tosses in store bought ice...though many would warn against this, he has had no contaminated batches! My first batch I gave in and started risky from start, tossed in 20lbs of store bought ice...immediately cooled to 65deg's!! I know risky BUT it worked. 2nd batch I just boiled water and poured into star san covered tupperware from dollar store. Took 5 small containers (maybe 2-3cups in each) of the ice to chill 2nd batch to 78deg immediately. I still think that the water really doesn't need boiling...no different putting tap water into container treated w/ star san to freeze than it is just to add tap water directly to wort to top off! This will be my method from here on.
 
I've taken similar risks and things have turned out great for me. My wife gets medication sent to the house and each time the meds come with frozen ice packets. I fill up my sink with freezing cold water, add store bought ice to the sink water, and then add a few of the ice packets. I then sanitize four or five ice packets and drop those into my wort. I've been able to cool it to 80 degrees the last two times. Very easy process.
 
All of my extract batches are cooled by putting two 5 lb. bags of ice into the fermentor. After the boil I pour the hot wort into the fermentor over the ice. I then top off to 5.25 gallons with cold water. I brings the wort down to pitching temp almost instantly. I have done several batches this way without issue. I'm sure that many will say that you could introduce some type of bacteria or raise a sanitation issue, but the truth is...that could happen anywhere in the normal process. a spoon...a finger...a lid. So don't worry about it. Just maintain a well sanitized environment in your brew space and everything should be fine.
 
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