Is this a good idea?

[william_shakes_beer]

In the planing stages for my first batch, thinking the logistics through, and I had a thought: since I don't have a wart chiller, would it be advisabe to sterilize, then freeze the top off water in a sterilized fermenter and pour the hot wart onto it to cool quickly? haven't heard this discussed, not sure if its because nobody thought (unlikely) or because its such a bad idea only a noob would think of it.

 

[MeatyPortion]

I don't know. Pouring near-boiling wort onto a chunk of ice in a fermenter may crack it. I wouldn't do it.

 

[Dogphish]

i don't think you would get an accurate original gravity reading that way, because the extract would settle down on the ice, leaving the beer diluted at the top. but, it's easy to and quite reliable to calculate OG is you're doing extract beer.

i can't think of any reason not to use the ice if you feel assured that it is sterile. the only think i can think of i what if you over shoot your intended temp? that doesn't seem likely.
and i would only try it with a plastic bucket primary fermenter. glass can break from thermal shock like that.

 

[beninan]

What I do is I use my chiller to cool it down a significant amount, and then dump the rest into cool water.
Im sure you could do a similar thing without a chiller. Maybe not using frozen water, but use ice cold water, maybe even with some ice cubes in it, to cool it faster. I would probably place the brew pot in the sink with some cold water in it first, to maybe take away some of the boiling temp.

 

[earwig]

If you are doing an extract batch (and starting with 2.5 gallons of wort) it is just as easy to just mix it with cold/cool water. When I do extract batches I find it pretty easy to just do the ice bath method in the sink.

 

[ongreystreet]

I just did my first brew, since it was partial it cooled down in about 40 minutes, which wasn't too bad since I spent most pof the time busy doing sanitation and starting yeast.

 

[D_Struct]

If you're not doing a full boil, you don't necessarily need a chiller.

Put your top off jugs of water in the freezer before you start brewing.

When you finish the boil, put your kettle in an ice bath in the sink, replacing the ice a couple of times over the course of about 30-40 minutes.

Put your wort in your fermenter, then top off with the water jugs that have been in the freezer, hopefully dropping your temps into the low 70s.

That's what I've done every batch to this point, and it's worked out fine for me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm going to acquire a chiller SOON, but it works in a pinch!

 

[iron_city_ap]

I did that my 1st couple batches. It works fine. The beer won't be all that well mixed at first, like somebody mentioned, so your OG reading will be off, but as the wort ferments, it will mix pretty well. Using cold water would be better though. After you have the beer and top off water mixed, be sure to stir it well.

 

[harrv]

I'm brand new to this, but I read that pouring hot wort can oxidize it, which can lead to either a wet-cardboard taste later on, or a short shelf life for your beer. Do a search for "hot-side aeration". Some say it's a real thing, and others dispute it. I don't know because I have no personal experience with it yet, but the procedure you're describing would seem to lead to it.

 

[Number68]

for my batch yesterday i topped off with near frozen water then let my kettle sit on a snow bank for an hour or so, worked pretty nicely

 

[pikledbill]

There is nothing wrong with this approach. A suggestion would be to put the beer into your fermenter, then add the block of ice.

Once it is all cooled, shake it up before taking a gravity reading. I used to do something similar and it worked well.

Good luck.

PikledBill