cooling an ehrlin meyer

can I just put it straight into an ice bath or will this crack it?

It's unlikely that it will crack, but not impossible. I prefer to put it in regular cold water first, then an ice bath just to be safe.

They are supposed to be able to take the shock of going into the ice bath hot. Just because it makes me nervous I usually go into a room temp to warm bath first for a couple minutes, then drain the water, add cool tap water and start adding ice. It may not be necessary, but it makes me feel better.

make sure it's actually tempered glass. Just because the shape is correct doesn't mean the glass is. I know of a lhbs near me that sells them and the glass in just regular glass.
Pyrex or tempered should be on the flask somewhere.

Id just throw it in the fridge or freezer and wait a little while. Then you just have to worry about convection, no conduction to shatter your wonderful glassware.

z987k said:

make sure it's actually tempered glass. Just because the shape is correct doesn't mean the glass is. I know of a lhbs near me that sells them and the glass in just regular glass.
Pyrex or tempered should be on the flask somewhere.

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Or "borosilicate".

I do as the other posters said - go to tap water first, then ice water.

-Joe

Unfornately, Pyrex doesn't mean anything anymore. Either look for the word borosilicate on the flask, or assume nothing about its ability to survive thermal shock. This changed in 1998 with the sale of the brand. More Here.

passedpawn said:

Unfornately, Pyrex doesn't mean anything anymore. Either look for the word borosilicate on the flask, or assume nothing about its ability to survive thermal shock. This changed in 1998 with the sale of the brand. More Here.

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at least it's still tempered. I did not know that they switched though.

"Pyrex laboratory glassware is also still made of borosilicate glass."

z987k said:

make sure it's actually tempered glass. Just because the shape is correct doesn't mean the glass is. I know of a lhbs near me that sells them and the glass in just regular glass.
Pyrex or tempered should be on the flask somewhere.

Click to expand...

Wow. I have been lucky. I better check mine. I just assumed it was Pyrex. I've been putting boiling wort in mine for starters and then adding ice water around it to cool.

If your Erlenmyer says pyrex, borosilicate or kimax(another brand of lab glassware) on it, it will be fine.

Guys, Pyrex is not a type of glass anymore. It is just a brand name for lab equip, cookware and storage stuff. However, if you do purchase glassware that has Pyrex labeled on it you are usually still safe to assume it is tempered, but not always safe for thermal shock. Most pyrex materials are now made out of non-borosilicate material that is much less thermal resistant, esp in the U.S. An Erlenmeyer labeled pyrex, yea you should be safe, but other non lab ware are probably not. They are tempered but just cant stand that thermal shock and like to break. If you want to make sure, just google your specific piece of glass ware and find out what material it was made out of, borosilicate is ideal!

I have a 1000ml borosilicate flask and I have done over 20 yeast starters with it. In every case, I have plunged it straight from a 5 minute boil on an electric range (ceramic cooktop, not burners) into an ice bath all 20-some times with no problems whatsoever.

My $0.02.

I heat my Simax 2000ml flask directly on a nat gas stove, let it sit with the flame off for about 3 minutes, then right to icewater. It scares the crap out of me but apparently it's ok.