25' immersion chiller for 10gal batch

I have a standard 25' chiller for my 5 gal batches. Im looking at getting into 10gal batches. Is this something I really need to replace or can I get by for a while using this with my new setup? It takes me about 12-15min to cool 5gal of wort with this.

Has anyone tried cooling 10gal of wort with one of these?

I typically do 5G batches, but have done a couple of 10G, which is my someday goal. No issues using the 25' coil- it definitely takes longer to cool, but nothing ridiculous. Eventually want to get a plate chiller, but they aren't cheap!

Thanks for the info, im just hoping to get by for a while till I can come up with something.

We used a 25' coil for 10 gallon batches for a little while but it seemed to take forever. So we bought a 50' coil and now use the 25'er for a pre-chiller with ice in a separate bucket.

I assume a 25ft cool is cheaper than a 50ft? I would buy another 25 ft coil and add it to the one you already have

Hopper77 said:

I assume a 25ft cool is cheaper than a 50ft? I would buy another 25 ft coil and add it to the one you already have

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I was thinking that..... I would just need to connect the two of them together and id be all set. But.... coughing up money for another one right now might not be doable since im thinking about grabbing 2 1/2bbl kegs for MT and BK and a burner.

If I can get by for a while with what I got i would like to.

Even for a 10g, a 25' will get you from 100 C to 60 C very fast because of the temperature differencial as pictured in the classic equation :

Q = m Cp (T2 - T1)

That gap is critical against dms formation... Once it's done, the rest will take longer and longer, but it's less of an issue. Cold break material formation might be less effective I guess though... but it seems that it's not as big of an issue as hot break or dms...

If it takes more time to cool, I'd be extra careful about sanitation, the 30-45 range is much appreciated by bacteria....

Chilling water temperature is the critical factor moreso than chiller length IME.

If quick chilling is so important, how do the no chill guys get by? I mean, they put the hot wort into a plastic container and the next day or even days later the pour it intp their fermenter and pitch yeast. Why isn't DMS formation a problem for them but it is for those of us trying to chill our wort without a plate chiller or even an immersion wort chiller?

Without trying to compete with the enormous thread about NoChill Brewing that's already on the forum...

NoChillers rely on a mix of:

-neat-freakness to prevent contamination

-long boils of at least 90 minutes to evaporate DMS and its precursors

Quite frankly, I find the idea insanely uninteresting...

wilserbrewer said:

Chilling water temperature is the critical factor moreso than chiller length IME.

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Of course, because the delta-T is higher. That's why winter tap water cools so much better...

What I do right now is sit my 8 gallon pot in a cold water bath in my garage sink. I change the water 3-4 times over the course of 30 mins or so. But I just hooked up the ice maker in my keg fridge so now I have an abundance of ice. When I start doing 10 gallons I plan on using an immersion probably 25ft long with a water pump in a garbage can full of ice water. The water rates I have to pay where I live are through the roof and I know doing it this way may take a little longer but in the long run for me it will be cheaper. I can't afford to just turn my water in for 20-30 mins and let it drain into my driveway


Edit

Now that I think of it maybe getting a rain barrel and running my gutter on my garage into it may work well. That way I can always have the water in hand and won't need to pay to fill it up all the time.

In your case, getting a plate chiller might actually save you money then... IF you get the longer in lenght version with at least 30 plates, like the one I've got:

http://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=HX2330BWGH

God I regret not getting the all-NPT version...

but with cold winter water, I could turn the kettle valve FULL and end up too cold so it's incredibly effective... The longer versions are much more efficient, longer surface contact...

emptying 5 gallons take what.... 5 minutes? It even work with gravity, providing you have a good 3-4 feet difference....

Thanks guys, for now I might stick with my chiller and will maybe get another 25'er or buy the 50' or maybe a plate chiller. Ive got some time, I wont be brewing outside till the winters over anyway.

Thanks for all the input. I will consider all recommendations.

atreid said:

emptying 5 gallons take what.... 5 minutes? It even work with gravity, providing you have a good 3-4 feet difference....

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3-4 feet from kettle to chiller? Or total drop from kettle/chiller to carboy? Thinking of a gravity plate chiller but would have the chiller as close to the kettle valve as possible then more drop to the carboy.

