Wort Chiller Upgrade?

I am thinking about upgrading my wort chiller. I currently have a basic 25 ft copper immersion wort chiller I attach to the garden hose. I make 5 gallon batches and it cools my wort in 15 - 20 minutes. I am considering upgrading. I read several threads here on various wort chillers both immersion and plate chillers. I am considering the following but open to other suggestions:

a beefer immersion chiller - easy to clean and use.
a Shirron Wort Chiller - questions on cleaning and operating without a pump
a Blichmann Therminator - same questions as above.

So help me out fellow brewers. What is your experience and what do you suggest.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Dr Malt

You forgot another alternative. Counter-flow chiller.

Basically, your current copper coil threaded through a larger garden hose. Run the beer through the copper and the water through hose.

Here's a pic of one that someone is trying to sell on this forum (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f16/counterflow-wort-chiller-25-feet-145190/)




The copper coil is the most expensive part, so you might be able to upgrade to a CFC using your existing coil for fairly cheap.

Thanks for pointing this out, but due to cleaning and sanitation issues with such a length of tubing this not even my third choice.

Dr Malt

Dr Malt said:

Thanks for pointing this out, but due to cleaning and sanitation issues with such a length of tubing this not even my third choice.

Click to expand...

Cleaning and sanitation is easy to achieve with a CFC, especially if you backflush with a hose. Of course, if you don't have a pump, it is indeed a bit trickier. I've only used one in conjunction with a March pump, perhaps gravity-fed CFC users can comment on how they clean and sanitize.

What about using a prechiller?

I use this http://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=he30s, cheaper than the 2 you show. I do use a pump, but others have done gravity with plate chillers and can speak to its effectiveness. I have no trouble cleaning it.

Personally without a pump I would stick with an IC.

What about the recirculating pump immersion wort chiller?

i use a cfc and gravity feed. Its slow but not as slow as using an IC. During the mash i boil some water and run it through the cfc without the coolant water flowing, and then i fill the cfc with starsan water until i am ready to use it

i recently used the shirron for the very first time; gravity fed. i was very impressed. wort came out almost as fast as it came in but 135 degrees cooler! took me about 10 minutes to chill a 5 gal batch. totally worth it since my last immersion chiller was a PITA.

15 - 20 minutes is already pretty fast. I don't think I'd look for a different chiller, but either look into whirlpooling, a pre-chiller or both. You know you're going to want a pump someday, so I'd think the money is better spent on a pump and whirlpooling than on a different chiller.

Nice thing about a CFC for you is that you could use your 25ft IC to make the CFC. I did this with an 25ft IC that I had been using as a prechiller. Just straighten it out and all you need is a hose and a few fittings.

pdbreen said:

15 - 20 minutes is already pretty fast. I don't think I'd look for a different chiller, but either look into whirlpooling, a pre-chiller or both. You know you're going to want a pump someday, so I'd think the money is better spent on a pump and whirlpooling than on a different chiller.

Click to expand...

I agree. I'd be thrilled if I could get to pitching temps in less than 20 minutes. Pick up a pump instead so you can set up whirlpooling while you're chilling. That will probably speed up your chilling even more and you'll also be able to use it for other things like recirculating a mash, transferring from mash to kettle, transferring from kettle to fermenter, etc.

Thanks everyone. Great advice. So it sounds like a pump is the first item I need to look at acquiring. I think to open this up, I will start another thread seeking recommendations on a pump.

Dr Malt

ChillyP said:

What about the recirculating pump immersion wort chiller?

Click to expand...

That looks like a great rig, what type of pump do you use (volume, flow, etc)?

It's a submerrsible pump similar to this http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-1-2-HP-SUBMERSIBLE-WATER-PUMP-DIRTY-CLEAN-WATER_W0QQitemZ250525320052QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a54790374 I just stick it in my mashtun with ice. I use the regular hose water to do the initial cooling and then I recirculate cold water. I can get down to 68 in about 20minutes if I go full blast.