Alternative Cooling Methods

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brbecker87

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So here's my situation. I recently moved into a new apartment, and much to my dismay, there is no exterior faucet to connect a hose to, nor is the kitchen sink amenable to connecting the hose. I have two copper chillers, so I thought that setting up a bucket with ice water for prechiller and using a pond pump to move the liquid through the system. My question is, how big of a pump should I be looking for? I know I will need something strong enough to push the water through 75' of copper coil + the plastic tubing. What should I look for as far as GPH? I would love to go with a march pump, but along with moving into the new apartment came a large rent obligation.

Thanks
 
A pond pump should work, since your coolant should not come into contact with wort. I'd err on the larger side if I were you, though. Not so much to make sure it CAN push the water through, it also needs to push it through fast enough to be an effective chiller.

I'd go for the best pump you can afford. You might also check into aquarium pumps or a waterbed pump if you can find one with a little oomph.

Just my $.02.
 
So I assume that your kitchen sink faucet will not accept a garden hose adapter? Is there a washing machine hookup in your apt.?

In my experience, pre-chillers are not as effective as recirculating ice water through the chiller - just fill a large tub with ice water and put an immersible pump in the tub - return the water from the chiller to the tub. Of course, I only do that after I have already knocked the wort temp. down to about 100º F first, so don't know how well that would work starting at boiling temp. But putting a pre-chiller in series just adds more resistance in the line, which cuts down your flow rate.

When looking at pumps, the "lift" or "head" rating may be more important than the "gallons per hour" rating. The lift rating determines how much pressure the pump can develop and you need some pressure to force the water through your chiller. For example, I use a 1/6 hp pump from Harbor Freight which is rated at 1350 gallons per hour and 21 foot lift. What I actually get through my 50 foor, 3/8 OD copper chiller is about 65 or 70 gallons per hour, not 1350, because of the restriction of the chiller coil.
 
I checked the connections for the washer and water heater and it looks like a no go. Plus I don't want to mess with any of it (landlord is a police chief).

How well does the 1/6 HP work with the 50' coil? And how much did it cost? after thinking about it you might be right about prechiller being unnecessary if I can directly add cold water going through the sytem. I could run a bucket of cold tap water through it first, then when its cooler, run a bucket of ice water through it.

Any guess as to how many gallons to get it to 100°?
 
Here's the pump I use - bought it for $50 at my local Harbor Freight store.

http://www.harborfreight.com/16-horsepower-submersible-utility-pump-68422.html

Hard to say how many gallons of water you need to get down to approx 100º - I know I have a lot more flow using tap water than with my pump, but it doesn't take long to get from boiling to 100º - maybe 10 or 12 minutes? I'd guesstimate I'm running maybe 3-4 gpm, so it could still be quite a bit of water. Once I shift to pumping ice water, I'm just recirculating about 10 gallons. I found my March pump to be ineffective for recirculating through my chiller - just got a trickle because the March pump couldn't develop enough pressure (not criticizing March pumps, this is just the wrong application for them). As I said, I only get a little over one gallon per minute with the HF pump, but it works pretty well.
 
There has to be an aerator on your kitchen or bathroom faucet. A faucet adapter will just screw on if you remove the areator that is in place currently.
The faucet adapters have both male and female threads on them and will work on most faucets. They run about $3 at your LHBS.
Bull
 
bullinachinashop said:
There has to be an aerator on your kitchen or bathroom faucet. A faucet adapter will just screw on if you remove the areator that is in place currently.
The faucet adapters have both male and female threads on them and will work on most faucets. They run about $3 at your LHBS.
Bull

not necessarily true. newer kitchen faucets with pullout combination spray heads won't work. bathroom faucet are more likely to work but can also have integrated heads
 
Misplaced_Canuck said:
5 gallons of beer @ 212 = 660gal-degF
5 gallons of ice water @32 = 160 gal-degF

660 + 160 = 820 / 10 gal = 82F.

[This is in a perfect world].

You'll need more than 5 gallons. Probably 2x 5-gallomn buckets.

MC

Ouch. Math hurts me tiny brain.
 
You don't need a big pump to pump through 75' of 1/4" hose as long as its not going vertically any great distance. Plus you want the water to move fairly slowly to get the most heat out per unit of water. A small fountain pump will work. The only thing you have to watch, is the temp of the water. A little pump won't take real hot water. I'd fill your sink and pump this through the system, then switch to the ice water after you've brought the temp down.

