Wort Chillers

[Jhedrick83]

I have been on an “upgrading my gear” kick lately and one thing I still don’t have/use is a wort chiller. I brew smaller batches like 2-3 gallons and I do it in my kitchen. I was looking in to wort chillers and it looks like they all have threaded couplings to attach to a hose or utility sink faucet. My issue is that I don’t have a utility sink, the kitchen sink does not have a threaded faucet and I’d rather not have to carry around my hot wort kettle to the garage or outside to hook up a wort chiller to an outside hose bib. Any suggestions for a solution? I’ve been using ice baths in the sink to chill brews and it’s been ok but a decent wort chiller would be a nice addition to brew days.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

Get a submersible pond type pump and a bucket. Hook the cold 'in' line to the 'out of the pump and put it into the bucket in the sink and fill the bucket with cold water. Run the hot 'out line into your sinks drain.

5 min before flame out drop the clean IC into the wort to be sanitized. Make sure the out line is in the drain when doing this as there is almost always water in the coil and it can come shoot out as boiling water or steam.

At flame out turn on the pump and the faucet to keep replenishing the bucket.

 

[DuncB]

There are several types of kitchen tap adaptors that are made to take normal hosepipe fittings. I use a hozelock adapter that pushes onto my round cross section tap and does up with a jubilee / worm clamp and this works well.
There are others designed for square mixer taps search
Universal Tap Connector Adapter Mixer Kitchen Garden Hose Pipe Joiner
on amazon and there are various styles to mail order or look in your garden centre ( if they are open). I found the immersion chiller with the robobrew got a good connection by just pushing the hosepipe onto it.

 

[DuncB]

The style I use as mentioned above.

 

[Jhedrick83]

Get a submersible pond type pump and a bucket. Hook the cold 'in' line to the 'out of the pump and put it into the bucket in the sink and fill the bucket with cold water. Run the hot 'out line into your sinks drain.

5 min before flame out drop the clean IC into the wort to be sanitized. Make sure the out line is in the drain when doing this as there is almost always water in the coil and it can come shoot out as boiling water or steam.

At flame out turn on the pump and the faucet to keep replenishing the bucket.

any thoughts on the GPM for a submersible pump. I know a faucet typically pumps out about 1.2 GPM but an outside hose bib is way more I’m sure.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

Flow rate is a good question, and I don't remember what i was using back then, and it would also be dependent on the chiller you are using. Personally, I would suggest looking at the Jaded brewing site and see what they have to say on the matter. Not to mention they have some great options for you.

The pump and bucket worked ok with my homemade IC, but l learned the hard way that I needed to use a reinforced hose between the pump and chiller.

At one point I had tried just a plain silicone tube because i wasn't in the mood to cut a reinforced garden hose to such a short length. Not a good idea, and should have just cut the hose. The pump was pushing out enough water that at the junction at the IC and hose a HUGE bulge formed, and before i could shut off the pump, I (and my garage) was soaked.

 

[grzrk]

I just tried recirculating ice water in my cooler this past weekend and had great results. I used this pump with an IC and about 30 pounds of ice.
Amazon.com: GROWNEER 550GPH Submersible Pump 30W Ultra Quiet Fountain Water Pump, 2000L/H, with 7.2ft High Lift, 3 Nozzles for Aquarium, Fish Tank, Pond, Hydroponics, Statuary: Home Improvement

I filled an igloo cooler with a few gallons of water to circulate (and then some), hooked it all up and turned on the pump. I let the first 3-4 gallons (real hot) go into a separate bucket, then once the water coming out of the chiller was just "warm" I moved the discharge hose to the cooler and let it go, stirring the ice water now and then to even out the temp. I figure I saved a lot of water and will absolutely do this from now on.

 

[Jhedrick83]

Flow rate is a good question, and I don't remember what i was using back then, and it would also be dependent on the chiller you are using. Personally, I would suggest looking at the Jaded brewing site and see what they have to say on the matter. Not to mention they have some great options for you.

The pump and bucket worked ok with my homemade IC, but l learned the hard way that I needed to use a reinforced hose between the pump and chiller.

At one point I had tried just a plain silicone tube because i wasn't in the mood to cut a reinforced garden hose to such a short length. Not a good idea, and should have just cut the hose. The pump was pushing out enough water that at the junction at the IC and hose a HUGE bulge formed, and before i could shut off the pump, I (and my garage) was soaked.

Thanks! I thankfully have a garden hose that some idiot (me) drove over one of the fittings and squished it. Perfect thing to cut and use.

 

[Immocles]

I just tried recirculating ice water in my cooler this past weekend and had great results. I used this pump with an IC and about 30 pounds of ice.
Amazon.com: GROWNEER 550GPH Submersible Pump 30W Ultra Quiet Fountain Water Pump, 2000L/H, with 7.2ft High Lift, 3 Nozzles for Aquarium, Fish Tank, Pond, Hydroponics, Statuary: Home Improvement

I filled an igloo cooler with a few gallons of water to circulate (and then some), hooked it all up and turned on the pump. I let the first 3-4 gallons (real hot) go into a separate bucket, then once the water coming out of the chiller was just "warm" I moved the discharge hose to the cooler and let it go, stirring the ice water now and then to even out the temp. I figure I saved a lot of water and will absolutely do this from now on.

