Help me chose chiller upgrade

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Which of these chiller is the best bang for the $$$'s?

  • Duda Plate Chiller, like the B3-23A 20 Plate ($124)

  • Ebay Counterflow Chiller--25' garden hose with 1/2" copper ($119)

  • Chillzilla or similar counterflow ($199)

  • Blichmann Therminator ($199)

  • Other (explain below)

Results are only viewable after voting.
S

stealthfixr

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Living in Las Vegas can make chilling a 5gal batch challenging. Water at the tap has been 78F of late. Last Spring, I bought the JaDeD Wasp immersion chiller and used my older 3/8" copper immersion chiller as a pre-chiller in a bucket of ice. I then added a pump to swirl the wort around the Wasp in the pot. Doing all that, last night it took 50 minutes to chill 5 gallons down to pitching temps, and that's been consistent time wise. That is just too long--I'd like to drop that at least in half, if not more.

Equipment wise, I am doing 5 gallon BIAB and I've already got a chugger pump. I've also got two immersion chillers that could be used as pre-chillers for something else. I've considered a few options--they are all below in the table. Tell me which of these you would go for first for the EASIEST and MOST EFFECTIVE wort chiller. I could go expensive if I need to, but like most of you, I'd rather not if I can help it. Thank you for your votes and any comments left on why!
 
Table? I'm telling you, as a socal resident (obv not as hot as vegas but warm climate no less) get a bucket of ice water and a cheap pond pump. Hook it up to the intake of your wasp chiller with the outflow going back into the ice water bucket. Do this after hose water gets the temps down to 100F or so, and agitate the ice as it goes. I bet dollars to donuts you'll get your time down to less then 40 minutes doing it this way.

All that said, sub 1hr is pretty good I think your beer is in no danger, but I know it's time consuming...
 
I recirc the wort through a counter flow until I get below 110 using tap water and then recirculate ice water like the jbaysurfer described. A 20 lb bag works on both 5 and 10 gallon batches.
 
I do the same as Jbaysurfer and it works I emptied my Ice maker and added a 7 lb bag of Ice and went from 100 to 56 and still had some ice floating. My riverside california water measured 89 degree yesterday. Durn Cheap house with shallow waterlines that run thru the attic. I didn't measure the time but it was fairly quick.:)
 
I use a 20 plate chiller (I think it was around $80 when I bought it). It will get your wort close to the supply temp and usually a five gallon batch goes in about 8-10 minutes. I was brewing with a friend yesterday who has a 12 plate unit. It was a hot day, so he ran an immersion chiller in a bucket of ice on the supply side, before it hit the plate chiller. I think his 5 gal batch was low 70s in about 12 minutes.
 
check out zchillers if you get a coil type cfc. they have a convoluted star type of tubing on the inside and are great people.

I just placed an order because the plate chillers seem like a ***** to clean if there is a clog due to cold break or hop matter.
 
stealthfixr said:
Living in Las Vegas can make chilling a 5gal batch challenging. Water at the tap has been 78F of late. Last Spring, I bought the JaDeD Wasp immersion chiller and used my older 3/8" copper immersion chiller as a pre-chiller in a bucket of ice. I then added a pump to swirl the wort around the Wasp in the pot. Doing all that, last night it took 50 minutes to chill 5 gallons down to pitching temps, and that's been consistent time wise. That is just too long--I'd like to drop that at least in half, if not more.

Equipment wise, I am doing 5 gallon BIAB and I've already got a chugger pump. I've also got two immersion chillers that could be used as pre-chillers for something else. I've considered a few options--they are all below in the table. Tell me which of these you would go for first for the EASIEST and MOST EFFECTIVE wort chiller. I could go expensive if I need to, but like most of you, I'd rather not if I can help it. Thank you for your votes and any comments left on why!
Click to expand...
First off, thanks for purchasing one of our products! Since we don't know exactly what your system is, we will tell you this: Using a pump for wort recirculation will result in approximately 50% longer chill time compared to agitating/stirring the wort. Also, the Wasp will get 5 gallons to 10 degrees above your tap water temp in 13 minutes, which makes us think that your pre-chiller is not working very well. We offer the General Lee add on kit for situations like yours, and if you purchase it and decide you don't want it, we will refund your full purchase price including shipping. Here is a video of the General Lee with the Wasp in action, chilling 5 gallons of wort in 16 minutes with 80F water using only 10 gallons of water and 12 pounds of ice.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Times like these I actually have an upper hand by living in North Dakota!!! Our water lines are generally buried 8 ft in the ground to PREVENT freezing! Needless to say our water is always coldddddd.

