wort chiller results

well the data is in.

build and consumed material:
10' 3/8 copper tubing coiled in a 4 Gal bucket. gravity feed.
time 40 mins - ice used 30# - 2Gal H2O used - yield 5 Gal 65F liquid in pail. beginning temp 200F.

conclusion:
10' tubing needs to be added at least. flow rate determines temp of liquid therefore greater exposure to ice is needed; this should reduce time. ice usage is comparable to ice bath cooling for same volume and needs to be reduced; ideas welcome. 20-30 min time reduction over ice bath achieved. H2O usage is in acceptable range and could even be increased somewhat if it yields any benefit.

additional items:
-rough in-line filter on hot side to remove hop gack, 3/4 cpvc with some copper scrubbie inside.

-aerator on cold side, sink strainer that resembles a small inverted false bottom attached to a short length of cpvc.

Feedback anyone?

Ditch the gravity feed, get an aquarium pump and recirculate the ice water. I was able to get 25' of copper for $14 at Lowes so that might be worth checking into.

I think you need to recirc the icewater as well.

Also I dont think the copper scrubby hop filter will work very well if you decide to continue your process, especially if you are using whole hops. It will get gunked up and clogged quickly.

For the time and money spent you could have made a CfC and knocked the chill time in half, I built mine for less than $50 and I chill 6.25 gallons in about 12-15 minutes gravity fed

I've got 50' of 3/8 in two concentric rings, fits in a 5 gallon bucket for cleaning. Run it off a garden hose, until summer when the tap water is over 80 degrees. Then I recirculate ice water through it. Works like a charm. 10' is not going to get you very far.

And to paraphrase a friend...I am not running my beer through x feet of tubing that I can't see.

doctorgonzo79 said:

well the data is in.

build and consumed material:
10' 3/8 copper tubing coiled in a 4 Gal bucket. gravity feed.
time 40 mins - ice used 30# - 2Gal H2O used - yield 5 Gal 65F liquid in pail. beginning temp 200F.

conclusion:
10' tubing needs to be added at least. flow rate determines temp of liquid therefore greater exposure to ice is needed; this should reduce time. ice usage is comparable to ice bath cooling for same volume and needs to be reduced; ideas welcome. 20-30 min time reduction over ice bath achieved. H2O usage is in acceptable range and could even be increased somewhat if it yields any benefit.

additional items:
-rough in-line filter on hot side to remove hop gack, 3/4 cpvc with some copper scrubbie inside.

-aerator on cold side, sink strainer that resembles a small inverted false bottom attached to a short length of cpvc.

Feedback anyone?

Click to expand...

To save on having to buy ice or worrying about dumping ice in there.. save a few milk jugs.. fill em with water, and pop em in the freezer the night before brew.. then you can reuse em.. no ice to worry about.. just drop a jug in the 5 gal bucket, and replace when needed..

i think i misled a few of you into thinking this thing is an immersion chiller. it's not. in essence it is a condenser coil like the ones used in a distillation apparatus; coil immersed in ice H2o in bucket and wort flows through the coil. a really basic counter flow without the outer flow, right.
cost to date $30: free bucket from wally world, $15 copper, $5 compression fitting, $1 for 2 grommets, the rest for tubing, adapters and other bits.

I was going for really simple and low cost.

looks like the whole mess could be converted into a real counterflow without too much trouble. add more copper and some hose, a few more fittings and i should have it!

I will let you know how the scrubbie filter works out on a real wort, that data was a test run with H2O. pellet hops only so far anyway, wort is usually pretty scuzzy is why i added it.

picture added unfortunately has other equip. in it. but it's pretty easy to tell the chiller anyway.

i like the milk jug idea!

doctorgonzo79 said:

i like the milk jug idea!

Click to expand...

I figured this is how you set it up.. Do you have enough room inside the coils tofit a milk jug ? two liters will work too, if you can't fit the milk jug.. actually 2 liter might be better..

It's actually called a reverse immersion chiller. The trouble with the milk jug ice is that it doesn't melt fast enough for this task. Certainly not if you leave it in the container. The best bet is to make ice in containers that can have the ice pop out like big Ricotta cheese containers or Chinese soup. The most efficient way to chill is actually to use tap water to knock it down to 100F and then use ice to get the rest of the way. This can be done as bulk chilling with an IC, then run it through this contraption for the final knock down to 65F. The other way to do it is inline. CFC with tap water then into the ice bath coil. It's a big pain in the butt. If you keep this thing going, make sure you stir the water/ice as much as possible.

OK cool,
big chunks of ice, add another cfc upper stage for quicker cooling. should definitely work better than adding tubing to the contraption. speed of cooling is also a goal i initially set out for. already stirring.