Ice in your brew

What would it do to the beer if you had sanitized water that was frozen in small blocks and then added to the beer after you finished cooking it to cool it down quicker. Why would this differ than topping off your primary up to 5 gallons before pitching the yeast.

I am NOT speaking from personal experience here, but I have read on many occasions where people do this very successfully. I have even read it here on this forum but I'm too lazy to dig back through the archives and provide a link... I'll leave that to you if you so desire! Beware however, if you use a hydrometer to measure your OG, you will need to mix your wort well prior to doing so. This method will lead to a stratified wort. The stratification is not a problem since the yeasties will get to work and mix it all up for you but this doesn't happen till after the time that the OG should be taken.

Using ice to cool your wort works fine! Just don't overdo it and bring your volume too high.

Sam75 said:

Using ice to cool your wort works fine! Just don't overdo it and bring your volume too high.

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Well, alrighty then...........................bottled water is going in the freezer tonight....Thanks

I actually used ice straight from my icemaker. Doesn't freezing stuff pretty much kill all the nasties? Seems to me that's what allows us to store meat and stuff in there for prolonged periods. Then again, maybe I just got lucky.

if you're worried about topping out the wort too high - why not freeze in specific volumes such as quarts or pints or gallons. that way you'd be assured as to how much you are putting in.

While being new and all, I watch food tv quite a bit and ALton Brown did a show on brewing beer. He boiled 3 gal of wort and then add 16 lbs of ice which gave him his 5 gal (water=8lbs per gal). Ice from a ice house will be purified water and safe to use to cool your wort. As noted watch your amounts as 16 lbs of ice might provide too much cooling and slow down the start of fermentation for quite some time. Ice from an ice machine might carry some "flavor" from your freezer if your freezer has a particular smell to it (not accusing just knowing some freezers have a taste about them). Good brewing. MPW

Actually, 16lbs will cool it down way too much. One 7lb bag and 1 pint of water = 1 gallon. That will bring it down below 80 degrees and ready to pitch right away. Grocery store ice *should* be sterile. You might want to run sanitizer or bleach around the outside of the bag just to be sure, but it will work fine.

Kephren said:

Actually, 16lbs will cool it down way too much. One 7lb bag and 1 pint of water = 1 gallon. That will bring it down below 80 degrees and ready to pitch right away. Grocery store ice *should* be sterile. You might want to run sanitizer or bleach around the outside of the bag just to be sure, but it will work fine.

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Ice bought in the stores - the bags you are talking about - is NOT sterile. Many ice manufacturers do heat up the water, but not to the point where it becomes sanitary and certainly not for reasons of sanitation. They heat it up because, believe it or not, it will flash freeze quicker if it starts out hot, and that helps it become so clear.

Besides, the bags tear while in the freezer. Haven't you noticed that? Factor in to that all the people who stick their grubby hands into the freezer to grab the bags...well, it makes me a little queasy to think about it.

Just know that store-bought ice is no more sanitized than the ice in your freezer's ice trays or what comes out of your ice maker!

I've been using store-bought block ice since I've started and I've had great success. I find that the way I do my boil 15 lbs brings the wort down to 75 degrees with constant stirring. I've never had any problems with flavors/contamination. I just funnel the wort to the carboy and it aerates/cools it down all I need and it's ready for the yeast.