Am i going to risk cracking the pot?

I'm going to use a very top of the line professional heavy gaudge stainless steel pot as my brew kettle. I'm going to do the fill the sink with ice and place pot of boiling wort into ice method to cool it down. Will I be running a risk of cracking the pot?

You shouldn't, especially if it's a big/heavy pot.

You've got a ton of thermal mass going in that ice, the temp is not going to drop as fast as you would think. You'll probably end up with a sink full of warm water and wort that's still to hot, based on my experience.

I'd fill your sink with cold tap water, insert pot, let sit a few, drain and repeat. Do this a few times to get the wort down the first few degrees. Save the ice for that troublesome patch from "warm" to "cool". Using this method I've found it goes a lot faster than using up all my ice right away.

And if you're going to be topping up with water, it helps to freeze some brew water the night before. Then you can drop a big ice cube right into your wort.

When I made mine, I did that. Two small plastic containers about 80% full gave me just enough ice to drop the temp quick. I had a third that I probably could've used, but the first two gave me such a big drop that I was nervous about getting the wort too cold.

ChshreCat said:

And if you're going to be topping up with water, it helps to freeze some brew water the night before. Then you can drop a big ice cube right into your wort.

When I made mine, I did that. Two small plastic containers about 80% full gave me just enough ice to drop the temp quick. I had a third that I probably could've used, but the first two gave me such a big drop that I was nervous about getting the wort too cold.

Click to expand...

What do you mean when you say "brew water"? Do you mean water that I use use to brew with? Do I need to boil first (to sanatize) then freeze?

imaguitargod said:

What do you mean when you say "brew water"? Do you mean water that I use use to brew with? Do I need to boil first (to sanatize) then freeze?

Click to expand...

Treat it exactly how you would water you top your beer up with. I used bottled spring water for mine. Some folks boil and/or filter tap water. Some are satisfied with it right out of the tap. However you do it, just use water that's the same as what you'd put into your wort othewise.

Perfect, thanks!

ChshreCat said:

T Some are satisfied with it right out of the tap. However you do it, just use water that's the same as what you'd put into your wort othewise.

Click to expand...

At least boil your tap water to get the chlorine out.

Definately. Even if you don't have chlorine in your water, I'd boil it.

Just saying that different people brew different ways.

What if I use distilled water? Or does the yeast need the minerals in the tap water?

imaguitargod said:

What if I use distilled water? Or does the yeast need the minerals in the tap water?

Click to expand...

You can use distilled water if you are doing an extract-based beer. There should already be minerals in the extract from the process of making the malt extract for the yeast.

If you are doing all-grain, you won't want to use distilled water because of lack of minerals in the water (I assume you are using primarily malt extract.).

I'm doing partial mash.

imaguitargod said:

I'm doing partial mash.

Click to expand...

Unless you are doing water treatment to achieve a particular water style or know your local tap water profile, the safest bet is to limit the distilled water to the same proportion of malt extract you are using in your recipe (i.e. if your recipe consists of half extract and half grains, use up to half distilled water).

It's not really a hard and fast rule, you basically don't want to overuse the distilled water to the point where there isn't enough minerals in the wort to help out the yeast.

If you are doing a partial boil and topping off with distilled water, you should be fine.

I won't bother getting distilled water. I just get the bottled spring water. It's on the same shelf. No chlorine and it should be bug free. And it's usually a little cheaper than distilled water.