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Chilling wort with ice

Started by banjobrew, October 27, 2016, 11:24:52 PM

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banjobrew

Just sitting here thinking of ways of chilling my 10L of wort without using a chiller.

Anyone got a reason why I can't just throw a load of ice in the wort, saying as I'll be diluting with tap water anyway?

I'm brewing a porter in a 13L pot with a 21L final batch.
Belfast Homebrewers.

Drum

I did a few half boil brews back in the day. If you want to use ice cubes to chill, just boil the water for a few mins before you put it in the ice cube trays, you will need a load of ice tho to bring the temp down enough to pitch. And it will take a while for the ice to melt and the temp to stabilise.

I'd recommend  putting your top up water in bottles in the fridge for a few days before you brew. Get them nice and cold, chill your brew pot in the sink and then top up with cold water. This should get you close to pitching temp and you can add hot water or ice as needed. 

From what I remember 10L  at 40*C + 12L of bottled water at room temp comes out around 20*C

banjobrew

Quote from: Drum on October 27, 2016, 11:55:11 PM
just boil the water for a few mins before you put it in the ice cube trays

Is normal tap water or shop bought ice not sterile enough?
Belfast Homebrewers.

molc

Something is either sterile or it isn't :)
Shop bought ice isn't, but then again we all just used tap water to dilute kits when we started with no ill effects.
Fermenting: IPA, Lambic, Mead
Conditioning: Lambic, Cider, RIS, Ole Ale, Saison
On Tap: IPA, Helles, Best Bitter

Parky

+1 to everything Drum said above.

My own approach may be useful -

1. Put 2x2L bottled water in the freezer 2-3hours before you intend to pitch.
2. At flameout transfer kettle to sink filled with cold water and allow to sit for 5 mins.
3. Replace water in sink and repeat step 2 another 2 times.
4. Half fill sink up with cold water a fourth time and add a kilo of ice to the water in the sink.
5. Let kettle sit until ice melts, adding more as required.
6. When wort reaches 30oC (about 30 mins) transfer to FV and top up with chilled/ice water until you reach picthing temp.

- Depending on beer style, the 30 minute cool-down gives you a chance to add some additional flavour/aroma hops for a 'hop stand'.
- Gently stirring the wort in the kettle while cooling in the sink will get the temp down faster, as will circulating the water in the sink.

I would also recommend using bottled water, it definitely makes a difference in taste compared to tap water.

Let us know how it turns out, happy brewing ;)

Archsnapper

Back when I was a newbie, I did this. Boiled water, carefully frozen. No good - beer contaminated.
Just don't do it.

Leann ull

Quote from: molc on October 28, 2016, 08:34:10 AM
Something is either sterile or it isn't :)
Shop bought ice isn't, but then again we all just used tap water to dilute kits when we started with no ill effects.

Out of your tap it's got no bugs as its chlorinated unless you live in Galway
It's not sterile but good enough that you could make kits with without any adverse reactions.
Kit Brewers do you all treat your water the night before to remove chlorine or is it straight in

Shanna

Quote from: CH on October 29, 2016, 07:59:14 AM
Quote from: molc on October 28, 2016, 08:34:10 AM
Something is either sterile or it isn't :)
Shop bought ice isn't, but then again we all just used tap water to dilute kits when we started with no ill effects.

Out of your tap it's got no bugs as its chlorinated unless you live in Galway
It's not sterile but good enough that you could make kits with without any adverse reactions.
Kit Brewers do you all treat your water the night before to remove chlorine or is it straight in
When I was doing kits I just used tap water & no Camden tablets or letting the water standing to allow the chlorine to evaporate off.

Shanna
Cornie keg group buy organiser, storeman & distribution point
Hops Group buy packer
Regulator & Taps distribution point
Stainless Steel Fermenter Group Buy Organiser
South Dublin Brewers member

molc

The point about chlorine is one I totally forgot. Tye ice could indeed have frozen bugs rest tap water wouldn't harbour.
As for kits and tap water with no Campden, I did it as well. Chlorophenols form in combination with the acids in the hops if I recall, so maybe the kits are using more stable extracted oils or something.
Would be interesting to see more on that...
Fermenting: IPA, Lambic, Mead
Conditioning: Lambic, Cider, RIS, Ole Ale, Saison
On Tap: IPA, Helles, Best Bitter

shweeney

I used ice for my first couple of extract brews and even though I was only doing half size batches, the amount of ice required made it very awkward to get right. Buy a chiller!

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