Why is Ice for cooling wort bad?

[beninan]

Why do you keep adding steps to boiling top off water? I surmise it is straw man argument.
I keep the water in the same container I boiled (thus keeping it sanitized). There is no second container for cooling. I said I boiled & covered, then let it sit overnight. cheers.

My mistake. I was under the impression that it would have been transferred to another container.

 

[skullface1818]

I fail to see the problem with using ice to chill wort. It does the job rather well, and in most circumstances, its just as clean, if not more clean, than filtered water from your faucet.

If people everywhere can get away using that water than I see no reason why anyone says that freezing the same water makes it any less sanitized (especially if you keep your water sealed in the freezer)

 

[amandabab]

How nasty are your ice trays?

Ice thats been in your freezer for weeks/months with the ripped open french fry bag dropping frozen tasty wonderfulness on your cubes WILL contaminate your beer.

clean, sanitized trays treated like a piece of brewing equipment with fresh tap water prepped the night before brew day is pretty darn safe.

 

[Brewham]

I used ice for a while and had no problems with it but I think I dodged a bullet. Problem is the ice isn't made with sterile water and it was probably made with chlorinated water which isn't good either. Also, ice can pick up off flavors from your freezer. Ever notice how ice sometimes smells "oniony?" That is not a flavor you want to add to your beer.

 

[brewingmeister]

Ice is dirty. Unless you make it yourself and clean everything that touches it beforehand.

For an example an ice machine I used recently poured out ice when I pressed the lever....it also poured out ice laden with random black specks imbedded in the ice. From heads of a pin size to shirt button size....Gross.

 

[skullface1818]

How nasty are your ice trays?

Ice thats been in your freezer for weeks/months with the ripped open french fry bag dropping frozen tasty wonderfulness on your cubes WILL contaminate your beer.

clean, sanitized trays treated like a piece of brewing equipment with fresh tap water prepped the night before brew day is pretty darn safe.

exactly what I do. 4 red cups rinsed out and sterilized with hot steam, filled with filtered water and frozen with plastic baggies covering the tops 3 days before brewing time (it takes about a day or two for the water to completely freeze through)

I haven't done it much (I'm a new brewer and only tried this once) but I have high hopes that my brew will do well ^^

 

[dragonbreath11]

To lessen effects of contamination, why not just freeze the water in a temp safe plastic container (1-2 gallins)? When you're ready to use it, sanitize and drop in the container? This allows you the benefits of full wort boils and you don't have to buy ice.

 

[quick5pnt0]

I find it funny how many people will obsess over things like this but never stop to consider how many germs are on the counter top they lay their stirring spoon on throughout the brewing process.

 

[bkl63]

Why increase the potential for an infection? People who say they haven't gotten one from this are only playing with fire. Use a Wort Chiller or Boil some water a couple days ahead and chill in the fridge in a sanitized bucker or carboy. But don't tempt the God' of Infection as it will catch up to you.

 

[bkl63]

During the Brewing process you have a boil going, my spoon stays in the kettle while brewing and cooling, it becomes critical once you begin to cool your wort as far as infection are concerned.

I find it funny how many people will obsess over things like this but never stop to consider how many germs are on the counter top they lay their stirring spoon on throughout the brewing process.

 

[kingwood-kid]

I find it funny how many people will obsess over things like this but never stop to consider how many germs are on the counter top they lay their stirring spoon on throughout the brewing process.

I was playing fetch with the dog the last time I Corona-milled my grain. I figured maybe I'd get some extra amylase out of it.

 

[BrewKnurd]

I find it funny how many people will obsess over things like this but never stop to consider how many germs are on the counter top they lay their stirring spoon on throughout the brewing process.

how many people do that? I assume you know, since you think it's funny.

Sorry, couldn't help but call you on what appears to be a completely hypothetical straw man. :-D

 

[CrookedTail]

I used to boil and freeze water to cool wort all the time. It worked very well, and I never had an infected batch when I used it. The only issue with it is it takes up a lot of freezer space. I live in a condo, so I don't have the room for a second freezer. SWMBO was getting pissed at me for taking up all the freezer space, so I recently built a wort chiller.

If you have the freezer space, ice is a viable option. Just be sure to boil it before freezing.

 

[TexLuther]

Or do this - fill some ziploc bags with ice water. Zip them up. Dunk them in your bucket of Star-San. Be sure the sanitizer gets to the zip closure. Drop them into the wort.

Double bag if you're paranoid.

Tex

 

[truebe]

the way people tack on trivial steps to their sanitation process is like depositing pennies into a million dollar bank account. theres going to be plenty of rogue microorganisms no matter how crazy anal you are. but its beer and it will beat those things into submission.

 

[Bob]

Seriously.

I use bagged ice All. The. Time. It simply works. Ice purchased from the grocery around here has been irradiated and is pure spring water. So long as no holes are in the bag, I use it. Been doing that for years upon years.

I use a copper-coil wort chiller for my full-boil batches because I don't want to deal with dilution effects or calculate high-gravity-wort brewing.

