Would it be possible to fill a chest freezer with water to use as chiller water for wort chilling?
I would say that’s a bad idea. The corners in my chest freezer don’t appear to be water tight. There could be other reasons.
If you want cold water, throw a couple of buckets in there.
I had the same idea a few years ago but decides to go different direction.
I can’t imagine it would work and it would be expensive to be wrong. But filling buckets would work. My HLT is raised so I’ve filled it with ice water and gravity fed through my chiller.
Brine the water and it will stay liquid below 32º. Id rinse out my chiller afterwards tho
Or mix with antifreeze. You’d have to keep it batch to batch, but you’d probably do that with brine anyway and antifreeze doesn’t corrode.
Could probably find some nontoxic stuff these days.
RV antifreeze is safe for water lines.
Well there ya go. I knew I was smart, just needed some help
Salt shouldn’t hurt copper. They use it in ship paint.
Propylene glycol is on the GRAS list, and is used in some foods IIRC.
I believe this was in a zymurgy gadget issue. Where they made a chest freezer into a glycol chiller. Go for it and post results. Edit **** found in November / December 2009 issue in conical ferment chamber.
Used in all sorts of foods. Basically anything that uses food coloring or flavorings. I’m sure loads more as well.
I was thinking of just setting the chest freezer to 40 degrees or so and that way I wouldn’t have to worry about it freezing the water.
I guess my main concern is the integrity of the freezer itself. Will the walls of the freezer hold up to the weight of the water?
A 7 cf freezer holds about 52 gallons. At 8 pounds per gallon, you’re looking at 416 pounds. I imagine it would hold, but they are designed to hold items from the bottom, not top.
What do you know. I looked up the article - the picture is small but it does look like the freezer is just filled with glycol. He didn’t really describe that part, but maybe OP could contact the author. If you can’t find an email, maybe email Jill Reading (editor) and see if she can see if he’s willing to share info.
As said above, it’s not water tight, but the other problem is that chest freezers are designed to hold temperature, not rapidly cool. An air conditioner unit has a much higher BTU rating which is why homebrew DIY glycol chillers for larger fermenters have been made with them and not chest freezers.
If it will hold a couple of dead bodies then I would guess it would hold water 
Meant to say sides. The water would push out on the sides.