Debating whether or not to get one…currently, I do somewhere between partial and full extract boils (~3 gallons or so) and it cools to around 80 in about 30 minutes with an ice bath. I can also just chilled top off water sooner and it’s quicker obviously. I understand that it does it in about half that time, but wouldn’t a downside to this be that it also exposes the wort to microbes while the kettle top is off for 15 minutes? With my current method, the lid is 99% on.
I think in the end it is up to you. Don’t think you have that much risk of contamination. Do you buy the ice? I would like after awhile the cost of ice would add up. Around my parts it is $3.00 bag.
Good point, yeah, I normally go through a large bag which runs me about $6.
I sanitize frozen 16oz bottles to drop them in to cool the wort from 100F to pitching temps for either ales or lagers.
As long as you’re doing partial boils I don’t see any reason. Just freeze the top-off water a couple days before you brew.
That sounds like a great idea…
I’ve been meaning to ask about this. How many bottles does it typically take you to chill 5 gallons? I have a bunch of old PET bottles that would be perfect for this.
now that i do small batches i throw my kettle in the fridge
A 1:1 ratio of ice and boiling wort will end up at ~65°F. So 5 gallons of ice, roughly.
I’m on the same page as Euge…But i use frozen half gallon milk jugs out of the hop freezer…9 or 10 usually does the trick…cheap and easy…
I was chilling using ice baths for 5 gallon all grain batches, and with constant stirring, changing water, etc, it would take almost an hour to drop down below 75 degrees. I used a wort chiller for the first time over the weekend and was able to drop the temp to 75 degrees in about 15 minutes. Personally, I really liked the wort chiller and thought it was worth the investment.
you forget the extra energy needed to turn ice into water.
Check out this site http://www.onlineconversion.com/mixing_water.htm I found this at one point when I was trying to figure out how much ice to use a top off water.
1:1 ratio by weight of boiling wort (okay 211f) and unrealistically warm ice (32f) results in a temp of only 49*f. It takes approximately 30 times more energy to turn ice @ 32 degrees into water @ 33 degrees than it takes to turn water @ 33 degrees into water @ 34 degrees
EDIT TO ADD
in fact, if you change nothing in the equation except that you are using WATER @ 32 degrees instead of ICE @ 32 degrees the resulting temp goes form 48 to 112
Nuh-uh… 
If you leave that out it’s much higher, as you pointed out. But you’re right, my memory was off. A 60/40 wort:ice mixture gets to ale pitching temps. 50/50 would be a bit much, even for lagers.
2.1 J/g°C to heat the ice, 330 J/g to melt it, and 4.2 J/g°C to heat the resulting water. 3.8 J/g°C, roughly, for an average-gravity wort. Assuming the ice starts at -15°C (5°F), the wort at 95°C (203°F), and it’s a 1.050 wort:
40(330 + 2.1(0 - -15) + 4.2x) = 60(3.81.05(95 - x))
x = 20°C (68°F)