HELP!!

I'm a newbie to all this and i have recently purchased an electric 30ltr boiler to have a go at extract brewing, now once the boil is complete i obviously have to cool the wort rather quickly, this is the problem, how do i do it? I dont have a wort chiller so am i able to transfer it directly after the boil to the fermenter bucket to then cool it in the bath or is there another way??? Answers greatly appreciated.

I assume you are serious about giving brewing a go as you have spent money on a boiler. If that is the case then get a wort chiller - it is one of the most important pieces of kit.

I guess you could go direct to the plastic bucket and cool by putting in the bath with 20lbs of ice. There are 2 problems with this, first it will take quite a long time to cool to pitching temperature (and never ever be tempted to rush and pitch too hot), and the plastic buckets are meant for cold liquids - you might extract some plasticy flavours from the bucket pouring boiling wort into it.

I have heard of people freezing their (anticipated) top up water and adding to the bucket. I don't think that is a good idea as there are a host of sanitation issues and I would be worried about slashing and making a mess.

Take a look here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/No_Chill_Method

Thanks for the replies guys, have spoke with a friend of mine in the plumbing trade and he said it's easy to make a copper wort chiller and it's not going to work out too expensive so going to take that route!