Can anyone tell me how much ice I need for the water bath to cool 5 gallons of wort?
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Use a container that the kettle of hot wort will fit with room to spare,but not too big. Put kettle in container,& fill with ice to the top. But not above top of kettle. Then top off with cold water. You'd need at least 1,maybe 2 22lb bags of ice. About $2.50 per bag around here. Artisian Springs has local spring water ice for like a dollar for 10lbs. See if you have a local spring water source,you might get a cheaper price than the store or gas station.
Its gonna vary. Ive heard of people using anywhere from 4-6 lbs or more. Ive always just used two bags from my local sheetz, added some to my sink and waited but that was for 4 gallons. I'd say start off for 3-5 bags of ice and go from there. As far as how much water ur gonna need i'd go with at least as much as to put the ice/water line of the bucket on par with the level of the wort in ur BK. The more surfact area of cold water on the outside of the BK the better for bringing it down.
U can also add some salt to it (think old school ice cream makers) to the salt to take/keep the temp of the water below freezing to help it cool quicker as well.
U can also add some salt to it (think old school ice cream makers) to the salt to take/keep the temp of the water below freezing to help it cool quicker as well.
I think the water messes up the salt thing. Ice cream makers just use ice & salt. And they also use an aluminum pot for the ice cream to be made in. The water seems to just make the ice melt quicker when I tried that?...
Some of the ice itself will melt quicker when it comes in contact with the salt, but that will allow the water to get to freezing temps for a period of time. Thats important because the surface area of the BK will be in contact with that colder water then the ice cubes alone would be.
Yeah,I found in that experiment that the water is def needed to spread the cooler temp around more evenly. The effect just didn't last long. So Instead of adding water first,then ice,I reversed it. Now mostly ice & little water to top up. Works pretty good. Just keep adding ice to top off as it melts.
Nice. How much ice/salt would u say u used on a batch?
Well,with a 5 gallon BK & about 3 gallons of wort after boil off,I'd say about2/3's of a 22lb bag of ice to get down to 70-75F. I top off with a couple gallons of cold fridged spring water to get down to 64F or so. Salt,I never measured,just sprinkled it over the ice & topped off with tap water.
453.6g * 5 = 2268g * 80 cal/g = 181440 cal \ 19000g = 9.55 C = 17.2 F
5 lbs of ice will cool 5 gallons of wort a little over 17° F. This is based solely on the heat of fusion and ignores any losses, hot or cold. Also, five lbs of melted ice is five lbs of cold water, but thats a fraction of a degree.
Dont mess with the salt, its just going to kill your grass, and it wont change the amount of ice you need. It would melt the ice a tiny bit more quickly, but just a bit.
5 lbs of ice will cool 5 gallons of wort a little over 17° F. This is based solely on the heat of fusion and ignores any losses, hot or cold. Also, five lbs of melted ice is five lbs of cold water, but thats a fraction of a degree.
Dont mess with the salt, its just going to kill your grass, and it wont change the amount of ice you need. It would melt the ice a tiny bit more quickly, but just a bit.
It sure didn't get that cold. And I used more than 5lbs at a time.
dubprocess
Well-Known Member
i always just buy a 20lb bag and be done with it..
doornumber3
Well-Known Member
Save money in the long run and time and get an immersion or counter flow chiller.
jungatheart
Well-Known Member
I make my wort 4 gallons then dump the ice from a frozen one gallon jug of distilled water directly into the wort. Chop up with ice pick for fast temperature drop. One gallon of water weighs 8 lbs.
What I'm gonna do with my next batch is freeze distilled water in zip lock bags because getting the plastic off the frozen jugs is a pain.
What I'm gonna do with my next batch is freeze distilled water in zip lock bags because getting the plastic off the frozen jugs is a pain.
jungatheart said:
I have done the ziplock bag method before and it works like a charm. I usually doomed in 3 gall batches, put it in an ice bath, add 1 gall frozen, and then 1 gall that sat in the fridge over night. My batches usually chill to 70 degrees in about 5 min that way.
Well if you insist on adding water, to cool 3gal from 77F to 59F, thats 120,000 cal or about 3 lbs of ice.
So if you have 5 gallons of wort at 200F and you want to go to 60 thats about 38 lbs of ice.
Is that what we're talking about?
So if you have 5 gallons of wort at 200F and you want to go to 60 thats about 38 lbs of ice.
Is that what we're talking about?
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