Plate chiller or new immersion?

So for my last 3 brews I have stepped up my system to 10 gallons but the problem I'm running into is my copper immersion chiller which worked ok for 5gal batches takes forever on my 10gal batches. Like an hour or more! I'm even recirculating ice water with a pump through the chiller and still takes that long. It's not that big of a chiller, maybe 25' x 3/8".

This obviously adds a lot of time to my brew day because I'm otherwise quite efficient. So I've been reading a lot about the plate chillers and it looks like I would need a pump for the brew end. I'm on a budget and pretty handy so I'm considering buying 1/2" x 50' soft copper and making my own immersion but I'm wondering if I should just go the plate chiller route and how much would that set me back?

What's your experience when jumping up to 10gal and how do you handle the cooling? What do you guys suggest?

I too just jumped to 10gal batches. I anticipated this being an issue so I use my old immersion chiller (IC) as a prechiller for my 50ft chiller. I get my 10gal batches down to pitch temps quicker than i could get the 5gal batches down.

So if you want to make use of what you already have that what i did. though you can do the same thing with a plate or cfc.

Are you using a water pump? If so, where in line is it? What diameter is your tubing?

I was thinking of getting one of these one day but I picture cleaning being a pita.

I use one of these chillers to get my ~7-10 gallon batches chilled quickly (and easily). Using colder water for the chill helps, but in Washington (state) you should be fine. You could go with the 20 or 30 plate version if you want to go cheaper, just know that the chill time will be a bit longer. You can also use the chart from Duda to see what chiller would match your system best. Just keep in mind it's actually listing only chilling to 75F, which is above what most of us aim for. I typically see no more than 12 minutes to chill ~7 gallons of boiling hot wort to about 60F (sometimes even cooler). I do a recirculation chill first (via a March pump of course) then run it to the fermenting vessel once I hit a good point (through the chiller one final time on it's way).

Cleaning my DD chiller hasn't been an issue either. Just back-flush a few times (go in both directions) and drain. You can also fill with PBW solution, or pump that through it (hot) to get it very clean.

A way to cool the wort is what's stopping me from jumping up to 10 gallon batches. For now with my 5 gallon batches I rest my 8 gallon pot in the big sink in my garage and change the cold water 2-3 times. My water bills during the summer were RIDICULOUS. Paying $200 watering my lawn trying to keep it green. After the first high bill I just let it die. So I need to figure out some way to cool 10 gallons efficiently so I don't pay so much in the long run. I thought about reusing my water. Maybe pumping it into a rain barrel and adding ice every time. But then I need to buy a pump. Maybe a counter flow chiller? That may be a little more efficient water wise.

Clearcut23 said:

A way to cool the wort is what's stopping me from jumping up to 10 gallon batches. For now with my 5 gallon batches I rest my 8 gallon pot in the big sink in my garage and change the cold water 2-3 times. My water bills during the summer were RIDICULOUS. Paying $200 watering my lawn trying to keep it green. After the first high bill I just let it die. So I need to figure out some way to cool 10 gallons efficiently so I don't pay so much in the long run. I thought about reusing my water. Maybe pumping it into a rain barrel and adding ice every time. But then I need to buy a pump. Maybe a counter flow chiller? That may be a little more efficient water wise.

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Really depends on the temperature of your ground water. You could try using the large barrel to recirculate the chill water, with a ton of ice to cool it down. You'll need a sump pump to run the chill water into the wort chiller as well as a wort pump (March or chugger) to run the wort through the chiller. IMO, a recirculation system would probably be your best bet. Recirculate the wort through the kettle/keggle until it's at a good point. Recirculate the chill water adding ice as you do. IMO, it's going to be a lot more work with the ice, but if your ground water is too warm, then you need to do what will work.

I started out with a Blichmann Plate Chiller. It does a great job, but it's a pain to clean so I recently bought a stainless immersion chiller and I love this thing.

Gravity feeding a plate chiller:

This is what I am planning to do next week... will see how it turns out!

Bender said:

I started out with a Blichmann Plate Chiller. It does a great job, but it's a pain to clean so I recently bought a stainless immersion chiller and I love this thing.

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IME, the Rebel Brewer ChillHog 4000 (another short 40 plate chiller, akin to the Blichmann) was significantly harder to clean than the Duda Diesel chiller. I really like how compact it is. Even with my additional fittings installed (for getting the temperature reading of the wort running through it and such) it's more compact than an IC (or CFC) of the same chilling power. That's the other thing, plate chillers are very efficient at chilling wort. Provided you know how to use one. NO extra physical work is needed to get the maximum chilling efficiency. Unlike with an IC where you need to either move it in the wort, or get the wort to move around it, in order to get decent chill speeds.

Something else, the chiller I linked to from Duda Diesel is about 50% larger than the Blichmann for less money.

I seriously doubt I'll ever use a different type of chiller. I can easily clean my current one, and to sanitize is a snap. I have at least 2-3 options there. I could bake it in the oven. I could fill it with Star San for a few minutes before using, then drain. Or I can simply run the boiling wort through it for a few seconds to sanitize it. I usually run it through until the chiller hits above 200F and hold it there for 30-60 seconds. More than enough time to kill off anything that could be in there.

Use what you like, just know that there are at least three different chiller categories. Not all within each category being equal. Your ground water temp and how you're going to get the chill water cool enough to use should be at least one of the things you take into account. Also, how much work do you really want to go through in order to chill the wort??

You might try mixing your wort around the IC as it cools. Don't go crazy, just some whirlpool action. This should cut down a little on the time.

