interesting wort chiller question

[doctorgonzo79]

I just today began building first my wort chiller. a 4 gal. bucket with 10' coiled 3/8 copper tubing inside with gaskets and fittings etc. the wort would run via gravity through the tubing top to bottom.
my question is should i fill the thing with ice water or attach fittings to run cold water through it? the idea is from a distillation condenser naturally.
any advice would be welcome!

 

[duboman]

It sounds as though you want a counter flow chiller?

Your set up sounds like it'll work if you fill the bucket with ice water and the sort flows through the coil it will chill down and exit into the fermenter?

A cfc does the same thing but there is a coil in a coil and the cd water flows one way while the wort flows the other, I made mine and chills 6 gallons in 10-15 minutes, I would think yours would work well

 

[Golddiggie]

I think you're going to go through a LOT of ice in that bucket. With only 10' of copper to get the wort down to pitching temperatures, you're going to need an asston of ice. Plus the flow will need to be very low in order to get the wort chilled to the proper level by the time it leaves the copper.

IMO, better off getting a 25' coil of 3/8" (or 1/2") copper and make either an IC or CFC from it.

Personally, I left IC's behind some months ago. I've been using a plate chiller (from Rebel Brewer) to chill 6.5-7 gallons of boiling wort to under 60F in about 10 minutes (with a 5 minute recirculation before going to fermenter).

 

[Polboy]

I would also recommend CFC, I'm using one and to cool 10 gal batch I collect 20 gal of very warm (80f) water for washing much more goes to waste but that gives me idea how much ice you would need, btw my ground water is around 50 now

 

[SakARow]

+1 on the CFC. It is what you are trying to do. Most ideas start where you are and then they build them and hate what they have made. I know because I had the same genius idea.... CFC all the way!

dudadiesel.com, awesome, inexpensive, works great!

 

[fermentednonsense]

I wrote up a really cool way to make a cheap CFC. On pilot test, the wort would burn your hand (hurt like hell), and on the wort exit end it was almost ice cold.

Its a 3 part article, you can check it out here
http://myrtlebeachbeerlovers.com/diy-counterflow-wort-chiller-part-1/

 

[doctorgonzo79]

thanks much gentlemen!
counter flow sounds like what this thing wants to be when it grows up. I'll do a test run in the A.M. and see if it works this way at all. another 10' of tubing would likely fit in the bucket and could improve things. i am trying to not use so much H2O. i think i would stick with 3/8" tubing for either one, for in my mind i see a greater exposed surface area of the flowing liquid in the tube vs. 1/2". the original idea was to tightly coil the tube into a PVC pipe and run cold H2O through it (see Palmer, right) so it may end up that way in the end anyway.