Another damn noob asking about cooling!

I get the point of cooling the wort fast as possible - plan to use an ice bath - but how about gently adding ice to the wort too?

Done a lotta research but can't find any mention of adding ice to the wort so I'm guessing it's not the done thing. However, we have to add water later anyway to top up the fermenter so why not do it as ice in the wort?

If there is no reason not to add ice, can commercially bought ice be used? supposedly it's sterile.

I believe it is not done due to the risk of infection.

boil water...and use that to make ice...should be fine....

you will soon discover missing with ice will get out. You can make a basic immerision chiller for $30ish dollars. If you calculate how much ice you use it will pay for itself in now time...and work faster

Thanks CTS - wow, that was a fast reply you did - our ice is bagged and states 'sterile' - are you advising not to trust it?

Ya Shumed - I plan an ice bath for sure - just wondered about additional ice to add to the wort.

I know people have added ICE to their wort especially if you are planning on top off water to reach 5 gallons

one technique is to dump your wort in the fermentator with your ice and let that cool

I have never done it personally though.....brewing is all about experimenting...don't be afraid to try something....and learn from the process

No problem. Nothing else to do at work, haha.

Personally I would not trust it. Would not take much to infect a batch of beer. But that's just me.

Try making a wort chiller, I made one last week not knowing a thing. I even kinked the tube in 3 places and it still cooled my wort from 212 to 80 in less then 15min.

Cool. Thanks Schmed - you're right - experimentation and living a little on the edge is where it's at.

the main objection is the risk of infect. so be careful, avoid infection, and you'll be fine. i've used ice in almost all my brews (boiled water that went into a sterilized container) and i'm batting 1.000 so far.

this topic has been covered extensively here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/why-ice-cooling-wort-bad-309120/

When I was doing partial boils, I found that chilling bottled water in the refrigerator worked really well. Perhaps you might try that instead of ice chips?

Also, when you look at the numbers, a wort chiller is a lot cheaper in the long run than buying sacks of ice.

Great link - says it all. Many thanks.