I've been using a 25' 3/8" copper immersion chiller for a couple years now with varying results and was looking to get any feedback/input from people who have had great success with them. 5-gal batches, 11gal SS kettle.
I am in the northeast, so warm summers/cold winters, ground water is anywhere from 40F-65F, so usually nice and cold. Toss chiller in at the last 10-15mins of the boil, connect up the hose, and turn it on at flame-out. Water is on the out side of the chiller, then starts to get cooler within the first minute. I swirl the chiller around in the pot to create a slow whirlpool, water is very hot for another minute or two, then warm. So this process has to be repeated over and over across 20-25 minutes to get it from 212F to 70F.
I can swirl it 25 times for a few seconds but it's getting old... and all the cold break gets kicked up each time, then when it comes time to put it into the fermenter much of it goes in with the wort (I try to keep the thicker sludge in the kettle at the end).
So, a few questions, and hopefully some simple (and cheap) answers:
- Any way to get less cold break into the fermenter, I can use a funnel screen, or let it sit in the kettle after it gets to 70F for 5 mins but want to avoid keeping it in open air. I was also under the impression that you want some of this in your fermenter (ie hop particles etc).
- I recently started using a pond pump in a large ice bath for the last 10 mins. The water goes through much slower (300-500gph pump, but the coil puts a lot of resistance on it), but its also much colder. Would using a 2nd coil in the ice bath be better? (hose --> ice bath coil --> wort coil)
- It seems like a whirlpool in the kettle is the biggest time saver here (thus better for the beer to get it into the fermenter quicker). Besides swirling the coil in the kettle every couple minutes, would my only other option be a recirculating pump?
$75-100 for another coil (I'd go 50' 1/2" probably), $150-200 for a March recirc pump, or find a good plate chiller. Pump might be a better long-term investment as I move to all-grain and can re-circ wort to create the whirlpool.
Thanks for any advice you can give here!
I am in the northeast, so warm summers/cold winters, ground water is anywhere from 40F-65F, so usually nice and cold. Toss chiller in at the last 10-15mins of the boil, connect up the hose, and turn it on at flame-out. Water is on the out side of the chiller, then starts to get cooler within the first minute. I swirl the chiller around in the pot to create a slow whirlpool, water is very hot for another minute or two, then warm. So this process has to be repeated over and over across 20-25 minutes to get it from 212F to 70F.
I can swirl it 25 times for a few seconds but it's getting old... and all the cold break gets kicked up each time, then when it comes time to put it into the fermenter much of it goes in with the wort (I try to keep the thicker sludge in the kettle at the end).
So, a few questions, and hopefully some simple (and cheap) answers:
- Any way to get less cold break into the fermenter, I can use a funnel screen, or let it sit in the kettle after it gets to 70F for 5 mins but want to avoid keeping it in open air. I was also under the impression that you want some of this in your fermenter (ie hop particles etc).
- I recently started using a pond pump in a large ice bath for the last 10 mins. The water goes through much slower (300-500gph pump, but the coil puts a lot of resistance on it), but its also much colder. Would using a 2nd coil in the ice bath be better? (hose --> ice bath coil --> wort coil)
- It seems like a whirlpool in the kettle is the biggest time saver here (thus better for the beer to get it into the fermenter quicker). Besides swirling the coil in the kettle every couple minutes, would my only other option be a recirculating pump?
$75-100 for another coil (I'd go 50' 1/2" probably), $150-200 for a March recirc pump, or find a good plate chiller. Pump might be a better long-term investment as I move to all-grain and can re-circ wort to create the whirlpool.
Thanks for any advice you can give here!