Chiller too big for kettle.

I just got a 10 gallon blingmann and one of the bigger morebeer immersion chillers. The chiller fits just inside the kettle, but the temperature probe gets in the way. Is the solution as simple as bending the chiller to make it fit around the probe, or are there some problems that might arise that I'm not thinking about? Anybody else have a good workaround for this? Thanks.

Bend Away! Just make sure not to kink the copper tubing.

Oh yeah, seen this before. You need a kettle stretcher

Or, take the probe out of the kettle.

That's what I did..after a few sessions of jockeying the chiller around it (tilt the chiller to geth the probe between the coils, etc.) I asked myself "why do I need a temp probe in my boil kettle, anyway? It gets in the way for most of the brew, until the 5 minutes at the end when I need to look at it twice."

"Hey, I've been chilling for 20 minutes, can I pitch yet?"
"Nope, still 75F, not quite".
And then, 5 minutes after that, I'd look at it again.

So out it came. Replaced with a threaded SS plug.

I'll second the removal of the temperature probe. Put one in my first kettle and cussed at it every batch. When I got a bigger pot, I did not add a thermometer. The old pot continues life as a HLT, where the thermometer is highly useful.

If your chiller is copper tubing, be aware that copper work-hardens and can be tricky to bend more than once. One option would be to insert a cylinder (like a cornie) into the coils and draw one end around to decrease the coil diameter.

Don't use a temperature probe on a boil kettle. The only time you need to check the temperature is when you're cooling down. So, just check the temp intermittently as it's cooling.

Thanks for the help. I'll probably take it out.

weirdboy said:

Don't use a temperature probe on a boil kettle. The only time you need to check the temperature is when you're cooling down. So, just check the temp intermittently as it's cooling.

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I actually like having the probe in my BK for two reasons:

• I can set an alarm for when it gets close to boil (i.e. 206F) so I can be on the lookout for boil overs.
• I can monitor the temps when chilling without removing the lid. The probe is already sanitized from the boil, so I don't have to worry about that.

I just insert my waterproofed cooking temp probe near the end of boil. I can also set the alarm and use it as the other poster suggested to alert me to almost boiling. Detailed elsewhere on the forum is how to put silicone tubing over your probe wire for waterproofing.

I can monitor the temps when chilling without removing the lid. The probe is already sanitized from the boil, so I don't have to worry about that.

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You don't boil with a lid on, do you? That's a no-no.

I always keep a bowl of sanitizing solution handy when I'm brewing, and between temperature readings my thermometer gets sanitized that way.

weirdboy said:

You don't boil with a lid on, do you? That's a no-no.

Click to expand...

Uhm, nope.

I actually like having the probe in my BK for two reasons:

* I can set an alarm for when it gets close to boil (i.e. 206F) so I can be on the lookout for boil overs.
* I can monitor the temps when chilling without removing the lid. The probe is already sanitized from the boil, so I don't have to worry about that.

Click to expand...

I figure one less thing i have to sanitize (regardless of how easy it is), the better. I used to use that crummy long stem thermometer that came with my turkey fryer, then one day I noticed it was 12F off, and that was the end of that. hehe.

HomebrewJeff said:

I can monitor the temps when chilling without removing the lid.

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Kind of offtopic.... But do the folks that modify their lids to go around their immersion chiller not stir at all while chilling? I stir the wort with the immersion chiller, and get a much faster chill, but it means no lid...