Chilling Wort for fermentation.

[jake-k]

I'm a new brewer, done about four batches, and i don't own a wort chiller.
Is is safe to add ice directly to the wort for chilling along with a water bath? I would think if you take the necessary steps for sterilizing treys and water that this would be okay. LOOKING FOR ADVICE PLEASE....

 

[Revvy]

There's almost nothing personally that I would be confortable with doing it. Though some folks, even Alton Brown do it. Before I got my wort chiller though, I kept the ice on the outside of the kettle, in a water bath. Just not touching my wort.

 

[mikebowman]

I've read that you shouldn't do that, as freezers can harbor lots of bacteria and stuff. Presumably, if you used clean water and froze it in sanitized ziploc bags or something like that, then either dumping the ice into the wort or sanitizing the outside of the bag and putting it in, you'd be fine.

I've heard that filling 2L pop bottled with water, freezing, then sanitizing the outside of the bottle and putting them in the wort can be a good route. I've never tried it though

 

[Patstarr777]

Put ice in a Zip lock type freezer bag, then sanitize the bag before it goes in the wort.

 

[jake-k]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I will have to buck up and get the wort chiller. Sounds like thats the way to go.

 

[ChshreCat]

I've done it in the past. Made sure the container was sanitized and sealed and that the water was of the same quality and sanitation that I'd use for topping up a partial boil brew with.

I do put my top-up water in the fridge. That lets me only chill down to around 80-90F (depending on volume) before sending it to the fermenter and topping up.

 

[mrk305]

My LHBS has free classes and they teach to use a bag of ice. I made my first few batches that way.

 

[IceFisherChris]

I did it a few times before I made my wort chiller. I used ice that I made, and also ice from the store. You might have an issue occasionally but it's probably rare. If you sterilize everyhting then you should have absolutely no problems.

A wort chiller is awesome and it saves a lot of time, plus you get hot water for a nice foot soak afterward (I don't think any of you would ever want to use my fermentor )
Copper is expensive though...

 

[NorthRiverS]

I took quart sized water bottles, sanitized them, filled them with filtered water, and froze them. Then on brewing day I cut the bottle off with a sanitized knife and tossed it into the hot wort. Cooled the wort down way faster than ice water bath alone. So far no problems.

NRS

 

[Petho]

The guy that tought me how to brew took ice straight from the ice maker and dumped it in. Beer was great.
That said, I have a wort chiller.

 

[jake-k]

Thanks for all your input. I may look into building my wort chiller being as I sell copper tubing. All advise is appreciated. Still alot wet behind the ears.