Vollrath 7024 Traex® ; 4L (135 oz.) Safety Mate™; Insta Chill®; Cooling Paddle

I bought these cooling paddles in hopes that they'd be made of more durable plastic than the San Jamar brand. It's the same plastic. I didn't take it into consideration until I put them in my freezer but they roll around. This makes it easy for them to fall out and break. I've already broken some the first week. The other downside is that if you put them in a 5 gallon bucket, the portion of the paddle outside of the bucket stays frozen. The ice doesn't settle to the bottom of the paddle.

Cracked the first time we used it.

Worked very well for a while, but then cracked in several ways in my freezer. No, I did not overfill it, but my freezer (standard above and below home-style freezer) was too small to have it hang upright when freezing, so it was at an angle. This might be why it split despite being below the fill like.

I really like knowing that I can cool down my food properly so as not to expose us to harmful bacteria! I do NOT work in a restaurant but I do enjoy cooking at home. It is nice to know that my family will have an extra barrier between us a food bourne illness!

This is a great invention! The screw top let's you fill it with ice cubes for quick chilling when you forgot or don't have room to put it in the freezer.

I'm using this primarily as a wort chiller, though I suspect it'l take a bath in the occasional pot of soup, or stock. I find that for batches greater than 2 gal, I need to add salt to the paddle to reduce the temp without having to dump and refill the paddle. For cooling 6 gallons of wort, this is unavoidable.

Vollrath makes top quality items. The insta chill cooling paddle is a brilliant piece of kit and cools down hot liquids almost instantly. Highly recommended.