igliashon

Recipes 

I brew 3-gallon batches, doing full-wort boils in a 5-gallon pot. I did the ice bath thing for a while but got sick of lugging 12 lbs of ice up the several flights of stairs to my apartment and having to wait almost an hour for my wort to chill to pitching temps. So I bought an IC, after reading how they're quicker than ice baths and less wasteful of H20, etc. Well, my experience thus far has been unimpressive. It still takes me a good hour to get my wort to pitching temp, and I really can't seem to get it any lower than 76°F. The chiller's a bit too big for the pot, so there's usually a coil or two of the tubing sticking out, but I can't imagine that makes a whole lot of difference. My tap water is usually around 60 to 65°F. I adjust the water flow rate to maximize the temperature of the water exiting the tube; usually it's barely above a trickle. I'm also stirring the wort frequently, which I'd prefer not to do b/c of the contamination risks.

So, my question: I'm sick of wasting so much time chilling the wort, especially because the kitchen sink is tied up the whole time. Any ideas why it takes me so long to get the wort down to pitching temps with this setup? Would a chiller made from a longer length of tubing, and thus having more coils, make a significant improvement? Would compressing the chiller I have, so that all the coils are submerged in my shallow pot, make a significant improvement? Or should I just bite the bullet and get a CFC (which will also require a new kettle with a spigot)?

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tally350z

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What length and diameter is the coil? Did you say that you turn on the water that flows through the tube, just barely above a trickle?

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Vaffmedic

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I use a submersible aquarium pump in a cooler of ice water to recirculate the water through the IC and get down to pitching temperature pretty quick. Pump cost me about $20-$25 off of eBay.

igliashon

Recipes 

20', 3/8" diameter. Yeah, just barely above a trickle.

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Bottled: Galaxy-Hopped Bochet, Black IPA, Nelson Agave Cream Ale, Buckwheat Stout, Chestnut Saison, Mosaic IIPA, White IPA
Primary: Banana-Millet Blonde, Paleo Wit, Kombucha Sour
Secondary: Empty
Planning: Lime-Agave Pale Ale, Wild Rice Brown, Russian Imperial Stout, Chestnut "Coffee Substitute" Stout, Apollo/Horizon/Sorachi IPA, Melon Pale Ale...
All gluten-free, all the time!

Check out my gluten-free brewing blog, beyondbarley.blogspot.com

Golddiggie

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Turn up the flow of the chill water. Having it as just a trickle is probably the entire reason your chill time sucks so bad.

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tojo

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Water flow is definitely an issue. You are supposed to run water through the IC at a good clip, like half bore at least, since the job of the chiller is to take away heat from the wort.

As was also said above a good investment would be a five gallon pail, a small pond pump (got mine at home improvement store for about $25. I've been using this set up (with 5 lbs of ice & water in pail) for five gallon batches and it gets cool in about 15 minutes.

I'm going to graduate to do some ten gallon batches so I'm gonna invest in a CFC utilizing a similar set up just a bigger pump.

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day_trippr

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This.

Cheers!

david_42

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Maximizing the exit temperature will minimize the amount of water used, but also increase the amount of time it takes to cool. If you turn up the flow until the exit temperature doesn't drop any more, you will have maximized the heat transfer for your setup.

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Transamguy77

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Do you stir or just let the water run? I have found that stirring makes a big difference.

+1 to turning up the pressure, I run mine pretty quick at first then back it off as the temp comes down to 120 range. As the summer approaches I'm going to try a prechiller with some ice blocks I think that will also help.

kapbrew13

Recipes 

Problem solved. Trickle means the water will heat up and carry the hot water through 20' of copper. When on full pressure, the hot water is carried out.
Use a pond pump and a large plastic bin to recirculate ice water when the exiting water temp is around 125. I usually get down to 68 in 15 minutes.