I actually get a better break formation with the ice. If I expect to rack the beer to secondary, I'll leave it alone. If I want to keep it in the primary (mild, bitter, etc.), I'll use two buckets and treat the first - with the ice - as a whirlpool, racking off the break into the actual fermenter.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[cstricklan]

I thought I'd revive this thread to recommend that the responsible use of top up ice to chill can be very accurate by using the tool: http://www.onlineconversion.com/mixing_water.htm
I recently hit my desired pitching temp exactly with this calculation. Note you can ignore the units, the calculation is all about ratios.

As for the technique, I'm blessed with a big chest freezer that's not very full, so I just sanitize my fermenter, fill it with the desired amount of water from the tap filter, put the lid on, and throw it in the freezer. Then on brewing day I dump my wort into the frozen fermenter. Freezing temperatures do of course inhibit the growth of bacteria and mold, so I figure it's pretty safe.

 

[CoolBrewing]

I have never had a problem with commercial water and just throwing them in the freezer for a few hours so they are slightly frozen. But I could just be lucky

 

[CrookedTail]

Seriously.

I use bagged ice All. The. Time. It simply works. Ice purchased from the grocery around here has been irradiated and is pure spring water. So long as no holes are in the bag, I use it. Been doing that for years upon years.

I use a copper-coil wort chiller for my full-boil batches because I don't want to deal with dilution effects or calculate high-gravity-wort brewing.

I actually get a better break formation with the ice. If I expect to rack the beer to secondary, I'll leave it alone. If I want to keep it in the primary (mild, bitter, etc.), I'll use two buckets and treat the first - with the ice - as a whirlpool, racking off the break into the actual fermenter.

Cheers,

Bob

I'll be honest. I've had my immersion chiller for a few months now, and I kind of miss using ice. Easier to work with, less stuff to clean, and believe it or not it cooled the beer faster. I'm almost tempted to go back to doing partial boils so I can go back to the ice.

 

[ZombieBrew83]

When I did extract/partial boils I used to pre-boil water and cool it in an ice/water bath (just like you would with wort), then I would put it in an airtight container that was soaked in starsan and freeze it. When frozen I would plop the big sanatized ice cube in my wort to chill it fast and supply top-off water.. Never a problem!

This is basically how I chill my wort. I tweaked my method as I went along to perfect it. Since I live in an apartment without a utility sink, an IC or CFC is not an option. I freeze about a gallon and a half of boiled water in sanitized containers then add ice as needed to hot wort to reach ~70F. Usually cools the wort down in about 10 minutes. I get good cold break and have not had issues with infection or hot side aeration yet.

 

[Kansasman2000]

I have home brewed for two years now. I have made close to 70 gallons of brew. Every time I chill my wort I put ice in the bucket and once it is chilled off enough I top it with filtered water. I have NEVER had any issues with a bad batch due to an infection from the ice. I just make sure I know of the source from which I get the ice and know that know hands have touched it. Don't buy ice from a place that hand bags it. I am a freak about sanitizing everything though. Maybe that is why I have had good luck. Happy brewing. : )

 

[grndslm]

This is basically how I chill my wort. I tweaked my method as I went along to perfect it. Since I live in an apartment without a utility sink, an IC or CFC is not an option. I freeze about a gallon and a half of boiled water in sanitized containers then add ice as needed to hot wort to reach ~70F. Usually cools the wort down in about 10 minutes. I get good cold break and have not had issues with infection or hot side aeration yet.

What containers are you using??

I think I might switch to this method, as 10 minutes is awfully sweet, IMHO.... plus the containers could potentially be full of backup water that's already been sterilized (if you need it).

The idea of putting ice cubes in the bucket seems ok to me, but I'd prefer all the water to have an equally dense portion of my isomerized hops oils. Mmm...mmm.. GOOD!!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I do this. Start of brewday I get my topup water in the freezer. using store bought gallon jugs. Then I have almost frozen slushy water. Chill my wort down in an ice bath then pour into ale pail. Topup with slush which melts quick. Gets my temp down perfect

I would think doing this with store bought Distilled Water would be fine. The water is distilled so its clean, just starsan the jug top before and after you open it.

 

[redsoxfan1974]

I use 2 gallons of store bought distilled water....freeze solid... cut them open and dump them into the primary and pour the hot wort in on top of the ice. I've never had an infection or bad batch yet. Plus your pitching the yeast in about 10-15 minutes.:rockin:

 

[progmac]

totally off topic, but when i lived in the mountains our tap water was about 33-36 degrees in the winter. wish i still had that!

 

[Oscbert]

totally off topic, racecars go fast.

 

[grndslm]

HECK....

Forget cooling altogether. We can do that by forgetting about boiling!!

Just use the water that's been semi-sanitized while passing thru your hot water heater.

I use entirely too much hot water.

 

[ZombieBrew83]

What containers are you using??

I think I might switch to this method, as 10 minutes is awfully sweet, IMHO.... plus the containers could potentially be full of backup water that's already been sterilized (if you need it).

The idea of putting ice cubes in the bucket seems ok to me, but I'd prefer all the water to have an equally dense portion of my isomerized hops oils. Mmm...mmm.. GOOD!!

I use Ziplock/Glad storage containers. Cheap, effective, and graduated so I know how much ice I am putting into the kettle.