Wort Chiller

[bj]

Hi, Im after some advice regarding the wort chillers.

I have just upgraded by kettle to be able to boil 50L, which means my old homemade immersion chiller will be inadequate.

My first thought is to make another larger IM, (maybe 15 meters?) and use my old one to pre chill my water. But im not sure if this method would bring the temp down fast enough?

The other options are to purchase a plate chiller or a counter-flow chiller, i have got an idea of the pros and cons of each, but was hoping to get some firsthand experiences from you good folk.
Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Brendan

[Stu McKinlay]

Hi BJ

I have a 50 litre kettle and my immersion chiller (came with the kettle off morebeer) cools my beer in 15min - no problems... except for summer, when tap water temperature is in the mid-to-high 20's and I can't get the wort below this.
I reckon you should go the larger immersion chiller, and use the little one through iced water in summer. If you want to go hardcore, then check out Jamil 'The Pope' Zainesheff's singing and dancing whirlpool immersion chiller at www.mrmalty.com.

Slainte mhath
Stu

[Horace]

I made one of these by brazing some old copper pipe on to my original copper tube immersion chiller. Have to run very hort wort through the pump to sanitise and get lots of cavitation while wort is boiling. Not so good for the oxidation thing. Have tried counterflow, once from coil inside garden hose, and also coil inside large bore PVC waste pipe.

The Mr Malty copy cools as fast as counter flow but requires a pump. Counterflow requires very good cleaning practices, like not letting it sit full of wort and trub for the weekend because you have to rush out. It takes a lot of effort to get it out. I would avoid a plate cooler unless you have a reasonable pump that has good pressure for CIP type cleaning, for teh small plate cooleers/heat exchanger once that crap gets stuck in there it won't come out without a fight.

Have decided that on a small scale atleast, simpler is often better.

Have a go with your immersion chiller iin some hot water to just see how long it is going to take. Using a sanitised spoon to stir the liquid will decrease cooling time

[bj]

Cheers for the advice guys, i will prob make a 15m IM and pre chill the water with my old chiller.
One thing Stu, when you say it takes you 15 mins, are you chilling from the outside of the kettle as well (ie: ice bath)?

[Adam]

In the winter down here in CHCH i can chill 70L to 20 in 20min with 15m of copper with some stiring for the first 5min! I think you will be fine with the 15m

[Stu McKinlay]

No external chilling, just the immersion chiller.
I give the kettle a solid stir for a minute or two from flame out, then let it do it's thing. You can stir the wort with the immersion chiller too, if you want to be sure that you are getting everything.
After cooling I let it settle for a good 40min, up to 60min, to let most of the hop and fined material settle out.

[Steve Baker]

I've got 2 coils and I do a pre-chill. My "ice bath" is actually 20 litres of salt-saturated water which has just come out of the deep freeze. At minus 17 degrees its still mostly a liquid. Using this cools the wort down real fast.

The solution lives in the deep freeze in a 20l plastic jerry can. You'll need the freezer space to try this.

There are a couple of lessons I only had to learn once:
- turn on the tap before you immerse the coil into the cold - lest it freeze the water in the coil
- try to avoid putting your hand in the salt solution (I can still brew with one hand and a stump)

[Stu McKinlay]

Did you use sea water or splash out when the Maldon was on special at Moore Wilsons?

[Steve Baker]

Moore Wilsons yes, Maldon no

Actually the salt has started to precipitate out and I'm getting more and more ice. I think I'll need to do a decoction to redissolve some of the salt.

[Simon]

Could you make a second immersion chiller of smaller or larger coil diameter that would run in parallel with your first chiller? i.e. you dunk 2 chillers into your wort to chill it, one nested within the coil of the other. Part of the problem is the surface area of your chiller, the other is the flow rate through it. By having a second chiller nested inside or around your original chiller you will increase the surface area of the cooling device in contact with your wort. This second chiller might not need to be as large as 15m. Running it in parallel with the other chiller may reduce your flow rates a bit though which could affect cooling performance.

[David Falconer]

I use an immersion chiller and this type of pump (at $115.00 its way cheaper than other brewing models ) as inspired by Mr Malty works well for me. This pump is rated to 105C and the info says its suitable for food. I steralize by running it for 5 mins before the end of the boil. Can send a photo if you want.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farming-industry/Industrial/Compr...

[Tony]

I scrounged about 1m length of 8mm copper tube from a scrap metal merchant, made it into a coil. I connect it with 10mm clear pvc hose to a submersible fish tank pump. I just put the copper tube in my wort, connected to the pump, in my tub of cold water that my kettle is sitting in, and hey presto.

It's not the most efficient, but, total cost about $25, and it works. Just make sure you sterilise your wort chiller and any hose that my come into contact with the wort.

[Dale]

Hey Guys,

I'm using an immersion chiller and go through heaps of warm tap water to try and cool my wort down. Have been wondering about a recycled water system with the water sitting in my keg freezer. Has anyone tried this and found out how much water they need to hold to get from 100C down to 20C?

Thanks