The best/fastest chillers... on Earth?!

Over the years, I've used a few different types of chillers. Most recently I was using a 20 plate chiller, which worked fantastic, but there were things about it I didn't like. So, I sold it and decided to go back to a copper IC... and so began my search for the most badass product I could find. Via eBay, I landed on the website for JaDeD Brewing. They have more chiller designs than I thought existed, with many having been tested and compared. Some even have videos for proof, and they are convincing (see bottom of post)! The one I'm most interested in is the Hydra, which can reportedly chill 5 gallons of boiling wort to 67F in 3 minutes (using 58F groundwater, which I've got). I'm interested if anyone out there has used any of these neat looking products?

I'd also like to throw out there how rad their customer service is. I'm not even sure of real names, but the dude I've been emailing with is super responsive, clearly passionate, and incredibly informative. For example, in the years I used an IC, I never new that increased flow rate actually chilled the wort faster... I know, it's logical, but I'm dumb. Anyway, I certainly plan on purchasing from JaDeD Brewing, after which I'll do some tests and post a detailed review. At this point, I'm more than pleased with just their customer service.



Cheers!

Brulosopher said:

Over the years, I've used a few different types of chillers. Most recently I was using a 20 plate chiller, which worked fantastic, but there were things about it I didn't like. So, I sold it and decided to go back to a copper IC... and so began my search for the most badass product I could find. Via eBay, I landed on the website for JaDeD Brewing. They have more chiller designs than I thought existed, with many having been tested and compared. Some even have videos for proof, and they are convincing (see bottom of post)! The one I'm most interested in is the Hydra, which can reportedly chill 5 gallons of boiling wort to 67F in 3 minutes (using 58F groundwater, which I've got). I'm interested if anyone out there has used any of these neat looking products?

I'd also like to throw out there how rad their customer service is. I'm not even sure of real names, but the dude I've been emailing with is super responsive, clearly passionate, and incredibly informative. For example, in the years I used an IC, I never new that increased flow rate actually chilled the wort faster... I know, it's logical, but I'm dumb. Anyway, I certainly plan on purchasing from JaDeD Brewing, after which I'll do some tests and post a detailed review. At this point, I'm more than pleased with just their customer service.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtztKDitdBs

Cheers!

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You might be a shill but that is a cool website. Thanks for sharing.

eric19312 said:

You might be a shill but that is a cool website. Thanks for sharing.

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Haha, except I only just found the website yesterday... and I'm asking for feedback from people who have actually tried them... and I spoke highly of customer service, not the product. Still, I see how you could've taken it that way. If I were a shill, I wouldn't have to pay as much for the chiller... I guess it'd be nice

Im looking forward to hearing more about this.

Cheers

WileECoyote said:

Im looking forward to hearing more about this.

Cheers

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me too!

True that increasing the flow will speed up chilling but there is an optimal flow rate for best chilling. Too much flow and it becomes inefficient. You need to adjust the flow rate accordingly. I use a recirc system and run at about 260 GPH and go from 200 to 70 in about 15 min.

Um, I think you'd get a similar result with any IC if you optimized your flow rate with a valve and shook it all around as they do in the video.

Somewhat impressive but how long does it take to get the wort down to 68 degrees with 68 degree water? That would be the video I would like to see. My plate chiller can do it in about 5 minutes using about 20 to 25 gallons of water.

Looks like what he did is impacted more from design than flow rate. With a IC of one piece I would imagine that the temp of the water inside the coil gets pretty damn hot by the last half of the run and therefore has less cooling power. Looks to me like he has 3 intertwined chillers going, each with a common input/output. probably keeps the internal water temp much lower, pretty genius and simple design.

NivekD said:

True that increasing the flow will speed up chilling but there is an optimal flow rate for best chilling. Too much flow and it becomes inefficient. You need to adjust the flow rate accordingly. I use a recirc system and run at about 260 GPH and go from 200 to 70 in about 15 min.

