My Idea for chilling Wort. (comments?)

[Jaredkylemccann]

Hi all, I am a semi newbie (all grain) brewer. But I used to be a chef so I follow recipes very well and all my beers thus far have tasted great.
Maple Bacon Brown.
IPA
Delerium Tremens Clone

Anyways, I don't know how to start a new thread so I'm writing here.
I have an Idea for chilling wort faster and using less water. i haven't seen any talk of this and am suprised. I hope there is nothing wrong with it.

Together with using a 25' wort chiller. I have 1 gallon stainless novelty Flasks.
I'd like to fill them with water, Freeze them and use them as giant ice cubes.

Any reason why I shouldn't try this? (I hope not)

I will try this experiment with boiling water and I will put blue food coloring in the ice to see if they last water tight.

I live in Saratoga California and there's been a drought so I don't want to waste too much water chilling wort.I will also collect the water from wort chiller in a rain capturing barrel.

Cheers! (sorry about the long message.)

 

[Foosier]

It will work. This is not new, though. Many use Ice in different ways to help speed their chill both in and out of the wort. The key issue you will have with the frozen bottles is how to keep the cold liquid in contact with the hot wort. The wort will thaw the ice next to the SS vessel side. This will create a warmer layer of liquid which will insulate the ice. This will slow the transfer of heat from the wort to the ice. This reduces the efficiency of the cooling you will get. You can help make it more effective by agitating the bottles. Sloshing them around, stirring them, spinning them, etc... anything to keep the layer of meltwater in the bottle moving and keep the cold liquid against the side of the bottle.

 

[Jaredkylemccann]

Thanks man!

 

[blizz81]

I think probably the most effective use of ice while minimizing water used in an IC is the recirculate ice water option. Pretty common with people that have ICs. In that you put a submersible pump in a bucket of ice water, run that out into your IC, and have the return on the IC go back in the same bucket. Don't know if you've considered that yet.

 

[Howhownow]

I think probably the most effective use of ice while minimizing water used in an IC is the recirculate ice water option. Pretty common with people that have ICs. In that you put a submersible pump in a bucket of ice water, run that out into your IC, and have the return on the IC go back in the same bucket. Don't know if you've considered that yet.

I do this with frozen bottles of water. Fill my HLT during boil, let it get really cold, then use a little $15 ebay pond pump to recirculate. Sometimes have to add an extra charge of ice.

 

[Jaredkylemccann]

I think probably the most effective use of ice while minimizing water used in an IC is the recirculate ice water option. Pretty common with people that have ICs. In that you put a submersible pump in a bucket of ice water, run that out into your IC, and have the return on the IC go back in the same bucket. Don't know if you've considered that yet.

That sounds awesome, I can do that and the stainless ice Flasks.Thank you.

 

[Bobby_M]

The biggest issue with ice that is contained within a vessel is that it's difficult to keep the melted water inside moving so it doesn't stagnate and stratify. I agree that pumping icewater is the fastest way.

 

[cegan09]

Yup, what the others have said. Initially it will help a lot, but as more and more ice melts you will see the effects drop off. Similar to freezing a water bottle. Initially you see a lot of melting from holding it, but it slows down as you can't get as much contact to the block of ice.

much better to just throw a couple gallons in a bucket, add ice, and circulate that. When done refreeze for your next batch.

 

[OkanaganMike]

I used to freeze multiple 1 gal milk jugs and use them in the water bath for the sump pump I've got rigged to a plate chiller. Then one day I experimented with just running the water from the tap into the plate chiller and dumping back into the same container to see how it compared for water usage/conservation. I was amazed that I actually used less water even though I did have to drain a little slower to chill below 80F.

Still use the water for the garden but now not using as much and have freed up room in the freezer for more sausage, bacon and ice cream.