wort chiller

im thinking about buying a wort chiller. what kind of pump do you use??? would a fountain pump work???

An immersion chiller doesn't need a pump, are you looking for a counter-flow chiller?

I plan on making my own chiller and using a submergible pump, other people use a short hose that attaches to the kitchen sink faucet and flow cold water that way, I wouldn't see why a fountain pump wouldn't work, as long as the fittings are tight, sounds like a good idea

brewmedic43 said:

I plan on making my own chiller and using a submergible pump, other people use a short hose that attaches to the kitchen sink faucet and flow cold water that way, I wouldn't see why a fountain pump wouldn't work, as long as the fittings are tight, sounds like a good idea

Click to expand...

Not sure I understand but if you plan on filling the sink and recirculating that water through the IC it will not be effective as you will be replacing the cold water with expended hot water. Reducing the ability to chill.

The water pressure from the spigot/tap is plenty to flow water rheiugh the chiler. No pump needed

ummmm yeah you dont need a pump... i made mine with 3/8 copper and shark connectors... worked like a charm and cools very very quickly.

ok the one i saw they were sucking ice water out of the sink and running it through the wort chiller. i made one put i think it is too small. i used the smallest copper. was thinking of buying one from my homebrew store.

i mainly do lagers so i have to get them down to a low temp to fermante

i just put water pumps in the computer at walmart and the cheapest pump was a fountain pump that is where i got the idea from.

duboman said:

Not sure I understand but if you plan on filling the sink and recirculating that water through the IC it will not be effective as you will be replacing the cold water with expended hot water. Reducing the ability to chill.

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If his tap water isn't cold enough, he would need to pump colder water through to get wort chilled in a timely manner. Just fill one sink with ice and discharge hot water into the other side if you have double sinks. If not then use a cooler filled with cold water.

i have been doing ice baths but i takes a long time. i will check and see what the temp of my tap water is. i usally have to get my wort down to 50 degrees

My tap water gets my wort down to 68 in 15 minutes, after that I seal it up and place it in the cooling chamber until it is about 55F then pitch. It usually takes about 6 hours or so in the chamber to cool down.

BrewScout said:

If his tap water isn't cold enough, he would need to pump colder water through to get wort chilled in a timely manner. Just fill one sink with ice and discharge hot water into the other side if you have double sinks. If not then use a cooler filled with cold water.

Click to expand...

I just made one the other night.. Pics posted in the "Equip. / Sani." topic on the forum. I plan on using it in a different configuration than pictured. I have a small fountain pump I already had around here that will be submerged in a sink with water and ice (they sell for about $20.00 at Lowes), a transmission radiator that I plan on using after the pump for additional cooling in the same sink, then into the coil which I bought the pipe for at Lowe's for about $23.00... Then I am going to flow the hot into the other sink or out the window. As it sits now it cools 3 gal. of water from a boil down to 80* in about 17 minutes... I'm expecting much more rapid chilling once I reconfigure and add the ice.

Keep in mind that in all I have about $45.00 worth of materials here (not including the Trans. cooler), you can buy one already set up,for about the same....


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/my-take-wort-cooler-317264/

thanks everyone

going to walmart today to get a cooler for a mash tun