Help needed to find wort chiller for 1.5 bbl

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Pangea

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Was thinking about justing using a blichman therminator, but think it may take too long. Anyone got any leads or ideas where I can find a slightly higher rated heat exchanger than the therminator? This is for the 55 gallon system I'm building. Anyone have any experience chilling this amount and care to comment? Your help is greatly appreciated!

Pangea
 
I got this ridiculously huge plate chiller on ebay. It's probably about three times the size of the therminator. It's70 (!) plates and each plate is bigger than the Therminator so I'm sure it will be fine. Search Alfa Laval and you will see similar ones. The only downside is it has 1" NPT ins/outs, but that might be good for bulk transfer to the fermenter.

Mine is the CB27-70H in case your interested. I basically stole it since I got it new for $150.
 
Yeah, I'm not sure about it. It looks like a really nice chiller, I would just be a bit leery of the used factor. The big question is what's the insides look like? It is only stainless and copper inside so it's probably ok. Maybe see if they can tell you what the previous uses were? If it was a food safe product, I would definitely say go for it. Either way, I believe stainless can be cleaned up pretty well. As long as it wasn't something really heinous.

It is freaking huge though. If it's in good shape on the inside, it would definitely work. Mine is massive and that one has 30 more plates!
 
I'm gonna go for it. Whatever was in there can probably be cleaned out with a steady recirculation of caustic or acid solution. For that price, its worth the risk. I dont want to havet to wait an hour to chill 40 gallons. 30 minutes or less would be nice and I think this guy might be able to do that.

Edit: Just purchased. Hope that sucker wasn't used to cool arsenic or somethin like that!
 
I'm gonna go for it. Whatever was in there can probably be cleaned out with a steady recirculation of caustic or acid solution. For that price, its worth the risk. I dont want to havet to wait an hour to chill 40 gallons. 30 minutes or less would be nice and I think this guy might be able to do that.

Edit: Just purchased. Hope that sucker wasn't used to cool arsenic or somethin like that!

Personally, I like my arsenic warm. Let us know how it works for you!
 
Well, here's the big dude.... it weighs a ton. I better be chilling 40 gals in 30 minutes or less or I'm going to be dissapointed.

img00095b.jpg
 
WOW! :eek:

That's a mother****ing plate chiller! Did you really pay only $95 for that beast? Seems like it would be worth 3x that just in scrap metal.
 
Yes! 95 + 27 in shipping. Used, slightly dented in spots as you can see, but still in perfect shape for chilling wort. Ebay rocks sometimes. Thanks to AJwillys for the lead on the seller.
 
Here is a thought if it takes too long to cool a batch. Set up a whirlpool system and cycle the wort through the chiller and back into the kettle. It may take a little longer to get the wort down to pitching temps but it will get the wort under DMS producing temps much quicker than batch cooling.

Edit: I am seriously considering splicing a chiller like this into my system to eliminate the immersion chiller PIA.
 
Here is a thought if it takes too long to cool a batch. Set up a whirlpool system and cycle the wort through the chiller and back into the kettle. It may take a little longer to get the wort down to pitching temps but it will get the wort under DMS producing temps much quicker than batch cooling.

Edit: I am seriously considering splicing a chiller like this into my system to eliminate the immersion chiller PIA.


I plan to use plain 'ol water from the garden hose for ales and recirculating icewater from a keggle for lagers. I want to go straigh to fermenter at the correct temp. I will have a thermometer at the discharge of the chiller.
 
Hey Pangea, nice chiller. Looks pretty much exactly like mine except yours is a lot taller from the extra 30 plates. Let me know how it works. Mine still has not had any actual liquid in it yet. For anyone looking, they are on ebay every so often.. The brand name is 'Alfa Laval'. They make industrial chillers of all varieties and the ones suitable for large homebrewing/nanobrewing are about the smallest ones they make.

Slightly off topic, but do you plan on reusing your chiller water? I am thinking about reusing mine and trying to determine the best method. So far, I'm thinking about having two tanks, one in the walk-in, one just sitting out. I will have chilled water in the one in the fridge to cool the wort with. It will pump from the chiller to the outside tank, letting it sit until it cools to room temp. After that, I will pump it back into the walk-in to cool it down further. I figure letting it drop to room temp before putting in the cooler will reduce the thermal load on the cooler.
 
No, I wasn't planning on reusing the chiller water. I was planning on maybe using a 15 gal keggle to hold ice/water and pump through the chiller w/ return to the keggle. This would allow for near 32 degree water through the chiller which would enable a lower outlet temp for the wort, especially nice for lagers. For ales, I may just skip the ice. After the brew session, I'd just dump the water to drain.

That being said, a reservoir of water or even a water/glycol mix would be awesome to use as you're suggesting. Could use a chest freezer or fridge to cool between uses and a small pump to recirculate through the chiller. The refigerant could effectively be used over and over again, and always be chilled, ready to roll- plus no buying or making ice.
 
That thing is beefy. I like it! I think you should probably set up the 96 foot IC as your pre-chiller though. You know, because that'd be cool...

Good ebay find!
 
That being said, a reservoir of water or even a water/glycol mix would be awesome to use as you're suggesting. Could use a chest freezer or fridge to cool between uses and a small pump to recirculate through the chiller. The refigerant could effectively be used over and over again, and always be chilled, ready to roll- plus no buying or making ice.

I don't know if I would trust a plate chiller that much. If it started to leak glycol into your wort it would be hard to tell.
 
Yeah, I don't think I would go with glycol for a couple reasons.
1) It's not necessary unless you are dropping the water below freezing, which I don't think is necessary for ales and probably not lagers either.
2) It's expensive, especially for the food grade Propylene (which is required for pro brewers).

Using a chest freezer is a good idea for chiling it as well. Keeps you from having to put hot water in any temp controlled rooms.
 
I don't know if I would trust a plate chiller that much. If it started to leak glycol into your wort it would be hard to tell.

Leaks??!?!?! BAH! You know its gonna be perfect quality because it was ordered off of Ebay!!!:drunk:
 
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