How to make big ice blocks for chilling?

[IslandLizard]

So I am hoping to get a plate chiller later this week, I have been using a standard immersion chiller for the last two years.

Welcome to the PCCC, the plate chiller cleaning club!
As long as you filter out or block your hops and other coarse stuff from going into the chiller, it's a wonderful and efficient chilling device.

But if it gets clogged, with hop debris or other pulp (e.g., disintegrated grapefruit peel/pith ), you'd be cursing yourself forever for buying one. Hot and cold break seem to pass through generally, but could plug it up too if there's a ton of it going through all at once. They're very hard to unplug, once it happens, and you can never be sure you got it all out.

Please inform yourself well, before using your plate chiller, about operation, cleaning, backwashing, etc.

I plan to precook my water using this method: SoCal Groundwater>>Immersion Chiller in Ice Bath>>Plate Chiller>>water reclamation barrels for later garden water.

You mean "prechill?"
Once you get within 20-40F from pitching temps, you may want to recirculate back to your ice bath. Let the chiller outlet temp be your guide. If the outlet temp is lower than your tap water going in, recirculation is more efficient.

 

[Brewsncrabs]

View attachment 685453View attachment 685453View attachment 685453

South Florida here. Get one of these babies. It will drop to the 90F ground water temperature in 10 minutes. I then use a pump to recirculate ice water through it. Can get down to 60F in another 10 minutes.

The Hydra. As Shetc says, they work. While my water temps are not that high as yours, in the summer I chill to about 90-100 and then add ice to my slop sink. Use a sump pump and get to 65 in a few minutes.

 

[z-bob]

I freeze 1L pop bottles full of water (don't quite fill them all the way), and after I chill my wort down to 90 or so I add a bottle or two of ice. Dip em in sanitizer first. The bottles have lids, so the melting ice does not dilute the beer.

 

[thefigure5]

So, as we approach summer here in SoCal, and our groundwater pushes up to 80+ degrees, wort chilling becomes difficult. Especially (obviously) if I want to chill to lager temps. Especially++ because I'm doing 10 gallon batches. And here in SoCal, water is pretty dear, so I want to use as little as I can.

My system is a three-vessel, single tier system with two pumps. I have a counterflow chiller.

My current process when the groundwater is hot:

• At flameout, I start recirculating the wort through the CFC right back into the boil kettle, while running hose water through the outside of the CFC.
• When I've knocked it down to 120 degrees or so, I remove the hose, fill my mash tun with a bunch of ice and just enough water to prime the pump, and run that through the CFC to chill more efficiently.
• When I get within 10 degrees in the boil kettle (ale or lager pitch temp), I redirect the pump output to the fermenter. I've found at full flow, that drops the final 10 degrees.

That said, I run into a problem... It takes a LOT of ice to cool 10 gallons of wort. If I can think long enough ahead, I can make 6 ice blocks out of gallon-sized zip locks--but that takes a lot of time, a lot of bags, and a lot of space in the freezer. If I forget, I'm stuck buying 40# of ice at the grocery store, which is basically $10 added to my brew day costs.

So I want to make big blocks of ice. I'm thinking of a few options:

1. Buying some large reusable plastic food containers (similar to this) and using them to make the ice. While it might require a bunch to produce enough ice, at least they're of a uniform enough shape and probably stackable so I could do them easily in the freezer.
2. Buying some large (2.5 gallon) ziplock or Glad sealable bags, and doing it the way I used to. The advantage is that 2 of those bags might be enough to cool a whole batch, so even though they're a weird shape they might be a lot easier than trying to fit 6 individual gallon ziplocks.

Has anyone ever tried option #2? I worry that none of the big bags are strong enough to handle 2.5 gallons of water. 1 gallon freezer bags have a difficult enough time.

What about #1? Are there any easier and cheaper containers than what I linked? Perhaps gallon-sized instead of 1/2 gallon?

Let me know.

I saved a 1-gallon round food grade bucket and lid that coconut oil came in and have made a few blocks of ice with that. After it's frozen, the ice releases easily by running a little water over the outside, or you could set it in a larger bucket with water to conserve.

I'm storing the blocks in big bags that ice cubes come in. It takes a while to freeze through and then to get to the freezer temperature. You definitely have to think ahead.

US Plastic Corp. sells rectangular buckets in varying sizes. They're not expensive; lids are usually sold separately; and then there's the shipping and handling cost: ~$19 S&H for a bucket and lid to 90210.

 

[JAReeves]

Welcome to the PCCC, the plate chiller cleaning club!
As long as you filter out or block your hops and other coarse stuff from going into the chiller, it's a wonderful and efficient chilling device.

But if it gets clogged, with hop debris or other pulp (e.g., disintegrated grapefruit peel/pith ), you'd be cursing yourself forever for buying one. Hot and cold break seem to pass through generally, but could plug it up too if there's a ton of it going through all at once. They're very hard to unplug, once it happens, and you can never be sure you got it all out.

Please inform yourself well, before using your plate chiller, about operation, cleaning, backwashing, etc.


You mean "prechill?"
Once you get within 20-40F from pitching temps, you may want to recirculate back to your ice bath. Let the chiller outlet temp be your guide. If the outlet temp is lower than your tap water going in, recirculation is more efficient.

Damn autocorrect.

 

[IslandLizard]

US Plastic Corp. sells rectangular buckets in varying sizes. They're not expensive; lids are usually sold separately; and then there's the shipping and handling cost: ~$19 S&H for a bucket and lid to 90210.

I had looked at their site several times, pricing is very average, but their shipping surely kills the deal.

Now you could order for pick up at one of their warehouses. At least it used to be. If you're near one or driving past when visiting family or friends during opening hours, that may be a good option.

 

[thefigure5]

Agreed. I have gotten items from US Plastic a couple of times when I needed to.

 

[ncbrewer]

If using frozen water bottles for cooling, they cool faster with salt water. I use 4 oz of salt in a liter bottle.

 

[JRG]

I tried making large blocks of ice but found it to be a hassle and the chilling times with recirculating water through hydra chiller were much longer than regular ice cubes. I use tap water to chill to ~100 then use ice cubes with 1 gallon of prechilled water. When making a lager I buy ice at Costco on the way home the night before brew day. A 20 pound bag is $2.19.