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rjanson

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I've made a couple of batches of brew using relatively rudimentary methods, and now I'm ready to step up my game to BIAB.

I've purchased a 10gal SS Brewtech Kettle with thermometer and now I'm looking for advice on cooling my wort before pitching. I opted against the false bottom, as from what I've read it's not needed when bagging it.

I'm leaning heavily towards purchasing a counterflow chiller, but I have some questions on how I would use it.

My groundwater never gets too hot or too cold, currently 68 degrees straight from the tap, with very good pressure in the laundry basin where I have a standard hose style connector available

With a CFC, do I need to circulate the wort through a couple of times before it goes into the carboy? Or do I output the wort straight from the chiller to the fermenter?

Do I need a pump to move the wort through, or is gravity sufficient?

Is whirlpooling something I should be considering with this setup? If so, what additional equipment or setup would I need?

Is the old school method of shaking vigorously an acceptable method for oxygenating or do I need to add to the setup to improve on that?

Thanks for reading!
 
I would consider an immersion chiller personally 50' 1/2" does the job really well for 5 gallon batches.

Counterflow chillers as well as plate chillers can be great but many people find them to be just another thing to clean and fuss with. When you are dealing with 5g or less the benefits of more elaborate chilling methods get lost in my opinion.

That being said to answer your other questions:
You can use gravity with a CFC but if your water isnt cool enough you will need more than one pass to get it to pitching temps.

A pump will make the CFC more useful in terms or recirculating for a whirlpool and doing hops stands and the like.

You will need to consider how you will filter out hop debris before it heads to the chiller (hop spider or something of that nature) You will also need to consider how you will clean your CFC properly after a brew day.

As for your O2 question shaking will work using an oxygenation stone will work better. When I switched to an O2 setup I immediately noticed a change in the fermentation process. Lag times after pitching went from 12-24 hour to 2-6 hours. Did it make me beers better I assume so but I haven't done a blind side by side.
 
I would consider an immersion chiller personally 50' 1/2" does the job really well for 5 gallon batches.

Thanks for the detailed answers. Ive been going back and forth on whether to go immersion or counterflow. I lean towards counterflow, feeling like it may be more future proof, for only a few bucks more?
 
I just don't know I do 10, 5, and 3 gallon batches and the immersion chiller just does the job with no extra cleaning other than rinsing it off. To be fair my 10g batches are few and far between and in the summer it can be slow going. I will likely get a CFC soon but that is almost exclusively because I went electric and I need a way to keep my chiller off my element. Although that being said brew hardware has a new "false bottom) for biab that would solve that problem easily.
 
I am a big fan of the immersion chiller myself; I have made both of mine. I use tap temp water for the first part of the heat reduction and for the second part use the least expensive pump you can get at Harbor Freight and drop it in a sink full of ice attached in a loop to your wort. One addition of ice should be enough; I always "over cool" my wort before I pitch my yeast and the temp rise slowly to the right spot, I have found that to work more consistently than possibly over cooling the wort and shocking the yeast into temporary dormancy.
 
An IC is a great chiller if the coils are spaced correctly and the wort is moving across the coils. A CFC made of materials for potable water has a advantage in that it can be used in HERMs set up. I use an Exchilerator for recirc, step mash, whirlpool and hop stand. Yes you will need pumps, hoses, and a lot of fittings but it works great! Some thing to consider for future
 
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