Ice, I know I know, But read

[Punn]

My wort chiller will not be here till tomorrow. So my brother the chef said about useing ice direct in the wort. I explained not to use unless you know it is not infected and such. So what we did was. Use ice from our ice maker. It is the same as the water that goes into the wort. So the theory is that it will be fine. The beer we used it on is popping away and smells good comin from the airlock. So the hopes is that it will be ok. Also the ice got added while the wort was still at about 200 degrees. So assuming there was something in the ice, it died. We did not and will not add ice from the store. Just our home ice. Think it is ok? we will find out in a cpl of weeks.... Ha!

 

[ian]

I did the same thing with my first batch, we just bottled it. I know it probably wasn't the ideal but I used the same logic that you just mentioned and it appears to be fine. I tasted it when we racked to the secondary and then again when we bottled and again it tasted just fine.

Good luck!

 

[homebrewer_99]

I place 4 - 1 gal water containers in my freezer for several hours prior to brewing. When I add 2 gals to the primary bucket and add my wort the temp drops down pretty fast. Then I top it off to 5.5 gals (adjusting for testing, sampling and racking losses).

Of course, the water is filtered through a PUR filter and the containers have tops on them while in the freezer.

 

[Kephren]

I have used ice a couple of times. Always from the store as I figured it was most likely cleaner than the ice from the fridge I never had any problems. Combine using ice to get your brew down to pitching temp and then pitching with a starter, there is little chance any infection will have a chance of developing.

 

[AlaskaAl(e)]

I buy a 10# block of ice from the store every time I brew and I've had 0 problems so far.

 

[Punn]

sweet guys, thanks! It is much more cost efficient for me to make ice (free) than to buy a wort chiller, but i am still buying one cause we brew 2-3 batches at a session

 

[Turricaine]

That is def a sweet idea. I already have a copper piping coiler but this is still educational to say the least. Just by way of curiosity, how many kg's of ice are required to bring down the temp of a 5 gal batch. My local store sells 2 kg bags

 

[ian]

My first brew (out of two, I'm so salty at this ) We dumped two ten gallon (-EDIT- make that 10 lb.) bags of ice into 2.5 gallons of wort. It went from just under a boil to 60 degrees in two minutes. I even had a third bag that I intended to dump in. I was sure that we had shocked it and caused some sort of damage. But, its bottled now and I am confident that it won't kill me on the first sip. (maybe second or third though)

 

[cbotrice]

I've used store bought ice twice, mainly because its summer and the ice machine won't keep up with cooling the laundry sink so I can cool in the boiling pot. Also the tap water is warmer than during the winter. I have used a combination of cold bath and 6 or so lbs of ice. I brings it down enough so that the cold tap water brings me to mid 70's for pitching. MPW

 

[Catfish]

The advice I've read about plopping ice in your wort (from How to Brew by Palmer) advises Clean water. Boil your water and freeze it in tupperware before hand. I'd guess it depends how worried you are about amoebic dysentery in your town, or that gamey piece of lamb in your freezer.

as a side note:
Hi I'm Catfish; new here. My brew kit is still being gone over by customs. Checkout the Palmer book online:

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

 

[Turricaine]

The only wee concern I have is that if I have a 5 gallon fermenter when I get greedy with the water-fill level there is every chance that my batch is gon' boil over in a vigorus fermentation. There is a guy in another post looking to cut corners financially to break through into allgrain brewing.

 

[MaltyRod]

I've had my eye on this freezable paddle thing called a Rapi-kool which I saw in a local restaurant supply store (great for getting homebrew gear) its a clear blue plastic paddle shaped bottle that you fill with water and freeze then use to stir your wort (originally made for gravy and soup) to quickly chill it. the food grade plastic can be washed and sterilized and wrapped in saran wrap before freezing, remove saran wrap and stir your wort. all without the water inside ever touching your wort.

 

[Punn]

Well malty, We used that. my bro has 2 to be exact. From his cheffin! And it is exactly that. We sanatized it before useing. Worked good. untill it melted and was warm. but worked with the ice, none the less

 

[Turricaine]

If you use alcohol you can get the pre-immersion temperature down to -18C I believe.