They do make a rubber sleeve kind of thing that will slip over a faucet without being screwed in or anything, it doesn't have much back-pressure so it ought to work unless your faucet has a large head on it. Maybe something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001H2OPS8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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Ouch. Math hurts me tiny brain.

It's actually more complicated than that. :)

I worked out some numbers to cool 5 gallons from 212 to an equilibrium temperature using various amounts of water and ice. Assumptions are:
heat capacity of wort is almost the same as water (very nearly true)
water at boiling weighs 8.0 lbs per gallon
water at room temp. weighs 8.33 lbs per gallon
ice has a latent heat of fusion of 143.9 BTU per lb
ice has a heat capacity just about 1/2 that of water
Assume we start with W gallons of water at 65º F and I lbs of ice at 0º F

BTU to cool 5 gallons of water from 212º F to equilibrium temp. X =
5(8.0)(212-X) = 40(212-X)

BTU to heat I lbs of ice from 0º F to 32º F = (1/2)(I)(32) = 16I

BTU to melt I lbs of ice = 143.9 I

BTU to heat the water from I lbs of melted ice to equil. temp. X =
(I)(X-32)

BTU to heat W gallons of water from 65º F to equilibrium temp. X =
(W)(8.33)(X-65)



therefore:
40(212-X) = 16I + 143.9I + I(X-32) + 8.33W(X-65)
or
X = [(40)(212)+(8.33)(65)W - 128I]/(8.33W+40+I)

W (gallons)......I (lbs)......Equilibrium temp. X (º F)
----------------------------------------------------
......5...............10.................108.1
....10...............10...................94.6
....15...............10...................87.6
....20...............10...................83.2
......5...............20...................84.9
....10...............20...................79.1
....15...............20...................75.9
....20...............20...................73.9
......5...............30...................65.8
....10...............30...................65.6
....15...............30...................65.5
....20...............30...................65.4

So you can see how hard it is to cool 5 gallons of 212º wort to pitching temp.
 
You don't need a big pump to pump through 75' of 1/4" hose as long as its not going vertically any great distance. Plus you want the water to move fairly slowly to get the most heat out per unit of water. A small fountain pump will work. The only thing you have to watch, is the temp of the water. A little pump won't take real hot water. I'd fill your sink and pump this through the system, then switch to the ice water after you've brought the temp down.

They do make a rubber sleeve kind of thing that will slip over a faucet without being screwed in or anything, it doesn't have much back-pressure so it ought to work unless your faucet has a large head on it. Maybe something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001H2OPS8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

How much pressure the pump needs to develop depends on your objective. The coil has a lot of resistance to flow and needs a lot of pressure to get a large volume of water through it per unit time. If your objective is to cool using the minimum amount of water through the chiller, then you want the water to go through slowly and don't need much pressure from the pump. On the other hand, if your objective is to cool quickly and not to conserve water, then you want the maximum flow you can get and the more pressure the pump puts out (lift capacity), the better.
 
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My experience with ICs is that low flow early on is adequate to get a significant cooling to below 140F. I'm guessing you'd be OK with less than a gallon a minute. After that, things slow but its not critical at that point. I wouldnt bother with ice until the wort in under 100F. 30lb of ice is probably less efficient that 10gal of water, from a price perspective.
 
Thanks for all the help guys.

I can't remember who said it, but they mentioned that a March pump wouldn't work so well. I was thinking that if I buy a march pump to run the water through IC for now (with the intention of buying a plate chiller eventually?), but I get the impression that it might just be best to get a small to medium submersible pump for the price and just use lots of water/ice.

Just for my information. How does a plate chiller compare to an IC?
 
I had an issue with cooling quickly as living here in Florida our water supply is usually around 80 degrees. I solved the problem cheaply through a closed cooling system. I got an old styrofoam Omaha Steak cooler with two holes on the end to run a half inch outlet from the pond pump, which came from Lowes for like $30, to my 25 foot copper immersion chiller. the warm water returns to the cooler through the other hole in the end and the warm water flows over the top of the ice water. The pump sits in the bottom of the old cooler and pumps cold water just fine through a total of about 40 feet of tubing and copper. It cools boiling wort down to pitch temps in about 15 minutes. When I used to use an ice bath and tap water it took about an hour. I do still use an ice bath in a circular pond liner. It speeds things up a bit. I also get free ice so I understand the ice thing could get a little extra pricy.
 
