Now that I have a pump...

I'm setting up to pump the hot wort from the BK through a cooling coil and back into the BK.

Would it make sense to pump BK > coil > empty MLT. When the BK empties, swap the hoses and pump MLT > coil > BK.

Has anyone tried this?

I'm thinking it may go a little quicker, espescially with ice added to the coil on the second pass. Might get a little filtering as well from the false bottom in the MLT.

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Seems like more work and risk of picking up a bug to me. What is the issue with recirculating BK > Chiller > BK > Chiller and so on?

Like I said, BK > coil(chiller) > BK loop is the current plan.

I just want to get some feedback on the other idea.

Seems like less work and just as effective to use the coil and not the MLT.

I do it different. I recirc the BK and I have an imerssion chiller in the wort.

Denny's Evil Concoctions said:

Seems like less work and just as effective to use the coil and not the MLT.

I do it different. I recirc the BK and I have an imerssion chiller in the wort.

Click to expand...

That's what I plan to do as well.

I used to go through a CFC from the boil kettle, but now I set up a whirlpool system, that works great because it does three things at once; chills,whirlpools, and aerates.

You can do this like others have mentioned, but using you pump to recirculate the in the boil kettle, and have an Immersion chiller in the wort. If you want to save water like I do, and you to being in socal, you can get a cheap pump to recirculate an ice water bath through the IC.

Unless you plan to sanitize your MLT, I would not go back to it after the boil. Remember to start your circulation prior to flameout in order to sanitize hoses, chiller, pump, etc...

Thanks for the comments. This forum is loaded with descriptions of the methods you guys mention as well as a few others.

I was just looking for some specific feedback on the MLT method.

Here is my reasoning:

Depending on the cooling water temp, a gravity fed CFC will cool 5 gallons to the mid 70's in about 10 minutes, right? One pass through the CFC yields cooled wort.

From what I've seen on this forum, 20 minutes is about the best you can do with a cooling coil (IC). This means multiple passes through the coil. I assume this is because you are dumping the cooled wort back into the BK where it gains heat again. Although the wort temp in the BK is dropping, there is a fly wheel effect slowing down the overall cooling. One pass through the coil does not yield cooled wort.

For the MLT method, I am assuming the March will have no problem pumping 5 gallons in 5 minutes. However, because the wort is moving faster, the cooling efficiency of the coil will drop. So you reverse the flow when the BK is empty and pump the wort MLT > coil > BK.

Thus in 10 minutes you have cooled wort.

Just throwing it out there. One big assumption is that the coil can approach the cooling efficiency of a CFC. Guess I'll just have to try it.

IC = Immersion Chiller
Typically no wort flows through an IC. Water flows throught the IC and the IC is put into the wort. Typically, the IC remains in the wort with water flowing through it until the wort reaches pitching temps.

Ohio-Ed said:

IC = Immersion Chiller
Typically no wort flows through an IC. Water flows throught the IC and the IC is put into the wort. Typically, the IC remains in the wort with water flowing through it until the wort reaches pitching temps.

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Whatever you want to call the cooling coil.

Sorry, I didn't mean to start a debate over symantics... just thinking that MOST threads that discuss cooling times and IC's are refering to them with water circulating. I think you are talking about using the IC as a heat exchange coil and circulating the wort.

I did what I think you are talking about this past weekend... with my coil in a bucket of water overflowing from the garden hose and re-circulating the wort back into the BK. I got 10G down to about 90 in about 20 minutes, then threw ice in the bucket and stopped the water overflowing. It was about 40 minutes total to pitching temp. I think my CFC is faster. I tried this method because my heat exchange coil is larger diameter tube and I wanted to whirlpool while chilling and needed the flow.

Ohio-Ed said:

Sorry, I didn't mean to start a debate over symantics...

Click to expand...

No worries mate, I guess I was a bit terse with that post.

Just came across this thread.

Same thing in principal. Two cooling coils, one with ice.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ultimate-wort-cooling-5-gallons-212-70-degrees-7-minutes-134440/