Wort Chiller Water Flow?

I read in John Palmer's "How to Brew" book that when building an immersion wort chiller the cold water "in" should connect to the top coil, and the hot water "out" should flow out from the bottom coil. Why is that?

I never was too good at thermodynamic theory....

I'm going to guess that the hotter wort from the bottom will rise up and mix with the cooler wort to provide some sort of mixing action. That's my two cents, but if you have a pump and whirlpool I think it wouldn't matter how they were connected.

i assume this is a counterflow chiller. i'm not so sure it matters which direction the water/wort flow, whether it be water up or water down, so long as they flow in a direction counter to each other. my cold connects to the bottom right now so that the wort drains at the bottom. This way when i'm done cooling i can just let that wort remaining in the chiller drain out, saving a few ounces. I know it's not much, but enough for a gravity reading or another half beer

You have your coldest water meeting your hottest wort, theoretically providing more efficient heat transfer.

nbspindel said:

i assume this is a counterflow chiller. .....

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Nope, he discusses it in the immersion chiller section.

OK, what about rate of flow, turn it on full blast, or just enough to have a good full flow or what?

Sorry for thread jacking, but I thought this was the topic when I came in.

Full blast.

arturo7 said:

You have your coldest water meeting your hottest wort, theoretically providing more efficient heat transfer.

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+1 That's it!

arturo7 said:

Full blast.

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+1 That's it again! You be on a roll now!

Just chilled down 2.5 gallons of wort ina sink with 2 ten lb. bags of ice and a little water.

Darn if it didn't work better than the copper chiller------- doh!!!!!

iBrewBeer said:

Just chilled down 2.5 gallons of wort ina sink with 2 ten lb. bags of ice and a little water.

Darn if it didn't work better than the copper chiller------- doh!!!!!

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Now try the ice bath method with 12 gallons of wort.

iBrewBeer said:

Just chilled down 2.5 gallons of wort ina sink with 2 ten lb. bags of ice and a little water.

Darn if it didn't work better than the copper chiller------- doh!!!!!

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And you can cool down a spoon full of hot soup with a few puffs of air from your lips.

wildwest450 said:

And you can cool down a spoon full of hot soup with a few puffs of air from your lips.

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I'll try that method on my next 10 gallon batch.

I thought the sayin' went "... and you can drown in a bowl of soup"?

Catt22 said:

Now try the ice bath method with 12 gallons of wort.

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Don't do 12 gallon batches. Try again.....

iBrewBeer said:

That's when the dry ice come out..........

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Yes, and probably about $15 worth.