Cooling on the cheap...

Hey guys, need your advice for what to do...

Lately it has been taking me forever to get my wort down to pitching temps using an immersion chiller, and I am about to start using a keggle to boil in.

I would like some suggestions to what I can do to speed up this lengthy process..
any DIY counter flow chiller plans would be nice... thanks!

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I have an immersion chiller that I have been using forever.. is there an easy way to convert that to a CFC?

Try stirring the wort gently with a spoon while you are running the IC. You could buy a pond pump and use it to pump ice water through the chiller, which should shave some time. I plan to buy one for my next brew, since I live in AZ, and the water is pretty warm. I'm going use tap water to chill to 100F, and then switch to the pump in ice water, that should get the temp down in sufficient time.

aekdbbop said:

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I have an immersion chiller that I have been using forever.. is there an easy way to convert that to a CFC?

Click to expand...

You'd have to straighten the existing chiller out in order to feed it through a hose. If you're lucky you'll be able to but most likely the thin walled copper will break somewhere. A good use for your old IC is as a pre-chiller. That's what I've been using mine for since I made my CFC.

Edit: This is a good thread for a CFC build. I was going to do this but I had all the fittings laying around to make a fully soldered one so I did that instead.

Check this out, its the ultimate: http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php

bradsul said:

You'd have to straighten the existing chiller out in order to feed it through a hose.

Click to expand...

You don't think I would be able to get the hose on there leaving it coiled?

No way. It's actually difficult enough when it's straight. I second the stirring suggestion. Use tap until you hit 110F, then run the output of your bottling bucket or mlt into the chiller. Fill it with two bags of ice and water. Gravity feed works well, no pump needed. Don't forget to stir the wort the whole time.

aekdbbop said:

You don't think I would be able to get the hose on there leaving it coiled?

Click to expand...

It's actually fairly difficult to push the copper tubing through the hose when it's straight.

I straightened out my old ic using the diptube from a 1/2 bbl sanke. Just push the coiled copper though until the curve of it won't allow any more to be pushed through, then use the dip tube to straighten it bit by bit. Be patient and go very slowly and you should be fine. I turned one 50 foot long ic into two 25 ft cfc's this way.

Good luck!

Austin

aekdbbop said:

You don't think I would be able to get the hose on there leaving it coiled?

Click to expand...

Even straightened out I had to use quite a bit of soapy water to get mine fed through an RV water hose which is much smoother on the inside. Unless copper is really expensive in your area (25' only cost me $19CDN) I wouldn't even try, you'll just end up with a really frustrating afternoon and most likely a very kinked piece of copper .

Bobby_M said:

No way. It's actually difficult enough when it's straight. I second the stirring suggestion. Use tap until you hit 110F, then run the output of your bottling bucket or mlt into the chiller. Fill it with two bags of ice and water. Gravity feed works well, no pump needed. Don't forget to stir the wort the whole time.

Click to expand...

that actually is a great idea...

when i use the IC, it gets to about 120 quickly.. then stalls out and takes another 15 min to get to pitching temps..

I will surely try this next time..

Iordz said:

Try stirring the wort gently with a spoon while you are running the IC. You could buy a pond pump and use it to pump ice water through the chiller, which should shave some time. I plan to buy one for my next brew, since I live in AZ, and the water is pretty warm. I'm going use tap water to chill to 100F, and then switch to the pump in ice water, that should get the temp down in sufficient time.

Click to expand...

I have an IC that is 25' of 3/8'' copper. I start the hose at a pretty good speed and start stirring the crap out of it...of course careful not to aerate too much. I can get 5 gallons below 140F in less than 2 minutes, below 100F in 7 min, I then attach it to my MLT that now has ice in it, move the hose to fill the MLT, with that I can get below 80 in a total of 20 minutes.

The whole process took 40 minutes the first time I did it with moderate stirring, the key is to get a nice whirlpool going.

I am going to get a submersible pump and run it with ice water. I am hopeful that once I get that set-up I can start pitching cold and get down to lager pitching temps.

prior to purchasing a Shirron, I always used my IC itself to stir with. 2 or 3 turns in one direction and then 2 or 3 in the other. Cooled 'er off in no time

You all must have some realy hot tap water.
My water is 65-70* in mid summer and with my little 25' IC I was able to pull 11 gallons of wort from boil to 72* in just under 30 minutes. A 5 gallon batch takes 10-12 minutes. This is just with tap water and stirring the wort.

If you want to keep using an IC I would just make or buy another one. Drop one in a bucket of ice/water/salt, run the water thru that then thru the IC in the pot.

Warm tap really does suck. I'm all the way up in NJ and my tap is currently flowing at 85F. I'm not a real big fan of prechillers because that copper coil is just one more barrier to heat transfer. Sure it will drop the tap temp a few degrees, but it's just not engouh. I'm more in favor of actually flowing the icewater into the IC or whatever chiller you have for that matter. If you don't like the idea of gravity draining icewater, a small pond/aquarium pump is about half as costly as a coil of copper.

Have you considered making another immersion chiller and placing this in an ice bath? That way the water runs from the tap, through the immersion chiller in the ice bath, then into the immersion chiller in your keggle. I haven't tried this yet myself, but I hear it works great and might be easier than trying to devise a counterflow chiller.

Bellybuster said:

prior to purchasing a Shirron, I always used my IC itself to stir with. 2 or 3 turns in one direction and then 2 or 3 in the other. Cooled 'er off in no time

Click to expand...

Ditto. Preventing a thermal layer against the coil does wonders for your cooling efficiency.

TheJadedDog said:

Have you considered making another immersion chiller and placing this in an ice bath? That way the water runs from the tap, through the immersion chiller in the ice bath, then into the immersion chiller in your keggle. I haven't tried this yet myself, but I hear it works great and might be easier than trying to devise a counterflow chiller.

Click to expand...

That's called a prechiller (pre chills the incoming tap water). Again, it's not a very efficient use of money since copper is so damned expensive and you really only drop the temp a couple degrees at full flow.

so what I am getting here is this:

1 Use the IC to swirl around the wort while chilling
2 Use come ice water for the last 50 degrees or so..

and that should help to cut my time down...


thanks for the suggestions...

In the cooler months my pool water is 58°F and I use a portable sump ($30 Lowes IIRC) to pump water from my pool into my Shirron and back into the pool.

In the summer, water from the hose approaches 100°F. I used to use a prechiller, but would only get the wort to 80°F using 5lbs of ice. I'd have to cool the carboy in the fridge to get the last cooling mile.

Yesterday, I took the leap of faith with the method Bobby_M details. I filled a cooler with water and 45lbs of ice and used my sump. Submurged a good deal of the hose as well. Got my wort down to 65°F.

It was as if I was transformed back to the Winter. Luscious cold break.

If you aren't getting cold break, you owe it to yourself to try.

I'll see if I can post some pics tonite. Next time I'm going to reserve some water and bring it and the hose into the house to let it cool down from 100°F to at least 80°F. I lost alot of ice in the first couple of minutes.