Cooling 2 kettles - will this work?

Need more information on this setup... Looks like you are trying to recirculate between the 2 kettles around a single IC but I don't see how you are going to get the wort back from the right kettle to the left...

Thanks for the reply, Bandit.

I was hoping the wort would maintain height between the two kettles. This might not happen if the pump is in the circuit, as shown.

Cheers!

PS. OK, here's my theory. The second kettle will start to fill up. The increased head of liquid will assure that more wort comes out of this kettle to the tee pipe. When the liquid level comes down to that of the first kettle, the wort pumped will come equally from both kettles until the second kettle starts to fill up again. In real life, the wort levels will remain equal, and both kettle's of wort will be cooled equally.

I really don't want to experiment with 20 gal of wort (or water, for that matter, being on well water).

Cheers!

The two kettles will stay static... the left kettle won't do anything, and the right kettle will constantly recirculate. At least that's my guess.

LOgic states that you;ll eventually end up with water / wort all over the place from the coil kettle. If there's no return to the non-coil one, it will eventually empty, especially with the pump running.
I see the basis in your theory - that the levels of two connected containers will become even - but in this case, with the pump and return coming to only one of the kettles, it doesn't work.

If you want to do this, you Ned to have the kettles plumbed in more of a loop. Have the kettles plumbed directly together, then have the pump pull liquid from the left, and return to the right, that's the only way to recirculate all the liquid past the IC. Seems like a cfc would work better for you though.

Fair dinkum.
Now I'm thinking about just connecting the kettles, like Dutch says. Then connect a bazooka screen to some silicone tubing and dangle it in the left pot. Then pump it out to the right pot. (I'd have to prime the pump first, right?). Wish there was a neater, safer way.
Don't really like the idea of a CFC - a bit expensive and I'd be worried about contamination, but I see your point. Thanks.

Cheers!

Trying to chill that much liquid is likely going to take a long time with just one IC.
You are will likely see very little cooling in the left kettle, as there will be little flow into the left kettle. The fluid levels will be similar, but the mixing will only occur at the T. You could plumb in another T and send a return to both kettles, then at least you will get some mixing.
Or you could gravity feed in series.

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this setup will end up overflowing the right kettle as the pump will demand all of the flow through the tee. you will overflow right and draw down to sucking air on the left.

OK, fair enough, thanks for the help. I'll go back to:

chilling the right kettle (with whirlpool action and cooling coil)
emptying
hooking up the left kettle valve up to the pump
whirpool that into the right kettle for chilling
(I'll need stagger the boiling by say 20 min.)

LordUlrich said:

...Or you could gravity feed in series...

Click to expand...

What did you mean by that, LordUlrich?

Do like a 2 teir. Drain from one and run it into the next using gravity. Then pump out of the bottom to the top.
You are probably best off staggering the boils.

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Oh, OK. Thanks for the idea. Think you're right - stagger the boils.
Cheers!