Cooling down wort w/ Cold Water or Ice.

Is it a bad idea to use cold water or even ice to cool down the wort?

Ex: I have 2.5 gallons of wort in the brew kettle that is just pulled off the stove and put into an ice bath in the kitchen sink. I add 1.5 gallons cold water/ice to the hot wort to bring the temp down faster. I transfer the 4 gallons of wort into the carboy, add one more gallon of water bringing the total to 5 gallons, and then pitch the yeast.

Does that cool down the wort in a bad way?

Is it wrong to think of the wort as a "tea?" I'm a bit confused because some people recommend making a 1.5 gallon wort and others recommend a 2.5 gallon wort, then top off @ the end to make 5 gallons. Is their an advantage to a thicker/thinner wort?

Thanks in advance, happy weekend

-Eric

I have heard it said (no first hand knowledge) that freezers and refrigerators are havens for bacteria. If that is the case, it follows that frozen or refrigerated water would be very suspect. In the past, I have boiled a couple of gallons of water, sanitized a container, and then left the boiled water in the sanitzed container in the fridge for 24 hours, adding it to the wort after the wort had cooled down to 100 degrees or so. This did bring the temperature of the wort down considerably.

Sanitation is the big problem with adding water directly to wort.

Boiling a larger amount of wort (2.5g vs. 1.5g) makes better use of the hops and reduces caramelization of the wort.

Let's answer the second half of your question first. The larger the volume of wort the better. Use the largest amount of boil water you can.

That being said, unless you can do a full boil, you will have to add water to get to 5 gallons. I have used ice and cool water many times in the past to cool my wort before I bought my chiller and have had no ill effects.

Would you take ice cubes out of your freezer, put them in a bottle, cap it, then six months later drink it?

No doubt, you might get lucky.

I know most drink from their tap or house filtered water, but IMO, the time in the fermentor + bottle/keg give "nasties" time to multiply and impact the flavor / quality of your beer.

Most folks sanitize anything that is gonna end up in their beer. While it's possible to use boiled water to make the ice you use, phishfood is correct about the stuff lurking in your freezer and the potential problem.

Eventually, most folks want to do full boils which means there is no room for cool water or ice.

As you change the volume of your boils, it will change the hop utilization so you will need to adjust for that.

I do 2.5 - 3 gallon boils and use bottled spring water (unopened until you need to top off) to top off the wort volume when putting it in the primary. I use an ice bath in my sink to drop the pot in, which normally cools the 2.5 - 3 gallon boil in about 35 minutes. No problems so far!

I agree with other posters though, don't use stinky ice to top off wort. Use fresh water, and use the ice for the ice bath.

Personally, I do 4.5 gallon batches (5.5 gallon boils) 2 X per month, and I always cool with ice in some water. It took awhile to figure out, but my process is down pat now with little waste of ice.

1) Surround pot with tap water, on cold, THREE TIMES.... this will bring the temp to well below 150.... usually around 130
2) Then start using ice in the next batch of cold water - I have an ice maker in my fridge so its easy. 2 bags of store bought ice would do the trick. ADD SALT TO THE ICE. LOTS. Sorry for the caps, but this is very important. I can get my entire wort down to 75 degrees from 130-140 using the equivalent of 1.5 ish bags of ice, within about 5-10 mins. Salt makes the ice melting point lower, and pretty much improves your cooling efficiency by 200%.

Side note - I have started making bigger batches, just adjusting my IBUs and grain sizes using beersmith, but the same size boils. I use tap water, every time. I have had a total of ZERO issues. My tap water has an ideal PH, and honestly the bacteria levels are so low there is nothing to worry about. Think about it. You drink it, unboiled. So, your beer will be a toxic environment, with the C02 and the alcohol. Pretty much no risk of infection. Tap water is great.

Thanks for the tips.