It's been so hot I've avoided going outside if at all possible. Today was nice so I fired it up for a dry run.
I've since insulated the 8 gallon HLT. Using a 1500W heatstick I brought 6 1/2 gallons of tap water to 170F in about an hour.
Transferred from HLT to 10 gallon cooler with a march pump, no problems. The cooler wasn't pre-heated and it lost 8 degrees.
1st problem: I attempted to recirculate from the brewpot to the top of the tun using the march pump. It would not push the hot water about a 5ft distance. The tun eventually emptied into the brewpot but the march would not push it back up, made it about half way. Any suggestions here?
2nd "problem": I tested out my 30 plate duda chiller. I hooked it up what I believe to be counterflow, cold water in / cooled wort out on one end and exit/hot water out/ hot wort in on the other, just as is pictured on a shirron chiller.
It did not come close to chilling the "wort". I didn't take any temps but it was burn your fingers hot. The exit water was also hot. the chilling water was running full blast and I dialed back the wort to a trickle and was still too hot.
I reversed the wort fittings so cold water in and hot wort in were on the same side. the water exiting was much hotter and the wort was pleasantly cool even at a decent flow.
Any reason why it works better connected "wrong"?