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Ice for chilling wert

stevenkimbell

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Since I began brewing I have been using ice to chill my wert.  When brewing a 5 gallon batch, my actual wert volume is about 3 gallons.  Just before removing my wert from the boil I put about 16lbs of ice in my fermentor, then pour the wert in on top.  Usually, I can pitch immediately after.  In 15 years of home brewing I  have had only one bad batch.
Here is my question, what if anything, is wrong with using ice?  I read all the time about expensive wert chillers and rapid cooling methods, why use them?
 
Hearing that you're using direct ice contact with wort is going to chafe a lot of brewers.

Although I don't know how many batches you've made in 15 years or what you'd consider "bad," the use of ice isn't necessarily a bad thing. That is, as long as we're discussing commercially made ice and not what you get out of your ice trays.

As long as the bag is completely sealed and stays that way until you use it, the ice has to be at least as sanitary as any other packaged food. Since listeria and other pathogens can live in chilling systems, these are subject to health department standards on Federal, State and local levels. Bottled water quality standards in the US have had a lot of revisions in the last decades and that effects ice, too.

Now the FDA is retooling a lot of regulations to be proactive, instead of reactive. This means they are adding regulations to prevent outbreaks, instead of reacting to them. If they're preventing pathogens, they're also preventing other beer spoilage flora.

That said.... If you purchase a bag with a tear or tear it before use, all bets are off.
 
Interesting.  My brother in law owns the ice house where I get my ice.  I do a lot of maintenance on it for him, so I know it is clean, though the water is simply taken from the local supply. 
By "bad", I mean an off taste or bad smelling beer.  I had one batch that overcarbonated and another that undercarbonated, but only one I had to throw out.
I have done a lot over the years that I probably shouldn't have gotten away with.  For instance, I had a brew come up short in the fermenter - a 6 gallon brew that was only about 4 gallons - so I added two gallons of distilled water at bottling to bring it up to six.  It worked just fine.  Maybe I have just been luck?
 
stevenkimbell said:
My brother in law owns the ice house where I get my ice.  I do a lot of maintenance on it for him, so I know it is clean, though the water is simply taken from the local supply.

As long as you're the guy cleaning the ice making equipment and you feel it's good enough to use in your beer, I'll trust it's fine.  8)
 
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