Can I cool my wort with ice?

I have a strange taste to all my beers. I have never tasted anything like this before. I think it may be a metalic or soapy taste. It doesn't taste like soap, but it has a sweet hint that reminds me of soap.

I was reading in "Joy of Home Brewing" troubleshooting guide for solutions to my taste, and it said in a list of things to do:

Do not add ice to cool your wort. (my kit told me that was ok)

I am building a wort chiller, but I have another brew I'm doing this weekend.

I've done it with no noticeable problems. How does a glass of icewater taste? like freezer burn?

I have done it also, with no noticeable differences. I'm sure it has everything to do with your ice/water quality.

How do I test my water quality. It taste fine to drink.

Well I've heard that freezers are loaded with bacteria so that alone would prevent me from using ice straight from the freezer. I'd just stick with the ice bath. If you want you could freeze some soda bottles then sanitize them before putting in the wort.

I have had much better luck putting a covered tupperware in the freezer. Drop in dat one HUGE icecube, and the short time in the freezer absorbs less 'flavah'"

Could be your brewing process, age of beer, not fully conditioned, temps, etc. Could be as simple as your glass not being washed well or something more complex. If your ice tastes fine then I doubt it is that. When I did use ice I sanitized large plastic food safe containers and froze filtered water for large blocks of ice.

Metallic & soapy are usually two different problems. If you read Palmer "How to Brew" he states that metallic can be from improperly stored grains - meaning old brew kits. I would also boil a bit of water in your brew pot and then see how it tastes after it cools down to eliminate that as a source of "metallic".

using ice is just fine as long as you take steps to prevent contamination.

1. boil the water first.
2. put water in a sanitized and sealable container
3. seal the container
4. on brew day sanitize the outside of the container
5. drop sanitized container in wart

Ice works fine, it may take a little longer but as long as you keep an eye on it you will be ok.

I've been using ice with no problems so far.

I buy big bags of ice from the grocery store and they work just fine.

I can see this is a slightly older post, however...

My plan was to take spring water and put it in ziplock bags to prevent contamination. Freeze roughly a gallon of it and then use that to cool down my wort. That is, I'll put 2-3 gallons of hot wort in a fermenter with a gallon of ice and then fill up the rest with cold water.

Good idea? Bad idea?

Goatey said:

I can see this is a slightly older post, however...

My plan was to take spring water and put it in ziplock bags to prevent contamination. Freeze roughly a gallon of it and then use that to cool down my wort. That is, I'll put 2-3 gallons of hot wort in a fermenter with a gallon of ice and then fill up the rest with cold water.

Good idea? Bad idea?

Click to expand...

boil the water before you freeze it and wait for it to melt before you top off with more water. ice takes up more room than water and if you top off before it melts you will wind up with less wart than you intend to.