chilling 30 gallons: whirlpool IC or plate chiller

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mandoman

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I'm designing a 1 bbl (31 gallon) set up with a 55 gallon blichmann (yeah, bling, bling) and am considering a plate or immersion/whirlpool JZ style chiller option. What would you do? I'm wondering if 50' of 1/2 inch ic would do 30 gallons quickly - that'd be my preference, but a nice second option would the a therminator type. Pump, of course. Opinions?

word up
 
oh wait, then there's the whole welding stainless thing. I was hoping to just sweat pieces or buy it outright and weld on the whirlpool adapter.
 
I have a 31 gallon setup, I use the therminator. Seems to do pretty good.

I recirculate the wort until it reaches 140F then transfer it to the fermenter. (its usually in the high 60s when its being transfered)
 
jordan, nice set up - i checked your gallery. Do you do lagers at all? How's your cold break? 'preciate the comments all.

chris
 
I havent brewed a lager yet. Although, I just built a fermentation chamber so I'll do it pretty soon.

As far as the cold break, I use a paint strainer on the end of my hose going into the fermenter to catch anything, then I dump the trub on my conical the next day.
 
Most commercial breweries use a plate chiller. It is FAR more efficient then an immersion chiller. It would take quite a lot of cold water to drop a bbl from boiling to pitching temps with just an immersion coil and tap water.

A lot will depend on the temp of your chilling water. You can get a dual stage plate chiller in which you can use ground water to drop to a certain temp and then a refrigerated glycol system to take it down to pitching temps.

Here in CO I have never needed anything other then ground water. In TX and AZ, a glycol system was mandatory.

Good luck in your endeavors.
 
I'm in VA, even august tap water is ok and I can use recirc w/ice if I have to. I'm going with therminator. We'll see!
 
I would think that the therminator would be more then capable of handling a full barrel...it takes 10 gallons down without a problem,
 
I do 30 gallon batches and I use a therminator. My well water is 55F all year and I can chill 30 gallons of wort to 60F in about 20 min.
 
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