PreChiller Toss Up

I currently have a 50ft WC, Does a fantastic job cooling 5 gal in no time.
When i go to 10...takes a bit longer. Stirring helps get the temp down but the fact is, I am lazy and i usally have been drinking beer for 3hrs and i want it chilled now...not 10 minutes from now or more.

So here is my thoughts,

Idea #1 Build a cheap 25ft or less WC have it in a ice water bucket.
Would be smaller than normal wc..Thinking about size of coffee can or so for a form. Ice is free...Just rob it from the fridge. Cost would be cost of the copper tubing 15 bucks maybe.

Idea #2 Use a pond pump. Get the water down to say 100 degree's or so...Stop change a hose and recirc the ice water thru the WC.
Pump is like 20-30bucks. Even with 5 gal of ice water...i am wondering if recirc would warm up the water to much a defeat the purpose.

Idea #3 Quit complaining about it and have a beer

Idea # 4 Pay the neighbor kid to stir the hell out of it and have him call me when its below 80


Thanks for your imput..

To me the cost is about the same or close to. But i am a tight wad so cheaper is good...but i know not allways better.

Idea #2 or #3.

If you get the pump and the output water is warmer than your tap water then don't put the output water into your ice bucket, just top it up with tap water.

I've never seen a prechiller be that helpful

A prechiller is a unitasker while a submersible pump can be used for a few different things in a pinch. Also, icewater is 32F while the water exiting a prechiller will be warmer.

32F water should drop the temp fairly fast i would think, It is going to be colder than tap water so wouldnt it make a fast drop in the wort temp?

Has anyone had any better luck with one vs the other?

winstonofbeer said:

Has anyone had any better luck with one vs the other?

Click to expand...

a prechiller will get you maybe a few degrees below your tap water temp, switching to pumping ice water will get you as cold as you want to go

+1 for the pump...

I had the 50 ft coil w 25 ft prechiller and it would take 30-60 min to pitching temps. Pump takes less than 30 min

At this point I use idea #2 and run watrer through the IC until 100F, the recirculate ice water until i get down to pitching temps, has worked very well.

Have not tried it for 10 gallons, but I would assume twice as much ice water, or twice the amount of time of water to get down to 100F, either way.

I will use my IC as a prechiller whenever I get around to purchasing a march pump and using either a counter flow chiller or plate chiller, I would not invest in an pre-chiller in conjunction w/my IC.

Just throwing out there that no-chill is the cheapest & laziest option.
When my boil is done, I turn off the heat and cover the kettle. The next day I transfer the cooled wort into my better bottle & ferment away.

I use a pump, and it works well for me with surprising very little ice. I also use the initial water to clean my mash tun, etc.

When i first start chilling i use that water to clean the MT and whatever else that needs a rinse.

For the fact of no chill, Yes...Possible but i would need a helper to pack the kettle. I usally do 10 gal. batch's. So good idea...but kinda wont work for me.

I took a quick look at pond pumps...I see them anywhere from $20. and up.

If i am going to do a pump, Got a few questions then.

Where did you get yours?
Gallons per min needed?
price/quality? Dont want to spend say 20bucks a year to replace a cheapo pump.
If you had to do it all over again, Would you do something differnt? "brand, size, setup, etc "
Pics possible of your setup?

As for the prechiller, I am surprised its not that helpfull. Thanks for your imput, Please keep it coming

I got mine at Harbor Freight they were out of the $40 dollar model (1400 gal/hr) I wanted so I endeed up paying about $47 for a Wade or Ward (I forget the mfg name), they gave me the "sale price" since they were out of the one I wanted, it was originally $60. However I got a better pump that was not a HF product (actually has a manufacturers warranty, it is rated at 900 gal/hr). It pumps a little slow going through 25' of hose into the chiller, but that is okay since you don't want the water flow to be too fast otherwise cooling efficiency is reduced. Think of it in terms of a thermostat in an engine, if you run it without the thermostat the engine will not cool properly because the coolant/water is cycling through the system too fast, having a thermostat to restrict the flow allows for more contact time with the coolant/water making the cooling more efficient.

In the threads about recirculating ice water through ICs, it seems that most people use the 900-1500 gal/hr pumps.

I realise that if you go full blast with h20 it doesnt have the same effect if you go half or less... Usally i just a slow stream.

So i am going to throw a loop in it...You have a 900gpm for a 25 ft hose.
What would i need if i was only going less than 5ft from the kettle?

Way i am going to setup my brew area is, I have a dual entrance house. At the bottom of the basement stairwell i have been brewing. Right now i am running a 50 ft garden hose from the washer hot/cold lines to supply me with h20 at 150 degree's so i dont have much to heat up....switch the hose and i go to cold. I am going to run a hot/cold line right outside the door where i brew at. So the idea is, I wont ruin any more garden hoses with the hot water Since the current one i have is bubbleing because of the heat....oops didnt see that coming...******* i know.

So if it was a short distance of 5ft What gpm would do??

Like ya said...go overboard and go to fast and you loose water cool/heat ratio.

Suggestions?
Pic of someones setup would be cool also.

Here is a good thread if you go with the recirculation method. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/recirculating-ice-water-chiller-38235/
I use the ice method as it worked better than the prechiller.

You should also consider Jamil's recirculation method. You need a March pump for this process but lots of people say it works very well
Read about it here>>https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/jamils-recirculating-chiller-121788/

winstonofbeer said:

I realise that if you go full blast with h20 it doesnt have the same effect if you go half or less... Usally i just a slow stream.

So i am going to throw a loop in it...You have a 900gpm for a 25 ft hose.
What would i need if i was only going less than 5ft from the kettle?

Way i am going to setup my brew area is, I have a dual entrance house. At the bottom of the basement stairwell i have been brewing. Right now i am running a 50 ft garden hose from the washer hot/cold lines to supply me with h20 at 150 degree's so i dont have much to heat up....switch the hose and i go to cold. I am going to run a hot/cold line right outside the door where i brew at. So the idea is, I wont ruin any more garden hoses with the hot water Since the current one i have is bubbleing because of the heat....oops didnt see that coming...******* i know.

So if it was a short distance of 5ft What gpm would do??

Like ya said...go overboard and go to fast and you loose water cool/heat ratio.

Suggestions?
Pic of someones setup would be cool also.

Click to expand...

The only reason I am going through 25' of hose is because I submerge my entire hose into the cooler of ice water to help keep the water chilled in the hose. With pumps you have to be concerned about the rise, basically how much power a pump has to push water upwards through a pipe or hose before it reaches the point that it can go no further. If you are going less than 5' from the pump to the kettle, there isn't much to worry about, unless it is 5' straight up then you need a pump that has a rise of over 5'. As far as GPH goes 900-1500 will be fine, I was just trying to make the point that although my setup pumps a little slow, it is pretty efficient, the chilled water has more time contact time.

I went the cheapo option, and bought a $20, 400 GPH pond pump from Home Depot. It's capable for pushing water through a 25' chiller, but only just. I have to keep the ice water bucket at about the level of the wort in the kettle, or head losses stop the pump. I forsee a repurchase in my future.

That said, switching to a recirculating chiller has cut time off my brew day, and keeps me from sending as much water down the street.