Another successful brew... But a few ?'s

Well hello again. Today I have completed my third successful brew which is already bubbling happily in the fermenter. As you can see from my signature this batch was a weizenbier.

Anyways, while brewing I thought of a question for yall. I am doing an extract brew which is using a partial boil of only about 2 gallons. I know the importance of getting a good cold break and getting the brew down to yeast pitching temperatures quickly. My method right now is using a tub of water filled with ice and just immersing the brew pot in the ice water. Today my ice melted faster than normal and I didn't have any ice left but the temps were down to about 100*F.

I strained the brew into my fermenter then added the water to top off the fermenter as directed. I adjusted the temps of the water so that it would reach the ideal temp which i understand is around 70-75*

Anyways my question is if i am doing a partial boil, is there any harm in using the method I used? Either way the top off water is going to go in there, why can't I use that to help cool my brew?

Something also I read today that was kinda surprising is that hops will kill dogs! Apparently if a dog eats hops, they are likely to suffer from hypothermia?!

Thanks in advance for your advice, and happy brewing
Brian

nothing wrong with that method.. My BIL does partials and he takes his top off water boils it then after it gets to room temp he chills it in the freezer.And then dumps it in before he even does the ice bath.

It's fine, most people brew that way. Just don't rely on it to be your only source of cooling.

Good to hear. I have never relied on this in the past but it was a last ditch effort since all my ice melted and I still had luke warm brew. Thanks for the quick responses! Nothing beats having a community of brew master's at the touch of your fingers!

Cheers
Brian

Yep. That's the way I did it.

Cold water bath down to around 100 and then in go my 2-3 gallons of water that were in the freezer for 1-2 hours (just on the verge of freezing).

Got me to 70 degrees every time.

The ice bath is important though, because you don't want to splash hot (freshly boiled) wort. That splashing will aerate it and cause some off flavors. Cool it down to around 100 first.

Good advice, I always pour the hot wort into the ice water then run three fans on the carboy. I'm gonna start cooling the wort to 100 first. Probably why I'm buying a 6gl better bottle cause my glass has cracks around the bottom, Doohhh!

Now that I'm making better brews I'm noticing flavors more and looking for ways to get those little homebrew flavors out of there.