Will this work?

I am trying to create a more functional cooling system so I can use less water when I'm cooling the wort.

Inside the cooler I have the incoming water entering through the coils. The brew pot will be placed on top of the cooler so gravity can do its job.

Does the chill plate need a heat sink or is dumping ice on it approve the efficiency? I don't know?

When I ran it I got 3 gallons of boiling wort with a gallon of ice and 1 gallon of down to 66-70° degrees with a slow flow, faster flow brought it to 78-80°

Any thoughts?

This time with images

I do the same except use ice packs to cool water. Also my chiller is not in the cool water.

Tvc15 said:

I am trying to create a more functional cooling system so I can use less water when I'm cooling the wort.

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I'm not sure what your reason is to save water, but any money you save by using less water will be more than used up by making or buying ice.

It's for the planet man...

I use a reverse immersion chiller. I run the wort through the inside of the copper tubing which is buried in ice-water in a cooler. The wort flows through the chiller into the fermentor and I get around 70 to 75 degrees.

MuddyCreek said:

It's for the planet man...

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So what's worse, a few extra gallons of water or the electricity used to make that ice?

If that's what it takes to make you sleep better at night, knock yourself out! Personally I cannot fathom a bigger waste of time and resources.

Slipgate said:

If that's what it takes to make you sleep better at night, knock yourself out! Personally I cannot fathom a bigger waste of time and resources.

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Well that's super positive!

I dig it. And when the ice melts, you can re freeze it and use it over, further cutting the amount of waste water.

I use the water from my IC to wash up the gear and I capture some to freeze in 2 liter bottles. Work great in a cooler keeping food ad drinks cold, or in an ice bath to chill wort.

If I had a washer, I'd run the water from my IC into the washer and use it for that.

Anytime you can cut down the amount of water used its a good thing.

So you're trying to pre-chill the water going into the plate chiller, plus chill the plate itself, but the wort just goes thru the plate chiller? Just trying to understand it. Like you, I don't feel great about the huge amount of water it takes to brew and chill beer (and clean up). So cheers for trying to cut down!

dbrewski said:

So you're trying to pre-chill the water going into the plate chiller, plus chill the plate itself, but the wort just goes thru the plate chiller? Just trying to understand it. Like you, I don't feel great about the huge amount of water it takes to brew and chill beer (and clean up). So cheers for trying to cut down!

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My understanding is that the plate chiller can only cool as low as the water that runs through it in my case about 70+ degrees, so in theory if I can knock the temp. of the water down the wort coming out of the plate chiller will be colder.