I am thinking of getting a plate chiller but I am not sure if it would improve my chilling speed so I wanted to ask here .. Also does anyone that have a plate chiller submerges their chiller to make sure the wort cools even faster?
Immersion Chiller Vs 40 plate chiller
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I've never used an immersion chiller.
From the get go I picked up a 20 plate Duda Diesel plate chiller.
http://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=HX2320BWGH
It works very well on 5 and 10 gallon batches. We've never had a need to submerge it in water to reduce the temps. We just run regular water garden water through it and regulate the flow of the wort with a ball valve. After we're done we back purge it right away to clean it out.
- Destin
From the get go I picked up a 20 plate Duda Diesel plate chiller.
http://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=HX2320BWGH
It works very well on 5 and 10 gallon batches. We've never had a need to submerge it in water to reduce the temps. We just run regular water garden water through it and regulate the flow of the wort with a ball valve. After we're done we back purge it right away to clean it out.
- Destin
I get below 70F using 58F tap water on a 50' stainless IC in under 10 minutes (5 gallons in Keggle) or 12 minutes (10 gallons in Keggle).
Hard for us to know if you'll get better performance if you don't let us know what you're currently getting.
Hard for us to know if you'll get better performance if you don't let us know what you're currently getting.
Right now im using a 25ft ic but in south florida the water temperatures rarely go below 78 or so, with this in mind it takes me about 20 minutes to bring down my 5 gallon batches and almost 30 + minutes on 10 gallon .. I've thought of getting a ss ic or even up grade it to 50 ft but after reading of the plate chiller i had to ask if its worth it since its smaller and it looks like it would do a better job.
Nightshade
Well-Known Member
Just had a chat about this the other day with someone and here is my suggestion.
Keep the 50' IC and set it in a bucket to cool the wort.
Get or make anothe 25'IC that sits in a bucket of ice and only runs water from the hose through it and feeds that water to the bucket containing the 50'IC.
You will use less ice cooling tap water and you should be able to regulate to whatever temp you need through waterflow and wort flow combinations. You will also be able to get far colder temps than you want so it will take some monitoring and testing to get right.
Keep the 50' IC and set it in a bucket to cool the wort.
Get or make anothe 25'IC that sits in a bucket of ice and only runs water from the hose through it and feeds that water to the bucket containing the 50'IC.
You will use less ice cooling tap water and you should be able to regulate to whatever temp you need through waterflow and wort flow combinations. You will also be able to get far colder temps than you want so it will take some monitoring and testing to get right.
johns
Well-Known Member
The system would work like this. First the wort would be cooled using the CFC and once it gets down to about 100f the IC would be used as a prechiller. Its simple just submerge the IC in a bucket of water using ice, or frozen water bottles from the freezer.
The reason for not getting a plate chiller for me is price. I already have an IC but, also I realize that there will be a need to use a pump sometime in the future with higher volumes. A CFC is not that much money to make. Maybe it will cost less than 50 USD. If I am dissatisfied I could always put the CFC and IC up for sale on Craigslist and for a few dollars more could purchase a plate chiller, but I think this system would work better than a plate chiller.
I think it will work awesome, but it’s still a work in progress.
The reason for not getting a plate chiller for me is price. I already have an IC but, also I realize that there will be a need to use a pump sometime in the future with higher volumes. A CFC is not that much money to make. Maybe it will cost less than 50 USD. If I am dissatisfied I could always put the CFC and IC up for sale on Craigslist and for a few dollars more could purchase a plate chiller, but I think this system would work better than a plate chiller.
I think it will work awesome, but it’s still a work in progress.
norsk
Well-Known Member
The Duda Diesel has worked well for me on a gravity system... No need to pre-chill where I live, though I could see where such might be useful in certain areas...
Nightshade
Well-Known Member
The issue he is going to run into with a plate chiller is his water temp which doesn't cross much below 78*
This will be the limiting factor to how cool he can get the wort so either way he will need a way to cool the water going into the plate chiller or hope that a fan on it will do enough to get to pitching temp (doubtful but possible).
With the dual coil setup it is cheap and efficient compared to a plate that may not work...or buy a plate and use the 50' IC he has to cool the tap water going into the plate chiller to bring it down. It will save money on ice needed as 80* water will melt the ice a lot slower than a hot wort passing through it will.
This will be the limiting factor to how cool he can get the wort so either way he will need a way to cool the water going into the plate chiller or hope that a fan on it will do enough to get to pitching temp (doubtful but possible).
With the dual coil setup it is cheap and efficient compared to a plate that may not work...or buy a plate and use the 50' IC he has to cool the tap water going into the plate chiller to bring it down. It will save money on ice needed as 80* water will melt the ice a lot slower than a hot wort passing through it will.
