Another chill water recirc question

[Gadjobrinus]

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the laziness - I did search some, but I'm sure not enough. I'm just going through something pretty profound and disruptive, and don't have a lot of energy these days. Just hope to get back in with my son's help and because we've moved, I need another solution.

Basically, especially after reading BobbyM's comments, I'm looking to recirc cooling water through a 50' x 1/2" IC that I've been using.Garden hose fittings everywhere and I'd prefer to keep that as it is. I'd also like to conserve water, so opted not to go the pre-chiller route.

-12 gallon batches. Recommendations on a specific pump? (I see so many).
-Outside of one pump I saw (think it was HF), no adaptors for GH. Most are barbs on the out pot, as adaptor. Can you easily adapt a pump for garden hose out, with swivel?
-No hose on the pump in. The out hose on the IC is just dropped into the IC receptacle, right?
-Finally, am I right in that you're sending icewater to your IC, but returning hot water to whatever receptacle you're using to hold your ice water? Is there an issue with overflowing water, etc.? I guess it's not too much of a big deal, just wondering.

Thanks guys. Hope all are well.

 

[philjohnwilliams]

I have used a pump like this one https://www.homedepot.com/p/Superio...le-Thermoplastic-Utility-Pump-91330/204609991, this one comes with a garden hose adapter.
The pump would go into a large container of ice water and the output of the IC would flow back into the same container. No chance of overflow because it is essentially a closed loop system, the water in is the water that went out, no loss and no gain.

 

[day_trippr]

If you're stuck with a barbed pump you can find barbed garden hose fittings at big box hardware stores, as well as tubing to go from pump to barbed GHT fitting. Considering some of the random thread sizes I've seen on threaded pumps (good luck with those) a barbed model actually might not be a bad option.

fwiw, folks that are handicapped with warm-ish domestic water supplies usually use that to bring the wort temperature down most of the way, then switch to the iced water (either directly or using a chilled hex)...

Cheers!

 

[CodeSection]

I have used a pump like this one https://www.homedepot.com/p/Superio...le-Thermoplastic-Utility-Pump-91330/204609991, this one comes with a garden hose adapter.
The pump would go into a large container of ice water and the output of the IC would flow back into the same container. No chance of overflow because it is essentially a closed loop system, the water in is the water that went out, no loss and no gain.

I use the same brand pump, but only a 1/4 HP. I have it sit in a five gallon bucket. When I was brewing 5 gallon batches, I used it with my IC. Now since I making 10+ gallons, I am using a CFC. I bought it on Amazon here..

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X05G1A/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

....fwiw, folks that are handicapped with warm-ish domestic water supplies usually use that to bring the wort temperature down most of the way, then switch to the iced water (either directly or using a chilled hex)...

Being in Arizona, this my process as well. It works great especially in the summertime.

 

[Redpappy]

I had an extra cooler floating around, so I use it, plus https://www.harborfreight.com/110-hp-transfer-pump-63317.html, to my IC. I start with about 8 gal of water, then I add another. 2-3 gal during the first few min. My first 3-4 gallons I put the water in another 5 gal bucket, which I use for cleaning ( idea from here, can’t remember from who) then I start my recirculating. The first few minutes I just use cold tap water, once my temp gets down to a 120-130 I start adding ice. I have tried reusable ice packs, but they seem to not get the water cold enough(it seems to take a lot of them and the water does not get ice cold )My last brew took about 25 min to hit pitching temp.

I started with the cooler with the thought of starting off with ice cold water, and thinking that the cooler would help hold the coldness.

The pumps infeed is a garden house with an attachment. The infeed to IC connects to a valve that connects to the pump ( pressure control) the outfeed hose just flops around.

I do 5 gal batches, so times will differ for a bigger batch.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

If you're stuck with a barbed pump you can find barbed garden hose fittings at big box hardware stores, as well as tubing to go from pump to barbed GHT fitting. Considering some of the random thread sizes I've seen on threaded pumps (good luck with those) a barbed model actually might not be a bad option.

fwiw, folks that are handicapped with warm-ish domestic water supplies usually use that to bring the wort temperature down most of the way, then switch to the iced water (either directly or using a chilled hex)...

Cheers!

Yeah, being lazy I guess. Have GH on the IC. I just wanted to hook up short length garden hoses on both ends. Any guidance on tubing sizing (12 gallons, not sure of head on it. Just calling "standard", lol)?

 

[Gadjobrinus]

I have used a pump like this one https://www.homedepot.com/p/Superio...le-Thermoplastic-Utility-Pump-91330/204609991, this one comes with a garden hose adapter.
The pump would go into a large container of ice water and the output of the IC would flow back into the same container. No chance of overflow because it is essentially a closed loop system, the water in is the water that went out, no loss and no gain.

Thanks Phil. Haven't decided on the reservoir yet, but I do have a 7-gallon ss stockpot. I was trying to go HF cheapo, probably a bad idea. Maybe always a bad idea.

 

[day_trippr]

Tubing ID should be at least as wide as the chiller. There probably isn't much point in going much larger than that...

Cheers!

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Tubing ID should be at least as wide as the chiller. There probably isn't much point in going much larger than that...

Cheers!

OK, thanks trippr.

 

[philjohnwilliams]

Thanks Phil. Haven't decided on the reservoir yet, but I do have a 7-gallon ss stockpot. I was trying to go HF cheapo, probably a bad idea. Maybe always a bad idea.

You will want your reservoir to be a good deal larger than your batch size. If it is too small then it will heat too quickly and you will lose your ability to chill. What I used to do to figure the amount of cooling water needed was to quickly average my volume/temp. What I mean is that if I had 5 gallons of boiling wort and 10 gallons of water at 50f then I would calculate 212+50+50/3=104 meaning one unit of boiling wort plus two units at 50f divided by three units = estimated temp. This is probably not the proper way to calculate this, but it has worked well for me.