Used ice in the wort.....(follow-up)

[TJhands]

Hi again!

Welp, for those who commented on my other thread about potential benefits of putting ice directly in the wort after the boil, here's the follow-up.

I did it last night.


After the boil, I ever so gently (to avoid too much aeration whilst still hot) poured the wort into the primary which contained 8lbs. of ice. The ice was my own tap water which I froze in a sanitized container. I couldn't think of a reason why it wouldn't be acceptable to do this instead of setting the brewpot in a sink of ice water and waiting for 20 minutes. Naturally, it cooled the wort down real quickly; when I added enough cool water to bring it up to 5 gal, it was 80 degrees. Yeast was pitched within 5 minutes of the pot coming off the boil.

As I'm sure some here can relate to, I got up in the middle of the night and gave a listen in the darkness..........*blurp! blobble-blurp!* was what I heard. The yeast were in full orgy-mode by this morning. I guess I'll find out in a few weeks if icing the wort is a bad idea!

 

[Janx]

Hey sounds like a GREAT thing to me. Any time you have the yeast in more quickly after finishing the batch, it's a good thing. Any time the ferment starts that quickly, you have really narrowed the window of opportunity for nasties to infect the beer.

Sounds like a great procedure to me. Good idea!

 

[homebrewer_99]

The problem with adding ice is the off-flavors absorbed by the water while in the freezer.

I know you said you used a sanitized container. That's similar to what I do; i.e., 5 - 1 gal water containers for several hours so the water can get down to freezing. My 6 gal batches end up between 50 and 70 degrees.

I never add ice that has been exposed to the open freezer. I think that's where the problem may lie.

 

[TJhands]

Hi guys,

I see your point, homebrewer99......you don't want your ice (or beer!) tasting like the deer you bagged last winter, or whatever else one might have in the freezer. "A Venison Porter anyone??"
The water was in a milk jug type of conatiner which, hopefully, was too thick to have picked up any yucky flavors from the freezer. Time will tell!

 

[TJhands]

homebrewer 99......

Is Koski's Homebrew Shop still open in Moline? That's where all my equipment came from! Lived in Davenport a number of years ago, but call the Des Moines area home now.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Nah, Tim sold out several years ago to the Bent River Brewing Co. next door. They knocked out the wall and expanded the pub.

I moved to NC in 97 and then Germany in 99. I just came back to the QC last Feb.

TJ: I use bottle water (milk) containers for my freezer water also, but I don't let it freeze though. I've been doing it ever since I knew I didn't want to invest time, money, a high water bill and a hot puddle in my yard (or sink) to a wort chiller.