Plate chiller without pump

Is it possible to use a plate chiller without a pump? If you drain from the brew kettle directly to the fermenter on one pass, will the wort be cool enough to pitch?

I haven't been happy with my 25' IC when I am doing full boils.

Any advice would be great!

Thanks!

I used to use my plate chiller without a pump. It was a sketchy. I had to lift my post boil kettle up to a table, etc. or a point high enough where the gravity would drain it as I had been using a floor burner.

but if you've got the height -- all you need then is to minimize the amount of cold water flowing so that it cools your wort to pitchable temps.

the problem I had always faced was that the cold water was flowing too fast for the gravity fed wort (which moves slowly) and the wort chilled TOO much.

I use my 30 plate Kegcowboy chiller gravity without any problems. I run it fairly slowly to use less water.

Dave

Yes, you can, but it's a pain. Good luck.

I would get a pump. I have been fighting this for 6 batches now and its a PITA. Raising the boiling hot kettle to a acceptable height is dangerous and still I can only get a trickle in to the carboy. Always clean and bake my chiller and flush/soak in PBW so I know its not clogged. If you don't use a pump make sure you use whole leaf hops and a hop blocker to keep the flow as good as possible.

Alright, it doesn't sound like it's a very viable plan so I guess I will wait until I can get both at once. That about $200-$250 or so I believe?

Depending on the size and where you get your plate chiller, you're probably looking at the upper end of that range. Don't forget to budget/plan for the extra tubing, fittings and possibly a thermometer.

You can certainly use a plate chiller without a pump. Beyond the basic need to get the hot wort above the chiller to let gravity do it's thing, you probably only need to throttle either the flow of hot wort, or the flow of cold water, depending on which on was flowing too fast, in order to hit a perfect temp.

This is going to be the case whether you have a pump or not.

+1. Only used my chiller for one batch but had no issues with wort flow thru the chiller. Put the brew kettle on the washing machine, bucket on the floor, with the chiller hanging off the laundry sink between the two.

I use mine without a pump, but it is a pain. It takes longer than it should and it's always a little precarious trying to move the hot kettle high enough to get a good flow.

Chuggers are 99 and you can often get NICE 40 plate chillers from KegCowboy for less than 80 (I think I got mine for like 79 ish... a year ago and it is a bit excessive for 5 gal batches but perfect for 10) so all in all it is a decent chunk of change, but well worth it!

I've never needed a pump. Just make sure the final wort level in the fermenter is below the bottom of the brew pot. I can drain 17 gallons faster than what many people are saying it takes them with march pumps on 10 gallon batches.

I was toying with this same idea: gravity fed through chill plate into carboy.
But i was also thinking about draining the hot wort into a corny (this would also give me a chance to strain out excess hop matter), sealing it, and using co2 to push the hot wort through the chill plate into the fermenter. Good idea? Bad idea?

I think that's an AWESOME idea!! Think the mrs and I might try it.

$70 for one if these pumps. http://greatbreweh.com/Beer_Pump.html

Migrating over to a plate chiller setup is proving to be the most expensive purchase I've made in home brewing.

B3-23A-30 plates (long) chiller 140$
March 809 120$
Fittings + Ball valve 60$ (Went with barbs over camlocks, though)
Silicone tubing 25$

SOOOOO about 350$ all in all. I mounted the pump to an older recycling bin and will mount the chiller and all the fittings on it when I receive them. I'll report back with my review of it. It'll work with gravity but you'll definitely need to prop your BK up... which I don't particularly like.

i have my chiller mounted higher than the BK and use the pump to start the siphon then turn it off for the duration of the chill. one pass gets it to tap water temps, 68 degrees. camlocks are the way to go blacksquid.

eastoak said:

camlocks are the way to go blacksquid.

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Yes, I was set on getting them but the reseller I wanted to give my business to (and did before...$$$), didn't reply back to my inquiry for the second time. Other doesn't wanna ship to Canada, for some reason.

On the bright side, other resellers like Pro Flow and Duda Diesel were GREAT in keeping in touch. Too bad Pro Flow didn't have the Type B in stock - but I profited of the occasion and savings over camlocks to upgrade my mash tun fittings to SS. Hopefully I won't get cavitation issues with the smaller fittings, but careful orientation of the head should solve that.

I've test this using my chugger pump and using gravity it's about the same amount of time...My kettle sits on my brew rig at about 3 feet My plate chiller is not attached I like having it loose I usually just sit it on the floor...Gravity works great...I think people that say its a PITA don't under the concept of gravity

LandoLincoln said:

Yes, you can, but it's a pain. Good luck.

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I gravity fed my brand new plate chiller tonight. I just got on the computer and ordered a march pump. I will never attempt that again.