RichPetersen
Well-Known Member
I realize this may not be the proper area for this discussion but I couldn't find a more appropriate area for it. I have, for the last several brews, used ice to cool my wort. And by that I don't mean an ice bath. I use approximately 12 pounds of ice to cool 3 gallons of wort (12 pounds is close to 2 gallons by weight) and then top off to make 5.5 gallons. I have yet to have a problem but everywhere I search I hear nothing but doom and gloom about contamination from "commercial" ice (from the local Quick-Mart/7-11 etc). I know a lot of guys think I've just been lucky and maybe I have but to be honest, this has worked really well for me. It cooled the wort down in a heartbeat from 200+ degrees to around 75-ish almost immediately and my beer has been great so far. So I just wanted to put this out there for others, using "commercial" grade ice has been no problem so far for me and has worked REALLY well. And a whole lot cheaper than a wort chiller, at least in the short term.