Have you tried taking your shower head off and replacing it with a water hose? or if it doesn't fit cut the hose and attach it with a hose clamp.
 
I haven't tried that shower head idea, but my wife has already warned me that I'm not to have a hose running through the house, especially since we have new carpet...
 
How about adding a connection below the sink? Most faucets are connected with flexible lines (braided or plastic). Close the isolation valve, attach Tee and second valve and adapter, re-attach flexible line.

Just an idea.
 
What about replacing a tap with a threaded one and replace the original when you move? Landlord wouldn't even know. And you have a tap to take with you.
 
Cool your wort in the tub and that way it doesn't make a mess because the water goes right down the drain
 
I'm in the same boat, I have faucets that wont accept any type of screw on adapter.

It's not very efficient, but here's what I do as a work around. I put an old bottling bucket on my kitchen counter and fill it with ice water. I slide the chiller tubing onto the bottling bucket's spigot and put the kettle on the floor. I use another pot on the floor to collect the waste water. Gravity feeds the ice water through the chiller, though its much slower than running a faucet.

As I said, it's not very efficient, but it was the best idea I could come up with and it's quicker (I'd guess maybe 30 - 40 minutes) than an ice bath. It seems to chill pretty quickly at first, but slows as the wort temp gets below 100 or so.

Id love to hear other ideas too, as rapidly chilling is the one part of my process that i feel is really inadequate.
 
not necessarily true. newer kitchen faucets with pullout combination spray heads won't work. bathroom faucet are more likely to work but can also have integrated heads

If it is a pull out combination, then the flexible hose should screw onto the handle. Adapt the cooling line to that.

This connection should be hand tightened with a gasket, so it is an easy changeout with no tools. As a bonus, these are usually a lot easier to get off than the aerator.
 
I cannot not connect a wort chiller to my kitchen or bathroom sink either, so the few times I brew inside (in the winter), I have to run a 100+ foot hose from the faucet on side of the house around the house and in the kitchen window, then a second hose to the sink or back outside. Would be easier to just carry the brewpot outside, but carrying 6+ gallons of sloshing hot liquid is not my cup of tea.
 
RogerMcAllen said:
If it is a pull out combination, then the flexible hose should screw onto the handle. Adapt the cooling line to that.

This connection should be hand tightened with a gasket, so it is an easy changeout with no tools. As a bonus, these are usually a lot easier to get off than the aerator.

i'm interested to hear more about this. my kitchen sink faucet (brand spankin new) has a pull out sprayer combination. like you mentioned, the hose easily unscrews from the spray head. the fitting at the end of the hose is unlike anything i've seen before. the end of it is platic, with a ring gasket seated inside a cutout. it looks similar to a quick disconnect, but is threaded. further internet research leads me to believe this is a custom fitting used by the faucet manufacturer, Delta.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but perhaps the OP has a similar setup? I will start a new thread and link this over.
 
i'm interested to hear more about this. my kitchen sink faucet (brand spankin new) has a pull out sprayer combination. like you mentioned, the hose easily unscrews from the spray head. the fitting at the end of the hose is unlike anything i've seen before. the end of it is platic, with a ring gasket seated inside a cutout. it looks similar to a quick disconnect, but is threaded. further internet research leads me to believe this is a custom fitting used by the faucet manufacturer, Delta.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but perhaps the OP has a similar setup? I will start a new thread and link this over.

DO NOT TRY TO FORCE ANTYING TO WORK WITH THE THREADS. A proprietary fitting isn't a deal breaker since this isn't a high pressure connection. Buy 2 hose clamps and 3" of tubing that you can fit over the outside of the sink line and get creative adapting down to the size of your chiller line.

*If you do this, I caution you to somehow secure the faucet line so that your frankenfitting is always visible in the sink and covered with something like an upside down tupperware so that it if fails spectacularly the only mess is in the sink. Also watch out for the sink line trying to pull itself back under the sink.

I actually just looked at my sink (newish house where I haven't brewed yet), and I will have the exact same problem. I will try it out this weekend and I'll report back with what I find.
 
I second filling the tub with cold water at first to get it down to 120º or so. Then fill it up again with cold water and add ice to get it down to your desired pitching temp. Works for me in my apartment.
 
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