Learning from mistakes...

[Hoosier-Brewer]

A 7# bag of ice does nothing for cooling wort! I don't know why I didn't buy the 22# bag, but I didn't and now it's taking much longer than I like to get this cooled and the yeast pitched.

 

[h22lude]

I don't know how close a gas station is to you but you could have always ran out a bought more ice. Might have been quicker than waiting for it to cool on its own.

 

[Yooper]

Yeah, I know what you mean!

Next time, chill the wort to under 90 degrees in an ice bath, and THEN add cold water to get to your volume. It seems like ice would cool the wort enough, but if you do the math (or ask someone else nicely!), you'll see that it just won't work. But chilling the wort in the ice bath in the sink and then mixing it with water that was put in the fridge in advance works beautifully!

 

[erikpete18]

The other thing I eventually figured out from running into the same problem (and maybe you're already doing this, but just in case) is that just cool water can cool it pretty far at first, then add the ice once the cool water isn't helping as much. When I use my sink to cool, at first I just add cold water and drain that when gets warm. Do that a couple of times, and don't add the ice until its cooled down a little ways, you can make that ice last a little longer

 

[wolverinebrewer]

Yup, doing the ice bath thing sucks and it only gets harder when summer comes around. I used an ice bath for 2 batches and after spending $15 on ice and messing with frozen plastic bottles, I said enough. I made a chiller. It's like having a snowblower over a shovel.
Another suggestion if you must use the ice bath is to make cubes in your ice maker (assuming you have one) and save them up in bags in a freezer (assuming you have one)

 

[TTB-J]

You might try using a big cooler instead of your sink. The first bag will always melt away quickly, but the second and third will be remarkably more efficient if put in an insulated container. Last time I did an ice bath I used a 60 qt Igloo. I didn't even check the temperature until I had put the third bag in and almost fell over when I saw the wort was about 72 degrees after 15 minutes! Wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that I had two gallons of fridge-cold water to top off with. Oh well, beer turned out fine.

 

[tekknoschtev]

My first brew, I was evidently delirious as to how effective topping off with cool water would be. It took overnight to get to pitching temps, and looking back, if my memory is functioning, I'd be willing to bet that I was still over 80 or 85 degrees.

My second brew was in winter, so it worked well enough just setting the kettle outside and using the snow/cold. A few hours later, pitch, done.

Now, I have a chiller, and a 10 gallon batch is to pitching temps in 15-25 minutes, depending on how much agitating I'm doing and the outside temps. I do not regret building that thing at all!

 

[McGarnigle]

The other thing I eventually figured out from running into the same problem (and maybe you're already doing this, but just in case) is that just cool water can cool it pretty far at first, then add the ice once the cool water isn't helping as much. When I use my sink to cool, at first I just add cold water and drain that when gets warm. Do that a couple of times, and don't add the ice until its cooled down a little ways, you can make that ice last a little longer

I agree with this. No need to splurge on ice when the wort is 180; tap water will bring it down a ways. I also drain the bath water when it warms and start fresh.

Also, motion helps - either stir the wort or swirl the bath water around the pot.

 

[Homebrewtastic]

I have two wort chillers. The first one goes in a bucket with salted ice water, and is then hooked up to the one that goes in the wort.

I go from boiling to pitching in 10 minutes.

 

[Hoosier-Brewer]

I didn't have a problem on the first brew. I used a 22# bag of ice and had it cooled in less than 20 minutes. This time it took about 40 minutes, but I think it will be fine. It tasted great anyway.