Preparing strike water night before

[lump42]

When I recirculate ice water, I use 20-30# and only add a gallon water. Just enough to cover the pump. Helps preserve the ice. I can easily get down to lager pitch temp - 50F

 

[ILMSTMF]

I'm going in my own thread but now that I've got your attention...

Clearly, I've never recirculated ice water for wort chilling purposes. @balrog @lump42 @LittleRiver - can you agree on a logical reason for using 1 gallon of water with more ice versus 5 gallons with less ice? Furthermore, I could use some tips on efficient format for ice and storage of it. Would not seem economical to use cubed ice every time.
Also not sure how easily I could store bottles of ice (repurposing Poland Spring 16oz bottles with frozen tap water). How many of those bottles you think would be needed? Maybe I could empty them at end of brew day, store them empty somewhere. Fill a couple days before brew day and put in freezer. The idea here is minimizing long-term storage in freezer. SWMBO would not be pleased...neither would I, actually.

Thanks very much!

 

[ba-brewer]

I got this formula from a post somewhere on HBT

Amount of ice = ((start temp - final temp)*gallons of wort *weight of water )/BTU to melt one pound of ice
= ((start temp - final temp)*gallons of wort*8.3)/144

Seems to come close what to what I see. I make ice blocks in the 48oz round glad containers they are about 2.5lb each and three gets me about 20 degrees of cooling.

Not sure if it really matters but I start with a small amount of initial water as I dont want to waste the cooling power of the ice.

 

[balrog]

Physics. The thermal output from phase change BIG compared to that of temp-diff. You gain quite a bit of cooling from ice melting, versus warming cool/cold water.

My pump requires submersion to start working so that's why I add water to the cooler.

Typically, I run a garden hose through my 3/8 copper immersion chiller, and I stand there and agitate the bejeebers out of it, up down, all around, back and forth, put your left leg, take your left leg out, etc
Starting at boiling,
2m, fill 5G bucket, ending temp 149°F
2m more, fill another 5G bucket, ending temp 118°F
2m more, fill my 4g grain bucket holding my emptied BIAB bag, ending temp ~100°F
Then plug in the recirc, ending at 60-67 depending on recipe and yeast.

 

[ILMSTMF]

@balrog OK, this is getting more clear for me. In your cooler:

• how much water are you using with that 16# of ice?
• is that initial water coming from ground water supply? Or do you capture some IC water into the cooler after your 4G grain bucket?

Thank you!

 

[balrog]

@ILMSTMF , I put pond pump in cooler, dump bag-ice in cooler, run garden hose (RV hose as mentioned above actually) from outside house spigot into garage brew space through chiller to fill 2-3 buckets at beginning of chilling, then run a little more into cooler just to cover pump so I won't be starting it dry. Then I switch RV hose off and sw chiller input coupling from RV to pond pump. Chiller output is of course switched into cooler.

Sorry. Long answer. Short answer is proly 1/2-1gallon?

 

[lump42]

I usually fill a 50 qt cooler with ice, but I have the luxury of having access to a ice machine at work. I fill it the friday before I brew. When I've forgotten, I run down the street to the corner store and pick up two bags of ice. It's about $5 per bag, but the time savings is immense, especially in summer when ground water is warm.

 

[ancientmariner52]

I empty my refrigerator icemaker bin into my ice chest / chilled water reservoir the night before brewing. By morning I have another bin full, and I dump that into the water - ice slurry from the night before. Drop in the pond pump and it's ready to chill. I've never had to purchase ice for brewing. I use a two - stage CFC, so the chilled water only has to cool the wort from tap water temp out of the first stage.

 

[LittleRiver]

...logical reason for using 1 gallon of water with more ice versus 5 gallons with less ice?...

5gal of water has a larger thermal mass, or heat capacity, than 1gal. Add ice and it can absorb even more heat.

Another reason I like having 5gal of water in the cooler with my ice is that it results in enough warm water to fully submerge my immersion chiller during cleanup. It is too big to fit in the bucket.

... tips on efficient format for ice and storage of it... The idea here is minimizing long-term storage in freezer...

I pay $1.99+tax for 20lb of ice at a local grocery store on my brew days. For that price, I'm happy to let someone else make and package the ice for me. Convenience stores charge three times that much, so shop around.