20' CFC length?

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krazydave

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About to get away from my IC and build a CFC finally.
The thing is, I didn't want to buy a 50' roll of 3/8OD copper, and all lowes\HD sells is 20'. So, I bought it... I know most people seem to build 25' CFC's on here, and through searching, I have read a couple people make 20' ones, but nowhere was I able to find how well it actually performed.

Is this enough? And if so\you have one, how does it compare to a 25'?

My intent is to gravity feed this from my BK, however I do have a pump and for all I know, may eventually decide to use that to feed it instead.
 
I wanted the easy cleaning of a CFC, hence why I am going that route.
Though, I'm not committed yet, so that theory could be swayed.
 
I really fought my brew partner Lancer over this for a year. I was concerned about cleaning it up and it getting clogged. We bought it over a year ago and have passed about 200 gallons of hopped (pellet and whole) in it with no problems. We do use a filtration (Hop Rocket) or Hop Filter (Brewer's Hardware) prior to the plate chiller, and we do clean by back flushing, but that is easy with a pump. In the Dallas area, we can pump as fast as it will go aand get to 64-66 degrees with no proble. In fact, sometimes we have to slow the cooling tap water. In the summer we use a sump pump with ice chilled water. That has to be metered back but still much faster and cooler than any other chiller we have used. I use the old counter flow as a herms system.
 
I have a 20' cfc. I can't tell you how it compares to a longer one, of course. I have a pump I use in connection with it.
20' may be just a bit short to cool in one pass. There are a number of variables at work here with a cfc, so your mileage may vary. That would be flow rate of wort, flow rate of water, its temperature, and size of rubber water hose you use.
Since I have a pump, I just recirculate and cool the entire batch, using a QD return on my kettle lid which had a short hose inside feeding the wort back in below the surface. When I get the wort down to about 50 or 45c, I take the hose off and let the wort splash about when it returns. I am assuming this is getting it aerated. When it gets to about 30c, I turn everything off and let the wort settle out for 15 minutes or so, then take the pump return from the lid and place into the fermentor. Final pass through cfc brings it easily down to even 15c if I'm doing a lager.
Even with a 20 footer, it's fast enough for me.
 
I think you may have just answered my question for me. I want to get it down as close to pitching temp (at least on ales) in one pass without recirculating it. My tap water usually hovers in the mid 60's or so.

So, on my way home I just bought the 50' coil. Since I have a 50' hose as well, I guess I'll just make two and sell one.

Thanks!
 
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