Stout Stainless Counterflow Chiller

[postalbunny]

anyone have the dimensions on the exterior of the stout unit? Considering upgrading over the kegco stainless... need to be sure this unit would fit under my brewstand.

 

[HDBagger]

anyone have the dimensions on the exterior of the stout unit? Considering upgrading over the kegco stainless... need to be sure this unit would fit under my brewstand.

From their website.

Total length = 31 feet. Inner tube 12mm OD x 1mm thick
Outer tube 19mm x 1.5mm thick
Overall diameter = 300mm
10 loops
Wort connections: 1.5" Tri Clamp. Water connections: 1/2" Male NPT
All stainless steel counter-flow wort chillers for homebrew use with tri clamp ends for the wort.
300mm=11.81" according to my calculater.

 

[SanPancho]

Duplicate

 

[SanPancho]

Still have the Shell and tube, sitting on a shelf with my copper chillzilla. I have a stainless one that Williams sold a few years back. I debated running both the Shell and tube with my CFC, but I like simple. Rather have one efficient unit.

You use the shell tube at all? Wondering how that worked for you. Need to chill 1bbl batches and cfc probably not gonna cut it.

 

[postalbunny]

Heads up on this.. i ended up getting the stout CFC as well. The tubes are smaller than 1/2" diameter and due to the length it provides considerable pressure drop. The fittings are 1/2", but the length and the diameter cause a significant drop in pressure. Using a pond pump to pump chilled/icebath water struggles, a garden house has no problem. My chugger pumps does pump through fine, but it's considerably (1/2 speed maybe?) slower compared to a plate or the normal kegworks CFC. I can still get a slight whirlpool effect and trub does cone up in the middle no problem. But it takes longer to cycle through 5g or 10g of wort than at full speed. The temps exiting are a lot closer to the water temp than the kegworks CFC; i'm able to get 113-115degF with 212degF wort and 80degF ground water. With the kegworks CFC i was upwards of 120-130degF. That's on first pass... i recirculate into the kettle to drop temps until the egress is pitching temp.

I ultimately ended up just getting a plate chiller though which is giving me 89degF and significantly faster speeds (enough to push a small sprayball again).

 

[RPh_Guy]

kegworks CFC

Are you talking about the KegCo stainless CFC?

 

[postalbunny]

Are you talking about the KegCo stainless CFC?

yes sorry... the kegco one. Basically this:
https://www.amazon.com/Kegcos-Stain...rds=kegco+stainless+cfc&qid=1582583709&sr=8-4

I liked this initially because it was stainless (lodo guys have a field day with copper stuff), no need for hop screens, and it had high flow rate. Just not enough contact area to efficiently cool it.

After trying the stout and then plate chiller again i'm back to plate chillers. I'm able to egress the plate chiller at almost the same temp of the water chilling and flow rate is unaffected. Just have to use a hop screen when doing NEIPAs to make sure i don't clog it up.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Thanks for the info. I chill the entire batch down to pitch temp in the kettle, so for my process the higher flow rate will compensate for the reduced surface area.

Cheers!

 

[postalbunny]

i do the same... recirc back into the kettle. however, the temp drop on the kegco one was not sig enough. i have 40degF water due to using an something similar to an icebath. i would get a good drop first few passss, 212degF to 130fegF, then tempz would drop to around 95-100 when inlet temps were 130. but toward the end with 40degF water instead of hose water i would struggle to get down below 70 exit with 80-85 inlet. to go from 212 to 65 using a combo of hose water (texas 85deg water) and ice eater (35degf) would take over 30m on a 5g batch

the stout cfc was faster to chill from 212 to 65, aprox 15-20 minutes. the flow rate was slower, but the temp delta was more than compensating.

the plate chiller beats the pants off both... basically single pass so im chilling the kettle down to 65 in aprox 5-10 min. i have to use a hop spider or filter though.

ill prob be listing both my CFCs in used section if your still wanting one. imo, the plate chiller is cheaper unless you count the price of an SS hop spider.

 

[milldoggy]

Not any more, the stout if the best of the bunch. A large enough shell and tube would be fine, this one was just too short. It for work though.

You use the shell tube at all? Wondering how that worked for you. Need to chill 1bbl batches and cfc probably not gonna cut it.

 

[kd7ugy]

i do the same... recirc back into the kettle. however, the temp drop on the kegco one was not sig enough. i have 40degF water due to using an something similar to an icebath. i would get a good drop first few passss, 212degF to 130fegF, then tempz would drop to around 95-100 when inlet temps were 130. but toward the end with 40degF water instead of hose water i would struggle to get down below 70 exit with 80-85 inlet. to go from 212 to 65 using a combo of hose water (texas 85deg water) and ice eater (35degf) would take over 30m on a 5g batch

the stout cfc was faster to chill from 212 to 65, aprox 15-20 minutes. the flow rate was slower, but the temp delta was more than compensating.

the plate chiller beats the pants off both... basically single pass so im chilling the kettle down to 65 in aprox 5-10 min. i have to use a hop spider or filter though.

ill prob be listing both my CFCs in used section if your still wanting one. imo, the plate chiller is cheaper unless you count the price of an SS hop spider.

Which plate chiller are you using? Did you end up selling your CFC's?

 

[postalbunny]

Which plate chiller are you using? Did you end up selling your CFC's?

I can't recall exactly.. I think I ended up with a B3-36A-20, can't recall if i got the '-20' or '-30'.. the length is what equalizes temps better though. You'd stack plates on if you're needing higher flow and less pressure drop. Pretty sure I got the '-20".

I still have the stout chiller bolted to my stand... in case I ever need it. I tried to sell a ss brewtech infusion mash tun but found out that shipping on heavy items like this runs $50-100 for us normal consumers. Prob best to try and sell them local...

 

[coolitfast]

No problem! I'm laying the full court press down for Father's Day with the family right now, so I'll post pictures if/when I get one.

I really hope Stout does well with this one; the Kegco one was really the only stainless counterflow option on the market before this came out, but it isn't enough surface area to be effective. If I'm going to drop $200 for something, I want it to be worth it. If it sells well, other manufacturers will take notice and start putting new stuff out.

I'd really like it if Exchillerator were available with a stainless tube; I like the design of those with the plastic wire wrap on the outer surface of the tube and using PEX for the outer tube should keep the cost lower. I don't know if I'll wait though - the Stout one looks way too sweet and is basically the same price as a copper Exchillerator Maxx but has a longer and wider wort tube (31ft & 12mm diameter vs. 25ft & 3/8" diameter).

 

[coolitfast]

Yes we offer a Stainless Maxx. Maxx Counterflow Wort Chiller In configuration choose stainless

Configuration

Fitting Type
Add A Pump
Inner Coil Stainless