I did mean 4 feet total drop.

I have the chiller around mid height. I place horizontally with the wort inlet up and outlet down. The outlet is at a height just higher than the highest level of liquid in carboy at the end of chilling. That way you have the highest possible pressure coming from the water column, and when that pressure starts to go down when kettle is empty, liquid goes naturally out the plate chiller...

I did mean : I place it vertically... God I was a vegetable when I wrote this...

I had a 25' that chilled my 10+ gallon in forever. I added another coil that I had sitting around in line, internally to the existing 25 feet of coil. It now takes forever minus a half hour. My next step is to add another 20 feet of coil I have sitting around to use as a prechiller. I run my wort through a march pump to get a counterflow circulating in the kettle.

I would like to get the time down and water used also. I would like to get the yeast pitched in under 30 minutes. The plan is to run tap water to get it down to 100 degrees then use the icewater and a pump to run through the chiller to get to pitching temps. At 74 degrees I will remove the IC then stir the wort hard to get a cyclone. Let sit for a while to get a whirlpool and hopefully get the trub and cold break to settle in the center of the kettle. After 5-10 minutes drain, and pitch then place into my fermentation chamber. I figure a long portion of my day is waiting for water and wort to heat up and then wort to cool. The faster I can make either of these happen the easier my brew day becomes. Build your IC right the first time. I'd say 50' of 3/8 or 25 of 1/2.

baulz said:

3-4 feet from kettle to chiller? Or total drop from kettle/chiller to carboy? Thinking of a gravity plate chiller but would have the chiller as close to the kettle valve as possible then more drop to the carboy.

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This gravity feed setup worked good for me.

9/23/2007 by Mad Scientist Brewhaus, on Flickr


9/23/2007 by Mad Scientist Brewhaus, on Flickr

I was borrowing a 50' chiller, now I have acquired a 25' chiller for 11-12 gal batches. There is not as much difference as you might think...perhaps 5 minutes. I brew in winter a lot so I use a 50' garden hose buried in snow as a pre chiller. It you get another 25 footer you could use it as a prechiller in a bucket outside of the keg. Fill with ice, snow or real cold water. When you start chilling, dribble the water on your boil bucket (if you are outside-mine is a keg). The conversion of the water to steam uses a huge amount of energy.

lespaul23 said:

I have a standard 25' chiller for my 5 gal batches. Im looking at getting into 10gal batches. Is this something I really need to replace or can I get by for a while using this with my new setup? It takes me about 12-15min to cool 5gal of wort with this.

Has anyone tried cooling 10gal of wort with one of these?

Click to expand...

It's much better to have a 50' chiller dividing into two sets of 25' with a "Y" at the water input, than having a one line 50'. That way it's like having 2 x 25'. You get 2 x the maximum delta-T instead of one.

DeltaT is always the driving force. Tap water usually has enough flowrate to divide into two.

I think that's how the "HYDRA" chiller works. Actually it even looks like it's dividing into 3....

atreid said:

It's much better to have a 50' chiller dividing into two sets of 25' with a "Y" at the water input, than having a one line 50'. That way it's like having 2 x 25'. You get 2 x the maximum delta-T instead of one.

DeltaT is always the driving force. Tap water usually has enough flowrate to divide into two.

I think that's how the "HYDRA" chiller works. Actually it even looks like it's dividing into 3....

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I know what you mean, once my chiller gets going its cold coming out. It could power another 25' chiller no problem.:rockin:

Yeah that's actually the thing with ICs... they're not that energy efficient... If the heat exchange was that good, the water would be quite hot at the output, and since it's not the case, they use up quite a bit of water. You could reduce flow a little and save on water, that's why I said you could divide flow...

My 30 plates (longer version) dudadiesel plate chiller is so efficient that I could not immerse my hand in the water outlet.... but I'll admit plate chillers are less of a breeze to operate. I built a 25' 3/8" IC last week just for chilling big starters, just because I didn't want to setup the plate chiller for 4 to 8 liters batches. Plus with plate chillers, you really need a spigot and I don't have one on the 12 liters pot I use to boil starters on the stove...