Love my new immersion chiller

neckbone · 02-25-2007, 12:37 AM

Bottled my red ale, and brewed my Blue Moon clone today. Man, I love my new immersion chiller. Went from boiling to pitching temp in 11 minutes. So much better than 45-50 and 40 lbs of ice. Thanks Bobby M.

brewt00l · 02-25-2007, 12:32 PM

I am right there with you...perhaps one of the best brew equipment investments I have made in a while combined with my turkey fryer. Full boils and quick cold breaks!

Willsellout · 02-25-2007, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewt00l

I am right there with you...perhaps one of the best brew equipment investments I have made in a while combined with my turkey fryer. Full boils and quick cold breaks!

Yeah this is where I'm heading right now. Just trying to figure out what I need and want. Looks like I will be getting a 11 gallon SS pot and a 40' immersion chiller 1/2".
I will be doing a full boil with steeping grains for my next batch...I can't wait!
Do you taste a difference in your beers since you started doing full boils and using a chiller?

Dan

Hogsooey · 02-25-2007, 07:09 PM

Just got my immersion chiller yesterday.

I bought a brewing equipment kit from my local home brewing store, but they didn't have the immersion chiller in stock. They gave me the other equipment and said that they would call when the immersion chiller was in. It was a long three weeks waiting for that sucker! I used an ice bath on my first two batches. I can't wait to try the immersion chiller.

**ajf** · 02-25-2007, 07:36 PM

11 minutes sounds PDG.
Mine used to take over 30 minutes during the summer, and a bit less in the winter.

-a.

Caplan · 02-25-2007, 08:14 PM

Mine took 10 min today to cool a 3 gallon boil.
They work great if you monitor the 'outflow' for heat. If it's cold it's not working - gently moving the immersion chiller sideways to another area of the pot can help with getting heat out.

brewt00l · 02-25-2007, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willsellout

Do you taste a difference in your beers since you started doing full boils and using a chiller?

Dan

I am currently brewing the best beer I have ever brewed but I think it is a combination of improvements in technique, equipment and ingredients....full boils and the chiller are part of that equation but hard to pin down exactly what percentage if you know what I mean.

neckbone · 02-26-2007, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caplan

Mine took 10 min today to cool a 3 gallon boil.
They work great if you monitor the 'outflow' for heat. If it's cold it's not working - gently moving the immersion chiller sideways to another area of the pot can help with getting heat out.

I was just going to mention this. You need to keep just enough water flowing for the outflow water to stay warm/hot. The key for the immersion chiller is for the heat to be transferred from the wort to the water in the chiller. If it's cold coming out, slow down the volume so that heat is transferred.

**Bobby_M** · 02-26-2007, 02:44 PM

Neckbone. Actually running the water as fast as possible will cool the fastest. Now, if you care about wasting water, then you're point is well taken. Running it fast guarentees the highest possible temperature delta which cools faster but wastes water.

In any case, the absolute fastest way to cool is to make sure the wort is whirlpooling the whole time. It requires that I use my sanitized paddle about 3 times in a 5 minute cooling period.

Glad you like the chiller by the way.

thenatibrewer · 02-26-2007, 03:36 PM

chillers?? why? are we learning how the sew curtains next?? make a wort sickle and you can chill in pracitcally the same amount of time and you can keep your manhood...(ha, ha, ha)
but seriously we are getting a little crazy about all the equiptment we need just to do the same thing that men/women have been doing for centuries. we need to start a movement of simple brewing, no fancy ss pot with a built in thermometer, or bottle washer, autosipons etc. less is more, simpler is better. who is with me....i cannot hear you!!!!!!!!!!!