i am presently chilling with a stainless steel counterflow chiller and it takes a long time to get down to pitching temps (pumping through chiller, no gravity option). i know stainless isn't as efficient a chilling medium compared to copper and i was totally prepared to deal with a 15% or so increase in chilling times but it still seems way too long. maybe i'm just impatient but am looking at ways to speed up the process.
i have an old 25' copper immersion chiller from my extract brewing days. the last couple of brews, i've used that as a pre-chiller for my cooling water (tap water temps are about 67 degrees this time of year). i simply set the chiller in a 5 gallon bucket of ice water and away i go. this helped cooling times but still seems long. i then realized that i have a 25' stainless coil sitting around that i purchased when looking at doing 5 gallon batches on a HERMS system, thinking of getting that involved. my thoughts:
1. do nothing. keep using the copper immersion chiller for pre-chilling. stop bitching about chill times, drink a beer while chilling.
2. run the wort through the copper chiller, with the chiller in an ice bath and then on to the counterflow chiller (or vice versa). all my other stuff is stainless and i'd rather not run wort through the copper chiller.
3. build a second counterflow chiller out of the 25' stainless coil (insert the coil into a hose). stainless is pretty unforgiving to bend and with only a 10" diameter coil, i question being able to slip a hose over it. doesn't seem practical.
4. run the wort through the 25' stainless coil, submerge the coil in an ice bath and then onto the counterflow chiller (or vise versa). this is basically option 2 above but using stainless instead of copper. seems easier to clean.
5. option 4 above but also use the copper coil as a cooling water pre-chiller, in a second ice bath. this basically adds additional chilling to both the wort and the cooling water for the counterflow chiller.
i'm really leaning toward option 4, especially with running the hot wort through the counterflow chiller first and then through the ice bath. yes, it is another piece of equipment to clean but i am already flushing out the counterflow chiller and wort pump with hot water at the end of the day anyway, no great shakes to have the extra coil in there. the extra chilling with pre-chilling the cooling water seems excessive (would need to buy twice as much ice).
thoughts?
i have an old 25' copper immersion chiller from my extract brewing days. the last couple of brews, i've used that as a pre-chiller for my cooling water (tap water temps are about 67 degrees this time of year). i simply set the chiller in a 5 gallon bucket of ice water and away i go. this helped cooling times but still seems long. i then realized that i have a 25' stainless coil sitting around that i purchased when looking at doing 5 gallon batches on a HERMS system, thinking of getting that involved. my thoughts:
1. do nothing. keep using the copper immersion chiller for pre-chilling. stop bitching about chill times, drink a beer while chilling.
2. run the wort through the copper chiller, with the chiller in an ice bath and then on to the counterflow chiller (or vice versa). all my other stuff is stainless and i'd rather not run wort through the copper chiller.
3. build a second counterflow chiller out of the 25' stainless coil (insert the coil into a hose). stainless is pretty unforgiving to bend and with only a 10" diameter coil, i question being able to slip a hose over it. doesn't seem practical.
4. run the wort through the 25' stainless coil, submerge the coil in an ice bath and then onto the counterflow chiller (or vise versa). this is basically option 2 above but using stainless instead of copper. seems easier to clean.
5. option 4 above but also use the copper coil as a cooling water pre-chiller, in a second ice bath. this basically adds additional chilling to both the wort and the cooling water for the counterflow chiller.
i'm really leaning toward option 4, especially with running the hot wort through the counterflow chiller first and then through the ice bath. yes, it is another piece of equipment to clean but i am already flushing out the counterflow chiller and wort pump with hot water at the end of the day anyway, no great shakes to have the extra coil in there. the extra chilling with pre-chilling the cooling water seems excessive (would need to buy twice as much ice).
thoughts?