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Keeping an Ice Pack Stash for Your Home Brewery
With various homebrewing tasks (e.g. making a yeast starter, rehydrating dry yeast), you’ll need to drop the temperature of liquids you’re working with, that liquid often being wort. Of course, you’ll also have occasions where you’ll want to chill your delicious bottles or growlers of homebrew for drinking. Do yourself and your significant other a favor and stop raiding the ice maker. Instead, I highly recommend that you create your own bin of reusable gel-based ice packs.
If you already own a few gel-based ice packs, that’s great. Plan on putting them to use. In case you don’t, let’s discuss options.
One option is to buy the thick plastic shell reusable ice packs like the one in this photo. These are great options which would meet your needs well. The advantages of these ice packs are that they are typically very sturdy and there’s a large volume of gel in them so they remain cold for a long period of time. Their disadvantages are that they are more expensive, they won’t fit into small spaces well (like a tight water bath), and they will take up more space in your freezer.
Your second option is smaller reusable ice packs like the one in this photo. These are also great options and frankly, the one I would encourage you to pursue if you’re starting from scratch. Why? Well, their primary advantage is that they are cheap. You can buy a box of 48 of them for under $20. You could keep 6-10 in your freezer and have replacements for years if you needed them (the extras are shelf stable and don’t expire). Alternately, you could keep 6-10 in each of your freezers if you have more than one. That way, ice is always available no matter where you’re packing the cooler or chilling your wort. Another advantage is that smaller packs require less space on your freezer shelf. A third advantage is that these smaller packs will fit into tighter spaces (e.g. stuffed around and between growlers in the cooler).
One final (significant) advantage is that you can accumulate these over the years at little or no cost if you’re not in a hurry. You’re likely to get these from your local home brew store (LHBS) when you buy liquid yeast in an effort to keep it cool. Don’t throw that ice pack in the garbage! Throw it in the freezer! If you wanted to get a few to start you off, you could just ask your LHBS to sell you a few. They’ll be happy to accommodate at a cost of approximately $1 each.
There are two primary disadvantages of these smaller reusable ice packs. First is that they are a bit less durable. I can say that I’ve never had one tear or leak but the plastic casing is definitely thinner than the shell of a large ice pack. Of course if you have 40-50 spares in a box, that isn’t really an issue. The second disadvantage is that their smaller mass won’t stay cold as long. However, if you can fit 6-8 of these in your cooler versus two of the larger ones, that isn’t much of an issue either. My suggestion? Put any reusable packs you have into your ice pack stash and buy a box of small ice packs to supplement.
I have one final suggestion related to your home brewery’s reusable ice pack stash – buy a small storage bin to keep them in. In this photo, you’ll see one of my reusable ice pack stashes. You’ll see that it’s a mix of large packs I had bought in years past and smaller packets that I bought to supplement. All of them get a LOT of use. I also have another bin of just small packs in my house freezer that are available whenever I’m filling the cooler. (My wife appreciates me not leaving her ice-less.)
When you need ice, grab the whole basket/bin. When you’re finished, toss the packs back in the bin and slide the bin back into the freezer – simple stuff. The bin also helps to keep your freezer tidy and manageable. Nothing is more annoying than ice packs falling out when you open the freezer door. I know, I’ve been there.
Items Suggested
- Small Reusable Gel-Based Ice Packs
- Large Reusable Gel-Based Ice Packs
- Storage Basket
- Measuring spoons (1/8 tsp and/or 1/4 tsp) (OXO Good Grips Measuring Spoons)
- Water
Now go set up your home brewery’s reusable ice pack stash! It’ll get plenty of use and you’ll be grateful it’s always handy.
Now that you’ve read this Homebrew Tip, let me know if you have a question, recommended improvement, or other thoughts in the comments below. As I mention in About Homebrew Notes, these are living documents and your feedback is appreciated!