Can I add cold water to lower to pitching temp?

I was wondering if I could just add really cold water to reach my pitching temp? I boil around 3.5 gallons, so if I add around 1.5 gallons of really cold water to bring it around pitching temp, would that affect the beer's clarity, etc? Thanks

Jason

Not at all. although some will say to boil the water first to avoid contamination, i just throw a couple gallon jugs of bottled water in the freezer a few hrs before brewing.

That's what I do too, put the store bought water in the freezer for a while until it just starts forming ice on the outsides and top and then into the wort it goes. Combine that with an icebath and it's pitching time in just seconds.

just be careful of hot side aeration, and over shooting the temp and making it too cold.

that said, I can get 3gallons of wort cooled to 70F in a water bath, in under 30 minutes...not even using ice (but ice sure speeds it up).

malkore said:

just be careful of hot side aeration, and over shooting the temp and making it too cold.

that said, I can get 3gallons of wort cooled to 70F in a water bath, in under 30 minutes...not even using ice (but ice sure speeds it up).

Click to expand...

What is hot side aeration?

Hot side aeration is basically when your beer gets oxygenated while it is still quite hot. It leaves cardboard and sherry off-flavours. Do a forum search, there are a couple of threads dedicated to it.

As for adding water to coo, that's what I usually do. Filter it, put it in the freezer for a couple of minutes, and dump it in. I've enver had any problems, but perhaps I'm under-cautious.

Hot side aeration is something that almost never happens. In seven years of homebrewing, I've never tasted an example except at an Off-flavor seminar. Nor have I ever met someone who had the problem.

Hot side aeration is definitely a highly debated topic. Some swear it exists, other swear they splash the hell out of hot wort and never have any off flavors, particularly staleness, even after months in the bottle...which is how HSA is supposed to present itself...during long term storage.

aeration after fermentation oxidizes more quickly.

I personally prefer to err on the side of caution and I avoid splashing until I am under 90F.