Really cheap wort chilling idea?

Has anyone used freezee-pops to chill their wort before?

did this last night with about 100 of them too cool approx 5gal of wort and worked like a charm! about 15 min later had it down to room temp and able to go into the fermenter

make sure to sanitize them as well
might be something to think about for a 10 dollar solution for those brewers on a budget like me

Wow, that's a very clever idea. Did you throw them in right after flameout, or wait until it cooled a bit?

popped into bathtub 5 min after flameout and right after added the popsicles

I'd make sure they're rated to handle boiling temps or you could be leaching chemicals into your beer.

very good point....well i might have some really interesting tasting beer

I use them in my recirc chiller water. Once I reach about 90 or so on ground water, I swap my IC over to a pump in a 5 gallon bucket of water that sat in the freezer overnight. Once it starts to warm up, I throw a bag of freeze pops in the bucket to aid in the cooling.

I can go from boiling down to below fermentation temp in about 13 minutes.



That's condensation on the boil kettle.

How is this any cheaper or simpler than cold water baths followed by an ice bath?

Guys making your own wort chiller is not that much money. Im glad on our first batch we went to our local hardware store and bought some copper wiring and tubing few hose clamps. Bam wort chiller for 40 bucks, to me ice baths and all just seem like way to much work and to much pointless lifting threw the house. ( we also brew outside). Hope this helps cheers!

KISS Brew said:

How is this any cheaper or simpler than cold water baths followed by an ice bath?

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doesn't a cold water bath take much longer to cool than dropping ice directly into the wort? just because of the surface area issue?

a wort chiller is in the future for me just not exactly in my budget right now. i think it would cost approx 50-60 to get one not including fittings to run cold water from my sink.

not sure how well this would work in an appartment as well with lower water pressure . Has anyone had problems creating enough pressure to push through 50 ft or so of copper coil?

^ Low water pressure is not an issue; you don't need massive H2O velocity in your IC.

one reason to use an actual chiller over freezepops is what you said in your first post...

make sure to sanitize them as well

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they are a huge vector for infection. with a chiller, you throw it in the boil and it is positively sanitized. you just have to assume freezer pops were sanitized and that there were no air pockets or dirt on them hiding bacteria, and that your sanitizer was mixed to the proper concentration and that every square inch got enough contact time... too many variables for me.

sweeperkeeper said:

doesn't a cold water bath take much longer to cool than dropping ice directly into the wort? just because of the surface area issue?

a wort chiller is in the future for me just not exactly in my budget right now. i think it would cost approx 50-60 to get one not including fittings to run cold water from my sink.

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First of all, you want to drop ice into your wort???

Secondly, please see this thread for a breakdown of costs (at Lowe's).

Chill on!

twilbrew247 said:

First of all, you want to drop ice into your wort???

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Yes? I thought it was okay as long as you boiled then froze your water? but i am very inexperienced at this whole thing so there is a might fine chance i misread something

sweeperkeeper said:

Yes? I thought it was okay as long as you boiled then froze your water? but i am very inexperienced at this whole thing so there is a might fine chance i misread something

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You may be right on the sanitation side, but I'd be more concerned with IBUs. If you add water after the boil you mess with the hops. But I'm a hophead so you may not be concerned. I have heard you can overchill so be careful on that side too.

Hi all, Noob here,

I was thinking about filling a 2 liter bottle with water and freezing it a couple days before brew day. Then when I'm ready to chill the wort sanitize the bottle and drop it in the wort? Anyone have any opinions on that?

Cheers.

Cooling 5 gal of 212 deg wort with one 2L bottle to oitchable temps is not gonna happen. You will need a dozen or so.

I'd be worried about melting plastic.

A cheap way to do it is an ice bath with 2 liter bottles, get it down to 115-110 degrees, freeze 2 gallons spring water until really cold-add to fermenter and pour 115 wort in - always goes to 75 degrees.

This is partial boil of course - super simple, less equipment

Hi everyone,

I'm new too, but I like the idea of a low cost technique to cool the wort. I'm doing 1 gallon batches right now; and I might try something along the lines of the 2L idea- use a stainless steel alcohol shaker, boil water, freeze inside the shaker, sanitize and immerse on top of an ice bath. Of course, using some copper tubing from Lowes might prove to be a longer lasting and more cost effective solution. Any thoughts?