I've used both a copper IC and a 40 plate chiller with a pump. The plate chiller cools it down much faster than the IC. I have no need to put it in an ice bucket...it cools so fast that it's not worth the extra effort. What I normally do is recirculate the wort through the pump, plate chiller, and back into the kettle. I do this with high-temp silicon tube submerged to reduce HSA. When the kettle temperature is within a few degrees of the output thermometer on my plate chiller, I raise the silicon tube and allow the wort to splash an airate naturally while I run in until it looks like it has developed sufficient foam, then I run it straight into the fermenter.
mikescooling
Well-Known Member
I use a 40plate chiller and my ground water is super cold. It is the best thing ever!! Saves lots of time and makes a great cold break. I'd never go back.
theblaster
Well-Known Member
+1 to the IC in a bucket of salted ice water and passing water through the IC and into plate chiller. Move both the water and wort slowly through the chiller for max efficientcy and chilling.
llvllayhem
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What you can also do is get a submersible pump and build a recirculation system with your current IC. I have not priced one out, but basically after you initially cool the wort with ground water, you recirculate ice water through the IC to finish the job. I think you could build one for less than fifty bucks. Can anyone attest to that, that has built one?
Xpertskir
Well-Known Member
FWIW my buddy who started a nano just switched back(from a plate chiller) to a 50 IC for 40 gallon batches as he found it to cool the wort at the same speed and its less of a hassle to use.
Nightshade
Well-Known Member
A very good whirlpool and keeping an eye on the wort as it gets down to the bottom should do fine, the key is to stop the flow before the wort starts dragging trub into the flow.
Once done with your xfer you want to do a good flush to get any trub that got stuck in it, reverse flush would be best and use hot water 150-190* with detergent in a recycle fashion (cleans pump too) then follow with a good rinse and then a good sanitizing cycle.
Always run a sanitizing cycle before your transfer as well just to be safe, I usually do mine during the whirlpool and just let it recirculate from a bucket.
I use a 50ft IC I built for around $50. It is so easy to use and clean I likely would never look at anything else. My last brew day I went from boil to 75 degrees in 7 minutes with a 5 gallon batch. My water this time of year is very cold 
I use a 50ft IC I built for around $50. It is so easy to use and clean I likely would never look at anything else. My last brew day I went from boil to 75 degrees in 7 minutes with a 5 gallon batch. My water this time of year is very cold
Where do you get tubing that cheap..... copper at home depot here is almost 80 not counting any fittings.... i really would like to build one but need a cheaper source for the copper
I'm also looking at going with a plate chiller, but I was planning on doing gravity feed for now, might be a while before I get a pump. How would I go about doing a back flush on that without a pump?
Nightshade
Well-Known Member
Heat water and gravity feed it through is all I can think of.
You may have to take it apart a little more often this way but I will have to let someone else speak on that. A good run through with hot water should be ok if thats what you can do followed by a good rinse and sanitization process.
petey_c
Senior Member
I already have an IC, but this seemed like a good price; $50 + shipping for a 25' copper IC.
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/home_brew/kegs/c219_wort_chiller.html
Lowes. It was a bit cheaper when I purchased it but still only $46 currently for a 50ft coil of 3/8 tubing. A few hose clamps and a hose adapter and you are up to around $58 with current prices.
We don't have a Lowes here so i get stuck with home depot which is ridiculous on most things.
FatsSchindee
Well-Known Member
jtd_419 said:
At HD here in Austin, 3/8" X 50' is currently $58.42; 1/2" X 50' is $71.00... FYI (pricing immersion chillers myself)
I'm at both stores weekly, and I check prices in one store while using the smart phone app of the other. They're usually very, very competitive.
They price match each other, you know. It's in their store policies that Home Depot will give you price match less 10%. Lowe's also offers free shipping on orders over $49 now, as does Home Depot.
This isn't much more than the price of copper, looks like stainless is even cheaper.
http://www.nybrewsupply.com/beer-home-brewing-equipment/wort-chillers.html
http://www.nybrewsupply.com/beer-home-brewing-equipment/wort-chillers.html
I was going to buy the 3/8" x 50' stainless chiller from NY, but ended up with the 1/2" x 50' stainless chiller from Stainless Brewing. Very pleased with it. Chills 11 gallons from boiling to below 80F in 8 minutes using 68F water. To 80F in another 8 minutes.
The 1/2" is a beast! And not that much more expensive.
The 1/2" is a beast! And not that much more expensive.
amandabab
Well-Known Member
I'm seeing about the same here, it was cheaper to buy a SS immersion chiller than to make a copper one.
an immersion chiller cools fast, easy to use, easy to clean.
