Cooling Wort

[Benny Blanco]

I was at the grocery store and I bought a gallon container of spring water when I got an idea.

Now, I'm new to brewing so this may already be a well known method, but I haven't read about it in these forums thus far. What's to stop me from freezing an entire gallon of water in the container and adding it to the primary? I was planning on taking the gallon of ice out of the container and putting it in the bucket, then pouring the hot (or semi-cooled in ice bath) 3 gallons of wort on top of it. I can then fill the rest of it to equal 5 gallons and see how much the ice drops the temp.

Any objections?

 

[Cartman98]

Wouldn't that bring it down too much? I thought you wanted to take your gravity reading at around 70 degrees... my .02

 

[jiffybrew]

I've actually read about it in other websites. If you do it this way there are two major items to keep in mind.
1. You're diluting the wort with the water so make sure the wort is 'concentrated'.
2. Since you're adding a one gallon ice block, calculate it so your final volume is the desired final volume.

 

[Mr Nick]

I do a 2 gallon Boil and pour it over a 1 gallon block of ice. That leaves 2 gallons that you can add at what ever temperature you need to bring it to the required temp...Works great

 

[single.barrel]

I would make sure to have previously boiled the water for the ice block to be sure you keep it sanitary. Before I started full boils I had problems with off flavors

 

[Benny Blanco]

The gallon jug that I'm going to freeze is distilled water. I don't think I have to boil it.


Any suggestions on how low I should lower my wort temp before I pour it on the ice?

 

[Bulls Beers]

My first batch, i put all 3 gallons of water in the freezer. Man. it went to 65 in no time. I used regular springwater. I'm not sure i'd recomend it. I saw it in a Sam Adams video.

 

[gpogo]

The gallon jug that I'm going to freeze is distilled water. I don't think I have to boil it.


Any suggestions on how low I should lower my wort temp before I pour it on the ice?

I'm not completely sure on this, but isn't it recommended to use spring water over distilled?

 

[Benny Blanco]

No idea. It's only a gallon of distilled anyway.

 

[Whiskey]

I don't know why, distilled is just pretty much pure water.

 

[Mr Nick]

I'm not completely sure on this, but isn't it recommended to use spring water over distilled?

Not to my knowledge...Properly boiled water is as close to pure water as a home brewer can get.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Properly boiled water is as close to pure water as a home brewer can get.

No, boiled tap water or spring water still contains far more dissolved solids than distilled water. Sure, you can boil the chlorine, oxygen, and some carbonates out of the water, but it's still going to have some mineral content.

There is a valid debate over the use of spring water vs distilled water in extract brewing. Extract retains some (if not all) of the mineral content of the water used in making it. So, some argue that using spring water in an extract brew is harmful because it adds too much mineral content. However, you really don't need to go to the expense of using distilled water in most cases. If the water tastes good, brew with it!

 

[Mr Nick]

No, boiled tap water or spring water still contains far more dissolved solids than distilled water. Sure, you can boil the chlorine, oxygen, and some carbonates out of the water, but it's still going to have some mineral content.

It takes seven miles of creek to fully treat water. So it would depend on what part of the creek, spring etc. you would be taking the water from, as to how healthy it would be.

Not all bottled water tastes the same, So how can it be distilled. I don't think many Home Brewers would go to the expense of purchasing distilled water. So my opinion is that boiling is probably as close as most of us would get.

 

[Orfy]

Have you ever tasted distilled water, it doesn't taste good. In fact it doesn't taste like water because water does have a taste from the minerals.

This taste will be lacking from your brew if you use distilled water.

 

[z987k]

Distilled water is cheap though, if your buying water. .33/gal at wallyworld I think.

 

[Orfy]

Distilled water is cheap though, if your buying water. .33/gal at wallyworld I think.

That's cool if he wants cheap tasting beer.

 

[z987k]

I was just responding to someone saying distilled water is expensive. IME, it's pretty inexpensive.

Personally I use my tap water, tastes great.

 

[Orfy]

I agree.

 

[wild]

I was just responding to someone saying distilled water is expensive.

Distilled water here in AZ is usually double the price of spring/drinking water. Spring/drinking water in gallon jugs at the store starts from 5 for $3 to a $1.75. You can always get 25¢ per gallon at one of the outside machines but I don't really trust their cleaning routines.

I put 3 sanitized 1-gallon jugs in the freezer right before starting my steep. After bringing my wort down to 100°F in a sink bath, I'll pull the jugs out and pour them from 7' into the fermenter to aerate then I add the wort. The jugs will have just begun to form ice on the inside of the plastic. A little "massage of the jugs" hehe, will break up the ice enough to pour out. Your wort temp will drop between 60° and 75°F in seconds.

