Will this idea work for cooling?

Maybe it's me or the water temperature isn't right. I use a IC to chill the wort inside the keggle after boiling. Hook up the hose and run the water just enough so that the temperature exiting the IC is pretty hot. However, it seems like it take forever to get the wort down to 80F or so. Most of the time I'll rack to the fermentor and just wait until a couple of hours or so until the wort is cooled. But, I got to thinking and wonder if this will work. Lets say that I cool down the wort inside the keggle to about 100F or so. Then take out the IC, place it in the fermentor, then slowly let the wort drain over the IC inside that is inside the fermentor. Now, it will be sterilized coming out of the keggle and I think the slow contact time will speed up the cooling process. I know about CFC's and other cooling options, but at this time, I'm sticking with this methodology. I have devised a pulley system that I hook the keggle up so that I can lift it off the burner. I also have a stainless steel spigot with siphon tube mounted inside the keggle but opted not to install the false bottom. I seem to get better results with hop bags.

Ol' Grog said:

Then take out the IC, place it in the fermentor, then slowly let the wort drain over the IC inside that is inside the fermentor.

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I didn't quite follow this part, and I think it's the key to the question you're asking. Are you saying you want to move the IC from the kettle to the fermenter (bucket, I presume) and continue chilling there? If so, what's the difference using the IC in the kettle vs the bucket? Is there a reason why chilling in the bucket would be better/faster?

The problem is probably your ground water. It's probably warm like it is here, so it's 1) hard to chill very fast once the wort gets close to the ground water temp, and 2) impossible to get the wort any cooler than the water temp. Usually, this is where people start using ice, either by pumping ice water through the chiller once the wort gets < 120' or so, or by using a pre-chiller - another IC in an ice bath to chill the cooling water before it gets to the kettle IC. Make sense?

Moving it to the bucket won't work as well as you think. The coiled design of an IC is why it works the way it does. If you put in in your fermenter and slowly filled the bucket you would not have alot of contact between the coils and the wort.

You might be better of with a prechiller. Get a second set of coils and put in in line with your current IC. Put the first set in a bucket of ice water and the second set of coils in your wort. This would speed up your chilling quite a bit.

My thoughts were to let the wort kind of trickle down the IC after I move it to the fermentor bucket. I realize I'll have to devise a way for this to happen but at the same time I will be effectively getting air into the wort.

Sorry, I don't get how that will chill the wort faster than a fully submerged IC. Another thing that can really help speed things up is to keep the wort moving so you don't get just cool spots around the coils.

Increase your flow rate. If the water is hot coming out, part of the cooler isn't doing you any good. "Contact time" is BS.

Grog---

Sounds like an added step that wouldn't help as much as you think it would, and would increase the chances of infection/contamination due to complicating the issue and running cooled wort over an open area where crap can fall into it.

Personally, what I do is cool it down as much as is reasonable with the IC...I try to get to 90f usually. Then I strain it into the carboy, and place the carboy in ice water while it's aerating. I'll pitch once I'm below 80f. As long as you have the lid/stopper on your fermenter, I wouldn't worry about the increased chilling time.

Luckily, winter is approaching so the water going into the IC will be colder and thus more effective...

Ten-Roger on that. I had just thought getting a longer contact time with a set amount for the flow rate would speed up the process. I try and set the flow rate that the water coming out of the IC is pretty hot. If I turn it up a little more, it's not much warmer than the input water. Just trying different things with what I have as opposed to purchasing more equipment. Got a set up and procedure that I'm happy with and just want to improve on its efficiency.

Evan! said:

Grog---

Sounds like an added step that wouldn't help as much as you think it would, and would increase the chances of infection/contamination due to complicating the issue and running cooled wort over an open area where crap can fall into it.

Personally, what I do is cool it down as much as is reasonable with the IC...I try to get to 90f usually. Then I strain it into the carboy, and place the carboy in ice water while it's aerating. I'll pitch once I'm below 80f. As long as you have the lid/stopper on your fermenter, I wouldn't worry about the increased chilling time.

Luckily, winter is approaching so the water going into the IC will be colder and thus more effective...

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I like that method, sounds plenty effective.