do I really need a wort chiller?

I have made about 20 batches of beer and do not have wort chiller. I am too impatient to just wait for the boiled stuff to cool down on its own and even adding tap water (mine is 60 to 70) does not get the bucket down to under 85.

So........I add ice directly from the store.....and I dump it right onto the boiling hot wort. Have had no contamination problems. I could make a chiller very easily with some copper tubing and some fittings, but do I really need to. Why do some people cringe when you say that you cool your wort with ice?

store bagged ice can be contaminated

i put filtered tap water into about six large sandwich bags and freeze those. once I'm ready to cool down the wort i put the kettle in the sink, surround it with one large bag of store bought ice and fill the sink up with water. then i ease the six frozen blocks into the wort. this method works great for me, cools the wort incredibly fast and I don't have to stick anything into the wort (ie chiller) and there is nothing to clean up or sanitize.

My 2 cents is that most home brewers like to control all the variables towards making their beer the best. Adding store bought ice is adding an unknown of possible contamination so they don't do it. This attitude gets transfered to new homebrewers and its somewhat taboo in the community. That and if you get/make a wort chiller its just another piece of stuff to say you have. Also, I was spending $5+ each batch to get store bought ice to make a ice bath. I went ahead and got a wort chiller because I knew that it'd pay for itself fairly quickly over getting 30 lbs of ice each time I brewed.

Because ice as a cooler can be used for other purposes, and not having it available on brewing day, which could happen with a hot day and thirsty kids. Plus, when you mention "I'm making a wort chiller" to the kid at Home Despot, you get a really cool blank stare.

I brew about 1.5 - 2 gals. Several hours prior to brewing I place 4 - 1 gal jugs in the freezer. I use PUR filtered tap water. Most of the time my wort gets down into the low '70s and upper '60s within minutes.

The tap water has oxygen in it so I am aerating my wort at the same time.

solardollars said:

I have made about 20 batches of beer and do not have wort chiller. I am too impatient to just wait for the boiled stuff to cool down on its own and even adding tap water (mine is 60 to 70) does not get the bucket down to under 85.

So........I add ice directly from the store.....and I dump it right onto the boiling hot wort. Have had no contamination problems. I could make a chiller very easily with some copper tubing and some fittings, but do I really need to. Why do some people cringe when you say that you cool your wort with ice?

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As long as you're not doing a full boil you really don't need a wort chiller, IMHO. Adding store bought ice is debatable, but whether you do that or just set the pot in an ice bath, either way you can get to pitching temp quick enough as long as you just boiling 3 gallons or so.

Once you move to a full boil tho, you don't have the luxury to add liquid to lower the temp, and you can't do it quick enough in an ice bath with 5+ gallons. Then you have to have a wort chiller.

Getting a full boil down to 75deg. in 15min is worth it. Not only are you reducing contamination and getting a nice cold break, but your reducing time spent screwing around.

Others on here sanitize containers and put boiled then cooled water into them then freeze em w/ a lid. Nice way of doing it.

Just be sure you clean your chiller and stick it into the boiling wort about 15-20min prior.

Exo said:

Just be sure you clean your chiller and stick it into the boiling wort about 15-20min prior.

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Really? Do you think 15-20 minutes is necessary? I usually put mine in about 5 minutes before flameout.

Thought I remembered hearing that McDonald's ice contained more contaminants than a swab of their bathroom floor?

Sounds like boiling / sanitary freezing might be the way to go, if you aren't wort chillin'......

Skol!

I freeze a gallon of storebought water the night before the brew and just drop it in the wort. Well, I don't just drop it in, but you get the picture. only problem is, my kettle's not big enough to drop the gallon in so I have to siphon from the pot to avoid the old hot side aeration.

I use a wort chill & have since my second batch. It's 6 miles to the ice machine for me. I think the concerns about contaminated ice might be overstated. It happens, but not very often. I suspect any contamination at fast food places occurs when the ice is being dumped in the dispenser, not in the machine. I'd expect bagged ice to be fine.

This is Suetopia, how long would it take for a million lawyers to crank up a class action suit?