Cooling sugar wash with ice cubes.

jbrew9999 · Post by **jbrew9999** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 6:58 am

Is there any problem with adding ice cubes directly to the wash instead of sitting the pot in a tub of ice water or trying to cool it with a heat exchanger?

If you're going to add unboiled, unsanitized tap water to your wash anyway, why not add ice made from the same unboiled, unsanitized tap water?

I tried it and had no problems.

I understand that if I was trying to maintain homebrew quality sanitation, I wouldn't be using unsanitized water at all, ice or not. But if you are going to use regular tap water, why waste time and effort trying to cool the wash with a heat exchanger or ice water bath?

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:01 am

Dilution would be my only concern. If you're going to dilute the wash anyway, why not? I've added tap water to much beer with no problem.

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:17 am

I've thrown snow into hot mash before to help cool it. Nice clean snow that had just fallen, seemed ok after.