Chilling setup questions

[Zippox]

I'd like to find a way where I can cool up to 11 gallons in my garage without a constant hose hookup. I think I understand the idea of a pre chiller so I was hoping of figuring out a way to make this work with a 25 foot immersion chiller and a counter flow chiller.

I attached a picture I drew up of a concept I am wondering will work or not. Ideas? Will my beer be too cold? Will it work for a while then basically get above pitching temperatures before all the beer is drained?

 

[bu_gee]

Can't you combine the top two buckets and remove the immersion chiller from the loop?

 

[bu_gee]

Also, how are you rejecting heat from the system?

 

[Singletrack]

I like the drawing. However, you need to stop firing the BK during the chill.

Your system has an IC. Why do you need the CFC? Just put the IC in the wort and run hose water thru it until temp is down to 100 F. Save the hot water for cleanup. Then pump recirculated ice water thru the IC until you get to pitch temp.

If you don't already own the IC, buy a 50 ft instead of 25 ft.

 

[Zippox]

I don't have a water line in my garage so I need some sort of circulation and ice buckets. I am guessing that by putting ice in the two buckets in my drawing that I am maximizing the amount of cooling I can do.

 

[Singletrack]

No way to run a hose into the garage? Hoses do a good job of moving water from point A to point B.

If not, then you may want a big barrel of water for cooling. Pump from the barrel through the IC into a couple buckets, then use ice in the barrel to keep cool during recirculation. I would avoid a completely closed system (unless it is very large), because you will use a lot of ice. (And adding ice is not really a closed system anyway.)

 

[bu_gee]

Yeah. You're looking at 1 lb of ice for every 1 lb of near-boiling wort.

For 11 gallons, that is 88 lbs of ice.

 

[Zippox]

No way to run a hose into the garage? Hoses do a good job of moving water from point A to point B.

SWMBO is not at all keen on the idea of having the garage door to inside partly open in the middle of winter especially with the hoppier beers. I would really need a way to go from garden hose to some small tubing so that it can go through a small cracked between the door and the frame. Looks like I'll need to purchase a female hose end to 3/8 inch barb so I can get some tubing through, then convert it back to hose once it's through.

This is only an issue in the winter so I've got time I guess.

 

[bu_gee]

In the winter you have the perfect heat rejection system waiting for you. Coming up with 88 lbs of ice should also prove to be relatively easy and cheap.

 

[Zippox]

In the winter you have the perfect heat rejection system waiting for you. Coming up with 88 lbs of ice should also prove to be relatively easy and cheap.

At times last winter I had a tough time getting my hands on enough clean snow that I felt comfortable throwing into the water bucket that my pump was using.

I think I'll just make my life easier and figure out how hook up a hose from the basement, up the stairs and through a closed door to the garage.

 

[Zippox]

Man, the door has such a tight seal that I can't get any size tubing through it while it's closed. I even bought hose adapters to reduce it to 3/8ths inch tubing. Looks like I'll probably have to do some sort of setup where I have all the cooling water and ice in the garage.