Sorry, in no way did this help I know. Unless moving to Fargo is an option.... I'm always open for a new brew bud!


Sent from myPhone
 
Got to be more than twenty opinions for the poll here...and it's currently an even split between the plate chiller and the counterflow.

Getting crud stuck inside a plate chiller seems an issue to me as someone who has never used one. Not so in practice? I know you can backwash it and bake it in the oven for sanitization, but I doubt all the crud ever gets out. Do they ever clog up completely?
 
I own a 20 plate Duda 23 and love it, but I actually voted for the ebay counterflow because it is less prone to clogging.
Instead of trying to cool your boil kettle and wort, simply transfer it through any counterflow chiller (plate or tube... it does the same thing) to a second pot.
I transfer through the plate chiller to a dedicated whirlpool, but any pot will work and in the 8 to 10 minutes it takes to transfer it, it is the ground water temp.
Then after that, you could cool it further using ice water.
Getting it out of the hot pot makes a huge difference.
 
BTW, I use a pre-filter (required) for the plate chiller... it's a standard household water filter housing with a 300 micron screen rolled up and used as the filter element.
 
I made my CFC out of 1/2" copper and 1" rubber hose. Went CFC only because of how easy it is to clean. I just recirculate while whirlpooling with tap. Get the temp down until it begins to slow, and switch to the pump and ice water. I just freeze milk jugs and it usually takes 5 jugs. I can go from boiling to fermenter in about 20 minutes doing 15 gallon batches. Never used a plate, but came close to buying one. I really like the CFC design. The commercial ones are small and work better than the hose and copper. Like all things brewing, all of them work, just personal preference.
 
The Jamil immersion chiller is very fast at cooling in my experience. The built in re-circulation arm speeds up the cooling dramatically and it also gets a nice whirlpool going. Plus it's super easy to clean.
 
jbaysurfer said:
Table? I'm telling you, as a socal resident (obv not as hot as vegas but warm climate no less) get a bucket of ice water and a cheap pond pump. Hook it up to the intake of your wasp chiller with the outflow going back into the ice water bucket. Do this after hose water gets the temps down to 100F or so, and agitate the ice as it goes. I bet dollars to donuts you'll get your time down to less then 40 minutes doing it this way.

All that said, sub 1hr is pretty good I think your beer is in no danger, but I know it's time consuming...
Click to expand...

+1 I just got this setup and tried it for the first time yesterday... down to pitching temp in 30 min
 
As a follow up, I ended up getting the zchillers large counterflow chiller. For the first time, I am now getting wort about 2 degrees above the hose water temp, which was 65F the last time I brewed a week ago--awesome. The chiller is built very well and works great. I've been hitting it with PBW at the end of the boil (along with the pump and everything else), and Starsan for sanitizing before brewing--easy. Using it cuts darn near an hour off of my brew day time.

Should have gotten it a long time ago.
 
Can you solder copper?
If so - I would buy the copper online and build your own CFC with instructions from the web/or here from BobbyM's thread. I say this because I love making the things I use. I know you said cheap and easy - and you don't mind spending the money but hey - this took me a few hours on a single weekend.

Cost me about $80 in total and I got to do it myself and it does exactly what I need it to do and has not clogged yet. You could use gravity to pull it though the 3/8 tube - and have your chugger push the ice water in a recirculating loop around the outside.

Here is one place you can get it online:
http://coppertubingsales.com/copper-tubing-and-pipe/soft-copper-coils/copper-tubing-sizes-18-78

Then Home Despot for the hose, small copper wire and copper fittings:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Goodyear...-Rubber-Red-Hot-Water-Hose-20258070/100580705

Best of luck! :mug:
 
ChelisHubby said:
You Know you can buy a lot of Ice for 120 dollars.
Click to expand...

you can also buy a lot of cab and bus fare for 25 grand.... does that mean most of use are fools for owning a car?
im sorry but running to the store for ice everytime I want to brew and having it still take forever to chill would not be an option I'd consider...
+1 for the duda chiller here... Its works great for me for over a year now. I never baked it or have done anything but run pbw and sanitizer through it from time to time.
 
I am on the fence with the Wasp or the Hornet, maybe the Talos which is 3/8" for 2.5-6 gallon batches
 

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