Faster cooling

I'm frustrated with my cooling method: an immersion chiller connected to the hose. Our groundwater is currently mid-70s and it's taking about 30+ minutes to get into the low 80s. I've tried sanitized ice packs into the wort but does not seem to speed matters much. Anyone have any suggested additions?

Some use an aquarium pump submerged into ice water, pumped through your chiller. you run you chiller til you get to ground water temp, then swap to the ice.

The best one I have seen is to use a drill driven pump to move the icewater through your chiller, since it has outdoor fittings on it already so you can use a garden hose..



You can either use it a a pre or post chiller...Or Just run ice water through it and not useing the ground water at all. I have seen people fill a fermenter bucket or even a cooler with ice water (with or without rock salt) and use that soley as the water to cool with.

I like this pump idea ... I can just keep supplying ice to a sink full of water. May cut down on water waste as well.

I have a big rubber/plastic tub (heat resistant) that I fill with ice and some salt, then when the boil is done I pickup my boil kettle with the IC in it, and place it on the ice. I too have it connected to an outside hose line that has water temps in the 70s, but with the ice water bath, moving the IC up and down, and having another person whirlpool the wort with our kettle spoon - I am able to go from boiling to 70º in 10 minutes. Getting it into the low 60s is very difficult however. I think I would need a new batch of ice water to submerge the kettle in - haven't tried that yet.

gyllstromk said:

I like this pump idea ... I can just keep supplying ice to a sink full of water. May cut down on water waste as well.

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Call around to see what companies sell/deliver bags of ice to convenience stores and gas stations. One of the bigger ice companies in VT has a distribution point in my town, and you can buy solid blocks of ice from them. So, instead of getting a 5lb bag, you could get a 10lb block or two for using in a cooler to chill the circulation water. You may want to use it with loose cubes for blending surface area and density.

Circulating the wort around the immersion chiller will greatly speed your chilling. I've recently started moving my immersion chiller around in the kettle as it's cooling, and I've noticed a dramatic difference in how fast it cools compared to just letting it sit still.

I don't splash it around, but just enough to get movement of the wort over the coils. Once the wort is down to 100 or so, I use a sanitized spoon to continue the circulation.

This is essentially a manual version of Jamil's whirlpool chiller.

-Steve

SavageSteve said:

Circulating the wort around the immersion chiller will greatly speed your chilling. I've recently started moving my immersion chiller around in the kettle as it's cooling, and I've noticed a dramatic difference in how fast it cools compared to just letting it sit still.

I don't splash it around, but just enough to get movement of the wort over the coils. Once the wort is down to 100 or so, I use a sanitized spoon to continue the circulation.

This is essentially a manual version of Jamil's whirlpool chiller.

-Steve

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Is there a reason you wait to get below 100 before whirlpooling with the spoon????

macabra11 said:

Is there a reason you wait to get below 100 before whirlpooling with the spoon????

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Without resurrecting the "HSA is/isn't a myth" meme, I do so just in case.

Plus, it's way easier to stir the wort with a spoon instead of a springy immersion chiller. :cross:

-Steve

I use a harbor freight pump set in a small cooler and a block of ice. The pump circulates the water through the IC, the block ice is the key, regular ice melts way too fast. I can chill to about 70 degrees when its 105 outside.

Well, aside from the various types of things you could try with chillers and ice lowering your circulation temperature, you could try a more basic technique. I've transferred warm wort to my primary before and put it in a 20 gallon tub on an ice bath with about 45lbs of ice. That method takes about 45 minutes to an hour and half to get to pitching temperature for most styles. You could supplement the chilling with doing that as well. Worth a try, perhaps.

EonBlue66 said:

I use a harbor freight pump set in a small cooler and a block of ice. The pump circulates the water through the IC, the block ice is the key, regular ice melts way too fast. I can chill to about 70 degrees when its 105 outside.

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+1,

$15 harbor freight fountain pump, cheap cooler, two blocks of ice, IC...cool 200+ degree wort to 72 degrees in 25 min or less.

aside from the cost aspect, a counterflow chiller is another good way to go. It's alittle more work but even gravity fed, it gets you to 80 or below very quickly without wasting as much water.

I've started using a small aquarium pump to push the water through my homemade IC. I put the pump in a four gallon pot with ice water, then keep topping it off with water and ice. I also stick another aquarium powerhead in the pot of icewater to circulate the water to make the water ice cold (makes the ice melt faster, but makes the water going through the IC colder). I use the waste water to water the yard. If I remember to empty my ice maker ahead of time, so it can fill up again, it takes about two full trays of ice from the ice maker in the fridge. And I can get about six gallons down the low 70's in about 20 min (i think). I'll post more accurate #'s next time I brew. It's definitely quicker/less water than just hooking the IC up to my normal water supply.