Wort Chiller advice

So I just got a keggle and now I am finding that my piddly little immersion chiller isn't going to cut it for 10 Gal batches. I've pretty much decided that the Shirron Wort Plate Chiller is what I want to get due to price and the speed in which it chills the wort, but I'm not sure what else I need?

Austin Home Brew recommends the BrewVint Backflush adapter and the Blichman quick Connect fittings. I think this is all I need, but as I've never used one of these before, I'm a touch confused as to how I recirculate the wort? Where does it go? Do I just plug in a hose in one end and the wort in the other and then recirculate the wort back into the keggle?

I also have a false bottom for my keggle on the way, but is that enough to strain the hops before sending it into the Plate Chiller?

Thanks to anyone who has one of these devices that can shed some light for an AG newbie!

I don't recirculate the wort. I pump the wort into the chiller and then into the fermenter. I adjust the flow of wort to adjust the wort temp exiting the chiller. In other words, I decrease the speed of the wort through the chiller so it will release more heat & exit the chiller at the temp I want to pitch my yeast at.

I hope this helps. Check out my brewery pick, I think you can see what I'm talking about in one of the photos.

Yeah that helps and makes sense. But you have a pump that does this right? That's what I was looking to avoid.

Yes, I have two pumps. I went head first into AG. I'm still learning though!

I can tell by the pics! Looking back, had I just bought that setup up front, I'd probably be even considering all I've spent on my 3, 5 and now 10 gal setup!

I know there are probably a few folks around here that use a plate chiller on gravity but the passages are just too small to get any reasonable flow. The next step would be a DIY wort wizard which can be made from pet shop parts. It creates a vaccuum in your carboy to suck wort through the chiller. From there, March pump for just under $100.

another thing to consider is what type of hops you are using. if you are using pellet, i think you will need to do more than just a false bottom. if you are using whole leaf, i think you would be ok, but you might have to recirculate in order to have the leaf hops set as a filter bed. i don't know though, i still use an IC

I am still fairly new to the home brew game. I am on my 9th Batch of brew my 5th Partial Mash. What type of Chiller is best; I brew 5 gal batches once a week. Right now I am Immersing the pot in cold water and Ice to cool it down. I need something faster but not too costly.
What do you guys suggest?

yeah, your immersion chiller is useless now. Just send it to me so you don't have to go through the pain of seeing it sit around unused and lonely.

I don't know your price range...but maybe this will help.

This looks to be a pretty good sale. I do 5 gallon batches and everything I have read says this setup will work fine......I am sure it would help with 10 gallon batches also......

http://www.ebrew.com/wort_chillers/super_immersion_wort_chiller.htm

my local Home Brew Shop has single immersion chillers @ 16ft for $60, so to me this is a hell of a deal.

(good price on the single also for anyone looking, just not on sale at the moment)

Thanks Chief that may definitely be an option. The chillers @ my LHBS are about the same price you said.

sircharles4848 said:

I don't know your price range...but maybe this will help.

This looks to be a pretty good sale. I do 5 gallon batches and everything I have read says this setup will work fine......I am sure it would help with 10 gallon batches also......

http://www.ebrew.com/wort_chillers/super_immersion_wort_chiller.htm

my local Home Brew Shop has single immersion chillers @ 16ft for $60, so to me this is a hell of a deal.

(good price on the single also for anyone looking, just not on sale at the moment)

Click to expand...

Do you own one of the single ones? Is it 3/8in.? I bought one today, just about the best price I could find and ground shipping only takes a day to my house.

For this, it seems to be a waste to use a nice clean cooper chiller for a pre-chiller. You could always build one like this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=30321.

Beerrific said:

Do you own one of the single ones? Is it 3/8in.? I bought one today, just about the best price I could find and ground shipping only takes a day to my house.

For this, it seems to be a waste to use a nice clean cooper chiller for a pre-chiller. You could always build one like this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=30321.

Click to expand...

No, I dont have a immersion chiller "YET", but I have my eye on the one from Alt. Beverage. I dont know what the diameter is but any chiller will work for me. Price plus shipping on this one seems to be the best around.

one more post on this before I go to bed.....I found this on ebay......says 50 ft. seems like a good price ($40) with shipping.....cant afford to get one right now....so.....have fun

http://cgi.ebay.com/Homemade-immers...ryZ38172QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Beerrific said:

Do you own one of the single ones? Is it 3/8in.? I bought one today, just about the best price I could find and ground shipping only takes a day to my house.

For this, it seems to be a waste to use a nice clean cooper chiller for a pre-chiller. You could always build one like this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=30321.

Click to expand...

Came in today, 48 hours to get to me. Not bad.

It is 3/8''. Can't wait to use it.

I waited to check my tapwater temps before posting this. I just used a Shirron for the first time last weekend. I brewed a 5 gallon batch with a combination of leaf and pellet hops. I have a homemade hop stopper that does a great job on the leaf hops, but lets a tiny bit, maybe a fraction of an ounce, of the pellet bits through. I gravity fed the chiller from my brewpot at 21 inches off the ground to the carboy on the ground. I ran the cooling water full bore into the cooler and regulated the wort flow with the pot spigot valve. A pump would not have helped in this case. I was trying to get the wort quite cool to pitch a lager yeast. I set the flow so the Thrumometer read 68F. I was disappointed that it took nearly 40 minutes to cool the 5 gallons. Then I measured the tapwater temp. 66F. Aha, not so bad after all.

Beerrific said:

Came in today, 48 hours to get to me. Not bad.

It is 3/8''. Can't wait to use it.

Click to expand...

So....have you used it....how well does it work.....I am looking to get one myself.

sircharles4848 said:

So....have you used it....how well does it work.....I am looking to get one myself.

Click to expand...

I have used in the sense that I hooked it up to the hose. It gets cold and dosen't leak. I see no reason why it isn't going to work as advertised.

I hope I will be brewing this weekend....will update then....

50' 3/8 copper tubing for 50 bucks
HUGE cooler already had it, but I think I paid 60 for it
40 lbs of Ice 4 bucks
Knowing that my wort will hit temp with an awesome cold break in >10 min. Priceless

Counterflow chiller on steroids!!

That's gonna be a mightly slow gravity drain unless you have a really nice height drop after the chiller coil.

I'm running a Shirron plate chiller via gravity and it takes about 10 min to fill
a carboy. I may have to use a pre-chiller as we get into the heat of summer.
As far as cleaning goes, I just backflow rinse after I have my carboy situated,
then I'll rinse again and then run some sanitizer thru it and let it drain.
Just to be safe in case I've missed some tiny particles I'm going to toss it
in the oven at 350 deg for 20min before my next batch.