Wild

 

[Brewno]

This has nothing to do with the thread but I just noticed your screen name "Benny Blanco."

I love that and use it all the time. "Benny Blanco from the Bronx!" It sometimes goes right over peoples heads.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

If you are going to use a full gallon in the original container and then freeze it solid, it will expand, blow up the container, and there goes your sanitation.

 

[wild]

If you are going to use a full gallon in the original container and then freeze it solid, it will expand, blow up the container, and there goes your sanitation.

When I do it, there's barely any ice formed in the jug. But if the water comes in the average plastic jug, it shouldn't burst. They normally have 3" dimples on the sides that'll expand outward when the ice expands.

Wild

 

[Yuri_Rage]

It takes seven miles of creek to fully treat water. So it would depend on what part of the creek, spring etc. you would be taking the water from, as to how healthy it would be.

What?

Not all bottled water tastes the same, So how can it be distilled. I don't think many Home Brewers would go to the expense of purchasing distilled water. So my opinion is that boiling is probably as close as most of us would get.

I never insinuated that all bottled water is distilled. In fact, most bottled water is spring water, and most of it tastes pretty good.

Boiling tap or spring water does virtually nothing to change its mineral composition. Distilling water removes ALL mineral content. They are COMPLETELY different, hence the debate with extract brewers.

I'm really not sure where you're going with this...

 

[Bobby_M]

I've done the calculations by the way and you'd need to add 2.2 gallons of ice to 2.8 gallons of 212F wort to reach 70F equillibrium. Of course, this only works in a bucket primary on partial boil extract batches.

 

[Green Tarp]

Ive used ice a few times to cool my wort and its worked well.. but I do have a question to throw out. My local beer supplies place always says NEVER use ice to cool the wort because it can harbor bacteria that can spoil the batch. Ive watched a couple shows that use the ice method (including Alton Brown on the food channel who filled his bucket a third with ice and then poured the wort over it). Normally I do full boils and use a copper wort chiller to do my cooling but the ice method is much faster.. so what is the general consensus here on using ice?

 

[the_bird]

What?

I never insinuated that all bottled water is distilled. In fact, most bottled water is spring water, and most of it tastes pretty good.

Boiling tap or spring water does virtually nothing to change its mineral composition. Distilling water removes ALL mineral content. They are COMPLETELY different, hence the debate with extract brewers.

I'm really not sure where you're going with this...

I think he's assuming that by "spring water," you meant water that you are literally collecting, yourself, from a spring. Not spring water that we buy at the store.

 

[Benny Blanco]

Yeah, Brewno, this is my real nickname

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'm just going to start out with the frozen gallon and a quick ice bath.

 

[Whiskey]

Not to mention if anyone is using out of the creek spring water, I would highly recommend it at least gets filtered before use.

I've used Distilled water with success, and I plan on continuing to use it as my local water tastes like stagnant pool water. I cringe to think how long it would take to run 5 gallons through my Britta water filter....

 

[Scimmia]

Ive used ice a few times to cool my wort and its worked well.. but I do have a question to throw out. My local beer supplies place always says NEVER use ice to cool the wort because it can harbor bacteria that can spoil the batch. Ive watched a couple shows that use the ice method (including Alton Brown on the food channel who filled his bucket a third with ice and then poured the wort over it). Normally I do full boils and use a copper wort chiller to do my cooling but the ice method is much faster.. so what is the general consensus here on using ice?

I would think ice would be fine ONLY if you sanitize it yourself (boil it) and then freeze it in an air tight container. Buying ice like Alton did is just way too risky, and I personally wouldn't just assume that anything in a bottle is sterile. Come on, it costs what, $.64/gal? Don't you think that's making a HUGE leap of faith?

 

[Mr Nick]

What?

I never insinuated that all bottled water is distilled. In fact, most bottled water is spring water, and most of it tastes pretty good.

Boiling tap or spring water does virtually nothing to change its mineral composition. Distilling water removes ALL mineral content. They are COMPLETELY different, hence the debate with extract brewers.

I'm really not sure where you're going with this...

First I am not disputing the mineral content of water.

As to your "what" question...All creeks/springs are fed from lakes that consists of some polluted water caused by the life that lives in them. It takes seven miles of creek to get rid of that pollution.

As to where I going with this....The answer is no where....That information is not for you. That information is for the newbie who might have read the previous posts (prior to my last post) and decide to run down to the creek to get their water.

RAHAHB I never said you insinuated that all bottled water is distilled.

EDIT: Also the bottled spring water that does not taste so good causes me wonder just how close to the lake they bottled their water?