Ice cubes to cool wort ?

Hi fellow brewers,

I cool my wort down with a copper coil , getting 6 gallons down to 25 deg C in 15 minutes. It clearly takes longer and longer to get any cooler, due to Newton's laws of cooling, mainly...

So could I throw into the wort a load of ice cubes made from bottled water to get it down to around 10 deg C ?

I will bet myself a beer that Revvy will reply to this thread.

Sanitation issues are the big concern. The inside of your freezer is scary with bacteria like most places in your home, you just don't notice it because everything in there is kept cold enough to put beasties in hibernation. Warm it up and toss it in nice nutrient rich wort, though...

I've thought about bagging up some ice, giving the bags a soak in star san, then using them to get from 90F down to whatever, but I've never had the guts.

I have used ice cubes before - without those precautions - and it has worked out OK - but recklessness always catches up to you eventually, so I am not entirely sure if I will be doing it again...

Another possibility - sanitize a 1 or 2 liter soda bottle, fill it 2/3 of the way with boiled water that has cooled slightly (enough not to damage the plastic), seal it, freeze that, and then just cut away the plastic and throw your gigantor ice cube in. If your wort gets cool enough and its still floating around, just fish it out...

I've sanitized a large tupperware container, filled it with boiled and cooled water, and then frozen it into a big ice chunk. I put that ice chunk into the wort to cool it. It was a bit of a pain, since I had to boil, cool and then freeze the water, but it worked pretty decently.

Aww I'm guess Revvy didn't post since I said that. Oh well I guess I gotta buy myself a beer.

Get yourself a submersible pump. After you get down around 90F or so (whenever you start really losing cooling capacity), stick that bad boy in a bucket of ice, hook it up to your chiller, and recirc the water back into the bucket. Then sit back and watch your wort chill FAST (don't get too comfortable).

cdburg said:

I've sanitized a large tupperware container, filled it with boiled and cooled water, and then frozen it into a big ice chunk. I put that ice chunk into the wort to cool it. It was a bit of a pain, since I had to boil, cool and then freeze the water, but it worked pretty decently.

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Yup, I do the same, except with 4 chunks each time. It's dirt cheap, doesn't take much time and works quite well. It may not be as quick as a plate or counterflow chiller, but it certainly beats ice baths.

Thanks, everybody, I was going to sterilise some 2 litre lemonade bottles, fill them with bottled water and freeze them, then cut away the plastic and toss the giant ice cube in. Then brain engaged, so I will buy a one gallon plastic bottle of water, freeze that, cut away the plastic and toss that in...

BOBTHEukBREWER said:

Thanks, everybody, I was going to sterilise some 2 litre lemonade bottles, fill them with bottled water and freeze them, then cut away the plastic and toss the giant ice cube in. Then brain engaged, so I will buy a one gallon plastic bottle of water, freeze that, cut away the plastic and toss that in...

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Just a thought, but before you cut away the plastic, hit the frozen block with a hammer to break up the ice. Smaller chunks=more surface area, which means cooling more wort.

cdburg said:

I've sanitized a large tupperware container, filled it with boiled and cooled water, and then frozen it into a big ice chunk. I put that ice chunk into the wort to cool it. It was a bit of a pain, since I had to boil, cool and then freeze the water, but it worked pretty decently.

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If the water I would be using to top off the ale pail is the water i would be freezing to help cool the wort, why the need for extra sanitation - or should I assume that you need to boil all the water you use for your beer? Seems to me that if the water is safe enough to top off the wort - it's safe enough to freeze and put into hot wort in order to cool it. I am going to be trying this on Friday. If I'm way off please let me know.

BTW, for the brew police, I did do a search before asking and that's how I found this thread.

findthefish said:

Get yourself a submersible pump. After you get down around 90F or so (whenever you start really losing cooling capacity), stick that bad boy in a bucket of ice, hook it up to your chiller, and recirc the water back into the bucket. Then sit back and watch your wort chill FAST (don't get too comfortable).

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+3,257. Except I start mine right away with ice water, and just keep adding ice.

Bob

I wouldn't chance using ice. What I do is get my chiller to drop the temps to around 85F and then rack into my carboy and as the wort is being aerated with a fish pump and stone I have it in a water bath with ice bottles. After about 15 minutes the temps are down to 75F. The proces of aeration moves the wort around constantly which helps cool it.

BobNQ3X said:

+3,257. Except I start mine right away with ice water, and just keep adding ice.

Bob

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I have a small bucket to hold the pump, and put a small amount of water in it to cover the pump. I put frozen 2L bottles of water in there to drop the water temp. By time I am ready to turn on the pump the water is pretty cold and I dump in the ice from the icemaker.

Doing it this way I am able to take 5gal from 100F to 60-something-F without having to buy any ice.

To the OP: the benefit of prechilling your IC water is that the ice can be as dirty as you want; it never touches the wort.

I have done this method since i started brewing to cool my wort. I've never had a problem, you can cool your wort in 10-15 minutes easy, Just measure how much you will need for top off water and boil the water, cool it and put it in big zip lock bags, zip them up making sure to purge the air. when you are ready to use the ice, break it up in the bag and then dunk the ice bag in santizer before opening it. Then kill 2 birds with 1 stone, cooling and topping off. This method is just as safe as any other.....

I wouldnt use bottled water unless you sanitize it.. from an article I found:

Contamination
In a test by Natural Resources Defense Council, it was found that about 22% of water bottles contain chemical contaminations that could be dangerous for health. In another test by California State University, six water bottles were tested for purity. All the bottles failed the test for arsenic even though they cleared all other tests. Reason: When subjected to heat, water bottles leach their chemical components from the water. Exposure to heat in the form of sunlight, body heat and storage is common. The heat may be supplied when a water bottle is stored in your garage."

remember a gallon of water weighs about 8 lbs so you need to account for this amount of water in yhour wrt.

fratermus said:

I have a small bucket to hold the pump, and put a small amount of water in it to cover the pump. I put frozen 2L bottles of water in there to drop the water temp. By time I am ready to turn on the pump the water is pretty cold and I dump in the ice from the icemaker.

Doing it this way I am able to take 5gal from 100F to 60-something-F without having to buy any ice.

To the OP: the benefit of prechilling your IC water is that the ice can be as dirty as you want; it never touches the wort.

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Or just clean your water! lol. But you are right it doesn't really matter.

i use ice cubes all the time without infection. just make sure you boil them first.

brewski08 said:

i use ice cubes all the time without infection. just make sure you boil them first.

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I tried that and they all melted...

TeleTwanger said:

I wouldn't chance using ice. What I do is get my chiller to drop the temps to around 85F and then rack into my carboy and as the wort is being aerated with a fish pump and stone I have it in a water bath with ice bottles. After about 15 minutes the temps are down to 75F. The proces of aeration moves the wort around constantly which helps cool it.

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+2! I slow the water thru the chiller to a trickle at 85*, a slower flow takes away more heat. In the 10 min. it takes to go from 85 to70* I clean up a few things. The aeration and transfer to ferm bucket drop me to around 65*, and that was with 85* outside temps. I can cool from boil to 70 in 20 min. with my 40 ft. chiller, and the slower the water flows the more heat you take away.

beergynt said:

I tried that and they all melted...

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you probably forgot to use a secondary.