Suggestions For A Better Immersion Wort Chiller

[SourLover]

Yesterday I brewed an Oud Bruin, and at time of chilling I had approximately 6 gallons of wort to chill. I do my brewing at 7100', so I'm going to assume the wort temperature at the time I turned my immersion chiller on was roughly 200 degrees. The water I was using to cool the wort was coming out of the hose bib at 57 degrees, and I had it turned up to a fairly high flow rate, basically as much as the 3/8" tubing of the wort chiller could handle. Wort temperature readings were as follows:
125 degrees @ 15 minutes
105 degrees @ 30 minutes
88 degrees @ 45 minutes
68 degrees @ 60 minutes

The first question is, what do people recommend for a better immersion chiller? I'm not opposed to spending whatever it takes on an immersion chiller to cut this time down significantly. I've attached a photo of the Northern Brewer Copperhead Immersion Wort Chiller I'm using, but there has to be something better out there that will chill the wort much quicker. I did just read a review of the NB model I have, and a reviewer said it cooled 5 gallons to 78 degrees in 15 minutes, which I find hard to believe. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong?

My second question is at what point would it be best to switch an immersion chiller from the 57 degree hose bib to an ice water bucket with a pump in it? I had previously ordered everything to do the ice bucket set up, so I plan on incorporating it into my wort chilling process as soon as everything arrives.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jschein]

With 57 degree water you should be able to chill rather quick. Are you agitating the wort while chilling? If not you should, vigorously

 

[k-os]

Are you stirring the wort and or moving the chiller in the wort as you're chilling? That will drastically reduce the chilling time. You should have no problem dropping to standard ale fermentation temps if your supply water is 57 degrees.

 

[apache_brew]

I hear lots of good things from the Hydra chiller. Also, the more you agitate the immersion in the chiller, the more heat transfer is going to take place.

What's your goal? Reduce water? Reduce work? Reduce time? Reduce cost? I like the recirculating ice bucket idea to save water, but then the amount of ice necessary typically exceeds what the household freezer can produce and store.

If speed is your fancy, perhaps consider a counterflow stlye heat exchanger that will allow you to chill to pitch temperature during the transfer to your fermentation vessel.

 

[BruceH]

One more to the "do you agitate the chiller every few minutes"? It makes a huge difference. Something that also helped me was having two chillers linked in series. The first chiller goes into a bucked of water with some ice in it and the second goes in the wort.

 

[SourLover]

With 57 degree water you should be able to chill rather quick. Are you agitating the wort while chilling? If not you should, vigorously

Are you stirring the wort and or moving the chiller in the wort as you're chilling? That will drastically reduce the chilling time. You should have no problem dropping to standard ale fermentation temps if your supply water is 57 degrees.

It appears that I'm not stirring/agitating/moving the chiller enough, so I will definitely be doing that more on my next brew day.

I hear lots of good things from the Hydra chiller.

Does anyone have any personal experience with this chiller? I had heard about it previously, and there's no reason why it shouldn't chill more quickly than what I'm currently using.

What's your goal? Reduce water? Reduce work? Reduce time? Reduce cost? I like the recirculating ice bucket idea to save water, but then the amount of ice necessary typically exceeds what the household freezer can produce and store.

The main goal would be to reduce time. The water runs outside and across the plants/trees that need water anyway, so there's no wasted water (except in the winter time). As far as the ice in the bucket I have a separate stand alone icemaker at this house so the quantity of ice isn't an issue. I wouldn't be doing it to save water, it would be to save time. Perhaps with the hydra chiller and proper agitation the ice bucket might not be necessary?

Something that also helped me was having two chillers linked in series. The first chiller goes into a bucked of water with some ice in it and the second goes in the wort.

I never thought of this idea, but it makes sense to me. I could see this definitely being useful in areas with a higher water temperature.

