chiller question

I am pretty happy with most of my brewing rquipment. Nothing is high tech but it all works well. I do not however like my immersion chiller. It is a ribcage chiller and it does a good job. I am usually to pitching temps in under 15 minutes. However I have to stand there and move it around and it does not fit my boil kettle properly ( I made it for a pot on the stove and now use a keggle with a dip tube that gets in the way) I have been contemplating makin a counterflow chiller but am concerned with sanitation....I see the plate chillers ( Northern brewer has one on sale for 99 bucks right now) and they look cool even though I have no clue how they work. I do not use pumps so whatever I use has to be usable with gravity....so any suggestions or pointers on which way to go. My tap water is 57 degrees out of the tap.. maybe a bit colder out of the garden hose if that matters. oh I do have a small submersible pump I can use to pump ice water through the IC if needed but only used it a couple times as it was unnecessary.

Counter flow chillers are great and I made one. Sanitation should not be a concern if you clean when done and sanitize prior to use.

When I'm done brewing I run hot water through the line and drain. When I'm ready to use next time I will run star San through first and then let a little hot wort through before turning on the cold water and running into kettle, no infections reported here

BTW I use a gravity set up and not works great!

Thanks... looks like a CF is in my future. 25 feet be enough you think?

OHIOSTEVE said:

Thanks... looks like a CF is in my future. 25 feet be enough you think?

Click to expand...

Yes and if i still had the link I'd post it but if you google counter flow chiller there are several links to make one with parts lists. You need very basic soldering skills for the fittings and really the most expensive part is the rubber hose.

I will tell you selecting the copper pipe through the hose is the hardest part especially if its a new hose that came coiled, you'll need an extra set of hands and I found some baseline at the end helps (inset joke here LoL)