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Are you using that Harbor Freight 26f GPH pond pump? $14 bucks and change...

Does it work well enough on 5 gal batches?

Thanks,

Yep, that's the one...I usually go through two buckets of cold water and drop a couple of bottles of frozen water in the last one to finish it up.

My plate chiller is still pretty fast, although I usually recirculate with a pump, where I crank the valve open full blast back into the kettle to get a nice whirlpool going. It's probably not quite optimal, but it works pretty well. My main issue is that my tap water temp creeps up from 70's in the spring to 80+ in the summer.

I used to set up a second pump and a cooler full of ice water for counterflow on the last bit of chilling, which is very effective, but I have basically stopped doing that because it's a lot of extra work at the end of a brew. Instead I just get it down to around 80F and then let my temperature control for the fermenter take care of the rest and pitch maybe an hour or so later after the temp gets down to my target pitch temp. Over the winter (like now) my tap water is around high 50's/low 60's so I will cool it all the way down to ale pitching temps in the kettle.

NivekD said:

True that increasing the flow will speed up chilling but there is an optimal flow rate for best chilling. Too much flow and it becomes inefficient. You need to adjust the flow rate accordingly. I use a recirc system and run at about 260 GPH and go from 200 to 70 in about 15 min.

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Please define "optimal flow rate." I've been emailing with JaDeD the past 2 days and in their plethora of research, they've found that a fully open spigot chills faster. At least that's how I heard it.

uberg33k said:

Um, I think you'd get a similar result with any IC if you optimized your flow rate with a valve and shook it all around as they do in the video.

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They totally agree with this! I have a 25' x 3/8" IC and he encouraged me to try chilling 5 gallons of boiling wort using the open spigot + constant movement technique. Doing this, he gets it to 68F in under 6 min using 58F water. I'll post my results when I get around to it!

NMG318 said:

Somewhat impressive but how long does it take to get the wort down to 68 degrees with 68 degree water? That would be the video I would like to see. My plate chiller can do it in about 5 minutes using about 20 to 25 gallons of water.

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I'm actually moving on from my plate chiller, which would chill like yours, because there are a few things I really don't like a out it- cleaning it, having to use a pump, most of wort stays hot for longer than I like (DMS risk), and no trub settling... to name a few

I used to get down from boiling to pitching in less than 3 minutes. I used 25' immersion chiller, and a 20,000 gallon hot tub/pool.

Note the IC sticking out, and the water rushing around the pot over the waterfall. Pot is floating on a water noodle. It was very, very fast if I agitated the IC. Marlee seal of approval.

Brulosopher said:

Please define "optimal flow rate." I've been emailing with JaDeD the past 2 days and in their plethora of research, they've found that a fully open spigot chills faster. At least that's how I heard it.

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I'm not saying that their chiller doesn't chill fast at fully open, I'm sure it does. I'm just saying that at some given flow rate, the chilling is at it's optimal efficiency. After that, increasing the flow will not chill any faster. Of course, when you start changing any of the variables, that optimal flow rate changes as well.

NivekD said:

I'm not saying that their chiller doesn't chill fast at fully open, I'm sure it does. I'm just saying that at some given flow rate, the chilling is at it's optimal efficiency. After that, increasing the flow will not chill any faster. Of course, when you start changing any of the variables, that optimal flow rate changes as well.

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Cool, thanks. I just wonder if that optimal flow rate can be reached using a garden hose spigot...

Someone needs to invent a rotating chiller that is powered by only the water pressure...

Brulosopher said:

Cool, thanks. I just wonder if that optimal flow rate can be reached using a garden hose spigot...

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Sure, you just need to know how fast water flows out of your spigot when it's full open and have some idea how fast it's flowing when you restrict it at certain set amount. You could figure this out empirically.

After that, it's a pretty classic heat transfer problem. Honestly, I'm surprised some bored homebrewer hasn't made an online calculator for this yet. You could put in your chiller length, diameter, tap water temp, target wort temp, and it should be able to spit out the optimal flow rate.