 

[Phil Shields]

I use a ice bath for my brew kettle and the copper head chiller takes maybe 30 min to get to pitching temp. for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[myndflyte]

I upgraded to a hydra from what you currently have. I can't recommend it enough. I also got a 5 gallon paint stirrer that I attach to my drill and use while it's chilling. When the ground water is still fairly cold, I can get it down to pitching temps in 15 min. Once it's warm out, I use a 800 GPH pond pump to recirculate ice water through the chiller. Takes a little longer this way but I'm not wasting a ton of water doing it. But I think the paint stirrer on the drill is also key here.

 

[balrog]

Stand there and move the chiller up and down and all around and never let it stop. Conversely, set up an overhead drill with paint stirrer (on slow, for the love of all that is holy) and use that.

You gots to keep the wort flowing around the chiller as wort is a really surprisingly good insulator.

With upper 40s water temp I can chill 5gal to 95F in less than 5min filling two 5g buckets for cleaning later. Then I recirculate in cooler with ice and I am typically at 64 or 60 within 12-15min.

But it's a workout as I stand there and manhandle the chiller to constantly stir and swirl and swish and flick.

 

[SourLover]

I upgraded to a hydra from what you currently have. I can't recommend it enough. I also got a 5 gallon paint stirrer that I attach to my drill and use while it's chilling. When the ground water is still fairly cold, I can get it down to pitching temps in 15 min

Conversely, set up an overhead drill with paint stirrer (on slow, for the love of all that is holy) and use that.

myndflyte/balrog: Thank you for the information on the paint stirrer. That's another thing I'd of never thought of that's going to be a very simple and helpful process for me.

myndeflyte: Thanks for the feedback on the Hydra. I see one of these in my future very soon, probably before my next brew day.

 

[myndflyte]

No problem. And no need to go hog wild with the paint stirrer. It'll make a lot of foam if you do and then there's the debate of hot side aeration, but who knows. Feather the trigger enough just to keep things swirrling around the chiller.

 

[Jtvann]

I'll throw in another plug for the jaded hydra. Its amazing. I have used quite a few different chillers over time. I started with a generic copper like you have. Upgraded to a stainless immersion of same style for cleaning purposes. Upgraded to a duda diesel plate chiller. After cleaning and sanitation hassles I went jaded hydra.

It chills nearly as fast as my plate chiller with no cleaning and sanitation issues. If ordering one from them, I'd highly suggest a whirlybird whirlpool addition. They will attach it directly for you. With that you can recirculate directly in the pot at an optimum location for chilling. No need to stir or move the chiller. I love it.

 

[Wayne1]

Check out Exchilerator for both counterflow and immersion chillers. I prefer a counterflow chiller with a pump.

 

[dnr]

After my last brew day, with groundwater getting warmer, I'm looking into building my own immersion chiller. It beats a bathtub full of water overnight.

 

[Alex4mula]

My Dudda Diesel plate chiller cools from 210F to 3 deg above water temp in 3 minutes up to 50s water temp. No problems cleaning or sanitazing. I think nothing will be quicker. No matter what it is less than 8min here in Michigan.

 

[SourLover]

And no need to go hog wild with the paint stirrer. It'll make a lot of foam if you do and then there's the debate of hot side aeration, but who knows.

My last two brews I have tried to incorporate some hot side low oxygen brewing tips, so I'm not surprised you mentioned this.

If ordering one from them, I'd highly suggest a whirlybird whirlpool addition. They will attach it directly for you. With that you can recirculate directly in the pot at an optimum location for chilling. No need to stir or move the chiller. I love it.

Thanks for this information. I wasn't aware that they had this option, and this is definitely worth adding to the Jaded Hydra.

I think I'm going to give my current wort chiller one more try with a paint stirrer at a low speed, and if I'm not happy with how that goes I'll be ordering the Jaded Hydra with the whirlybird option.

Thanks to everyone for their comments/advice. I've learned a lot here that will be helpful going forward.