I turned my 3/8" x 25' into a couterflow and gravity drain. It works great. Not counting the already paid for IC the conversion didn't cost more than 30 bucks. Most expensive part was the hose.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_make_a_Counter_Flow_Chiller

I use the warmed water for cleaning up.

TheWulf said:

Gravity feeding a plate chiller:

This is what I am planning to do next week... will see how it turns out!

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I would NOT use nylon tubing on the hot side. Unless you have some that's specifically rated to be food safe at boiling temperatures. If it's not documented as being 100% food safe at over 212F, don't use it. Better to spend a few more dollars and get silicone tubing for that side. I actually use it for all my wort liquid lines (as well as the sparge water) on brew day.

itsme6582 said:

You might try mixing your wort around the IC as it cools. Don't go crazy, just some whirlpool action. This should cut down a little on the time.

I turned my 3/8" x 25' into a couterflow and gravity drain. It works great. Not counting the already paid for IC the conversion didn't cost more than 30 bucks. Most expensive part was the hose.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_make_a_Counter_Flow_Chiller

I use the warmed water for cleaning up.

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+1 on this. I use one of these, also home made and its incredible. I go right from my kettle to carboy with no recirc and mid summer I hit about 80-85 on my output. I'm done with 10g in 10-15 minutes with about half flow out of the pump, water on full.

Super easy to clean, I just pump how water through it and blow it out at the end. You can buy these already assembled through amazon, IIRC I saw the price around $50ish.

Golddiggie said:

I would NOT use nylon tubing on the hot side. Unless you have some that's specifically rated to be food safe at boiling temperatures. If it's not documented as being 100% food safe at over 212F, don't use it. Better to spend a few more dollars and get silicone tubing for that side. I actually use it for all my wort liquid lines (as well as the sparge water) on brew day.

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I am indeed using silicone for everything... I hadn't noticed that he was using vinyl.

Hello gents

I making double batches now and my immersion chiller in taking too long.

I brew in my back yard and have a pool.

I was thinking of building a large chiller (4feet by 4feet) out of copper pipe an submerge it in my pool.


Any thoughts

Chazbeer said:

Hello gents

I making double batches now and my immersion chiller in taking too long.

I brew in my back yard and have a pool.

I was thinking of building a large chiller (4feet by 4feet) out of copper pipe an submerge it in my pool.

Any thoughts

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First thought: You should start your own thread.

Second: Pools work great for chilling. You won't be able to get your beer down to the 70's thought unless your pool is cold. I would pump pool water through the chiller rather than run beer through. Easier to sanitize the outside than the inside.

Paulgs3 said:

+1 on this. I use one of these, also home made and its incredible. I go right from my kettle to carboy with no recirc and mid summer I hit about 80-85 on my output. I'm done with 10g in 10-15 minutes with about half flow out of the pump, water on full.

Super easy to clean, I just pump how water through it and blow it out at the end. You can buy these already assembled through amazon, IIRC I saw the price around $50ish.

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Another happy countetflow chiller user here! Best thing I have bought for my home brewery so far.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions everyone. Plate chillers sound like they do a great job but I'm doing gravity feed for now and it just seems like I would get a stuck flow with all those small nooks and crannies. I really like counterflow idea and since I have 25' of copper from my IC I am going to convert it and make my own. I soldered up the end pieces yesterday and will finish putting it all together in the next couple days. Hopefully it turns out nice and compact like the other ones I've seen posted here. I'll post a pic when I'm done.

Hey this is my first post. I usually just read others advice but I figured I may have some advice my own to give this time! I would go with an Immersion Chiller personally. As someone stated above, Plate Chillers are a pain to have to clean and even after cleaning you cant really tell if you truly got all the trub crud out. I was doing some research about Immersion chillers and I stumbled on this website.

http://jadedbrewing.com/

They have some pretty interesting looking chillers as a whole on their website. I have been brewing for about 2 years and got a standard 3/8"x 25ft circle chiller because that's what the people at the brewstore recommended for a new brewer. It cost I think around 65 bucks. It takes about 35-45 minutes for the wort to get to pitching temps of around 70 degrees. I'm looking to upgrade now because I want to start doing bigger batches and the IC right now would take forever. On there website they say they have a IC called the "Hydra" and it can beat Plate Chiller times and it costs about $50 less than a Therminator. Anyone else heard of this???

http://jadedbrewing.com/products/the-hydra

Again, I don't like plate chillers because I would prefer not taking a risk that there is nothing in the plate chiller to ruin my batches. I am going to do some more looking but if this "hydra" works as well as they say, then I may just get one. Anyway, I hope this helps some!

Hey welcome Musicguy and thanks for the input. I'm a music guy myself. Play guitar. What do you play?

After much thought I actually decided that a counterflow chiller would be the best fit for me. I unravelled my 25' 3/8 IC last weekend and built my CFC. I ran a few tests and I think it's going to work pretty good. Should be able to cool 12gal in about 20mins. That's with water so we'll see how it does with wort. Cheers!

itsme6582 said:

You might try mixing your wort around the IC as it cools. Don't go crazy, just some whirlpool action. This should cut down a little on the time.

I turned my 3/8" x 25' into a couterflow and gravity drain. It works great. Not counting the already paid for IC the conversion didn't cost more than 30 bucks. Most expensive part was the hose.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_make_a_Counter_Flow_Chiller

I use the warmed water for cleaning up.

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Thanks for this suggestion. It's exactly what I did. Can't wait to try it on my next batch!

Nice! I can sorta play guitar but I'm mainly a trumpet player. That sounds like a pretty cool chiller! I dont have the means to build my own so I try to put my collegiate researching skills to use. (I mean, college was good for some things, right?)