Don't forget ambient temp, whether the chiller is being stirred or static and surface area of the liquid being cooled...hmmmm, where's our thermodynamic engineer?

NivekD said:

Don't forget ambient temp, whether the chiller is being stirred or static and surface area of the liquid being cooled...hmmmm, where's our thermodynamic engineer?

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Yeah, where is s/he?!

I just heard from JaDeD regarding optimal flow rate: the higher your flow rate, the faster your wort will chill. Period. They've done tests.

Either way, my 50' x 1/2" IC is on the way... detailed review to come!

Brulosopher said:

I just heard from JaDeD regarding optimal flow rate: the higher your flow rate, the faster your wort will chill. Period. They've done tests.

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I guess that is true but at what cost to your water bill. There is a cost/benefit or at least a water time ratio to factor in. If you look on the plate chiller sight they have a ratio of plate sizes to water flow to wort flow to water used chart.

The chiller tested is bad @ss though. You can see the 5 gallon bucket is filled in around 1min 45 sec. With that in mind it takes less than 15 gallons of waste water to cool 5 gallons. Pretty impressive. I am wondering if they are using a prechiller if not what is the temp of the tap water?

I wish I could see in detail how 3 chillers are plumbed in together. I have my 2 coils joined together to make on long loop but the exit water comes out at the wort temp. I would like to separate my two coils to make two separate ICs working together, with a 3rd as a prechiller with ice. It would be nice to get my wort cooled in under 10 minutes then let remove the ICs. Whirlpool and let my trub and cold break settle and then drain from the sides of my keggle. This could solve a few problems I am having, cooling time and clarity into the fermenter.

Photopilot said:

The chiller tested is bad @ss though. You can see the 5 gallon bucket is filled in around 1min 45 sec. With that in mind it takes less than 15 gallons of waste water to cool 5 gallons. Pretty impressive. I am wondering if they are using a prechiller if not what is the temp of the tap water?

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No pre-chiller, just 58F water from a garden hose, full blast while constantly moving the chiller... my new procedure

So...have you used it yet? Did you learn anything about JaDeD's innovatively designed CFC's?

I saw these on eBay about 6 months ago - but with no seller identification that led me to find any "real" information about the product. Thanks for posting this.

I'm not really sure what conclusion I draw from their information... Anything that requires me to physically shake the chiller around seems like a pain in my butt. Guess I'll have to look into building a wort stirrer for that issue.

They have numerous different models, but I don't exactly see "the point" of any one of them EXCEPT for the Hydra (makes sense, three separate water runs of shorter distances, combined with a single in/out) and the Cyclone CFC (Makes sense, change the traditional round CFC into a hybrid design that, by being trumpet shaped sort-of, allows you to clean it.

None of them leap out at me as "THE" choice. It's all about which benefit you want to maximize, it would appear.

Problem is, I want to maximize ALL the variables. No, I'm serious. I want ultra-fast chilling, low water usage, non-intrusive format, the whole nine yards. And I want it for cheap, too. I'm the classic Picky Customer.
Until "The Right Chiller" finally comes along, I'm going to keep praying that my 30' CFC doesn't start giving me infections again. You should have seen the crud that came out after I did the oxy-clean soak and one-hour pump recirculation on that thing.

Anyways. I'm rambling again. "Get off my lawn" and such. Where was I? Right. Thanks again for posting the link to the seller, I hadn't heard of him at all until you posted this. I'm not going to make a purchase immediately, but I *WILL* think about it a bit longer, and do a little more research into all of these different approaches they are taking.


Edit: I kind of like the Talos, now that I look a lot more carefully.... that might be a good option for those of us with wide-body 60 Qt stock pots.

Chriso...Yea, I'm torn too...IC's are so simple/straightforward. I like that and have nice cold Maine well water. Talos would inhibit whirlpooling while chilling. So I like Hydra too.
I sure hope someone invents your dream chiller...you and I are alike in our shopping desires!