Thanks for that pump link. Thats exactly the method I have been planning to move to when the weather warms up, but I keep putting off looking for the actual pump.

 

[ATLBeer]

My devil's advocate hat is on this morning -

I'm assuming you are doing 2-3 gallon batches for simplicity in the kitchen. If that is your goal, I'd stick with an ice bath in the sink.

Wort Chillers are nice, don't get me wrong, but you are going to either run hoses everywhere or move your pot in order to save 15 minutes of chill time. You should be able to chill 3 gallons down to 80-90 degrees in the sink pretty quick. At that point you can get it in the fermenter and just let the room temperature take care of the rest before pitching, or leave the lid on and wait another 20 minutes.

If you ever decide to go to bigger batches, that is the time to consider a chiller. What ever you buy to work with 2-3 gallons, won't be efficient for that.

I love shiny new things like the next guy. I'm looking at a Hydra as I'm moving to 10 gallon batches.

 

[bwible]

I have been on an “upgrading my gear” kick lately and one thing I still don’t have/use is a wort chiller. I brew smaller batches like 2-3 gallons and I do it in my kitchen. I was looking in to wort chillers and it looks like they all have threaded couplings to attach to a hose or utility sink faucet. My issue is that I don’t have a utility sink, the kitchen sink does not have a threaded faucet and I’d rather not have to carry around my hot wort kettle to the garage or outside to hook up a wort chiller to an outside hose bib. Any suggestions for a solution? I’ve been using ice baths in the sink to chill brews and it’s been ok but a decent wort chiller would be a nice addition to brew days.

I definitely feel your pain. I am also a small batch brewer - 3 gallon batches. I own a wort chiller. I got married and moved in with her in 2019. The new house has a giant sprayer faucet in the kichen. Utility sinks in the basement and garage. What I found in my case is the sprayer screws off and has a male thread once taken off. It does not fit the standard garden hose fitting. I scoured Home Depot and other hardware stores, unable to find anything that fit. I finally found that a beer shank connector was close and I am using that with about 6 wraps of teflon tape. Its not pretty but it gets the job done. Ideally I’d love to get rid of the sprayer and get another faucet but she doesn’t want to part with it. Like I said, I feel your pain.

 

[bwible]

My devil's advocate hat is on this morning -

I'm assuming you are doing 2-3 gallon batches for simplicity in the kitchen. If that is your goal, I'd stick with an ice bath in the sink.

You should be able to chill 3 gallons down to 80-90 degrees in the sink pretty quick.

You might think that, but nope. A 3 gallon batch takes about 12-15 minutes to cool with a 50 foot wort chiller. Its still a fair amount of mass. It takes longer to boil 3 gallons on a stovetop than you’d think too. I use a 5 gallon Anvil pot and the chiller does fit to chill.

 

[ATLBeer]

A 3 gallon batch takes about 12-15 minutes to cool with a 50 foot wort chiller.

No doubt, but an ice bath with some agitation can be done in about 30. Hence the 15 minute saving I referenced. I used to do close to that with my 5 gallon extract batches.

It probably takes more time to set up the equipment, clean it and put it away than you are saving.

Guess I'll have to run an experiment this weekend to see how good my memory really is.

For reference, I cool 5 gallon batches to 80 degrees in about 20 minutes with the standard, much smaller, robobrew chiller with ice water.

 

[Jhedrick83]

My devil's advocate hat is on this morning -

I'm assuming you are doing 2-3 gallon batches for simplicity in the kitchen. If that is your goal, I'd stick with an ice bath in the sink.

Wort Chillers are nice, don't get me wrong, but you are going to either run hoses everywhere or move your pot in order to save 15 minutes of chill time. You should be able to chill 3 gallons down to 80-90 degrees in the sink pretty quick. At that point you can get it in the fermenter and just let the room temperature take care of the rest before pitching, or leave the lid on and wait another 20 minutes.

If you ever decide to go to bigger batches, that is the time to consider a chiller. What ever you buy to work with 2-3 gallons, won't be efficient for that.

I love shiny new things like the next guy. I'm looking at a Hydra as I'm moving to 10 gallon batches.

That is true. I tend to like to chill my wort down to closer to 60 degrees as my hydrometer is calibrated to 60. It just makes my OG measure easier. It also means that I guarantee that my wort will only be warming as I pitch the yeast. I've heard that cooling the wort after pitching can give the yeast thermal shock whereas warming it will only make them happier.

Part of the draw to a wort chiller is that I stay pretty busy with work and family, so my brew days tend to be 9am -1 pm before I head off to work. Saving time would be nice.