Slow counter flow chiller

I was planning on just using gravity to run wort through my chiller, but upon testing, I've found it to be very slow, possibly because it's about 13m long (~43'). It takes about 7-8 mins per gallon. what should I do?

buy a pump?
Split it into two chillers and sell one of them?
Be patient?
something else?

here's a picture of the culprit:

 

I figured with a counterflow chiller a pump should be involved or your pot needs to be very high to get enough momentum for it to go quicker. Either be patient or get a pump.

 

the problem I see with just waiting for it to fill the fermentor is that there's more risk of infection.

 

I wouldn't worry about that.
But yea, if you can... raise the pot.

 

Here's what my kettle looks like, cooler sits on the bottom. I can't really raise it unless I do some major rebuilding. It looks like i'll need a pump for any kind of practical cooling.

 

Can you stretch the chiller out a bit to increase the flow velocity?

 

Nice build! With that length you can blast through your hot wort... if you had a pump. I had a 50ft and it worked great.

Very interesting design btw, i haven't seen one like that yet. I assume all electric, what heating elements are you using?

 

It does increase slightly but then I can't fit my fermentor under it. lol

 

I agree, infection risk is nil.


My BK and CFC arrangement is very similar to yours. I use the downtime to start cleaning my equipment.

 

I have a 3000W burco element. Here's the thread for my build if you're interested
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f244/biab-keggle-build-411144/

 

ok, maybe i'll just start brewing and buy a pump later if its too much of a pain waiting for the fermentor to fill this time. Its either going to be a helles or IPA, haven't decided yet.

 

I ran into the same issue with my CFC when I first used it in April. With really cold ground water I needed to warm my wort up before pitching.

Im looking into a pump since it will increase the flow rate but u can also control that rate easily with a ball valve. Plus the pump can have multiple uses when I get my tier build up and running.

 

Curious.........was that a quick coupler set up on one end? If so, it is my experience that some of these tend to reduce flow, maybe that's the issue

 

With my CFC, I find I can over chill the wort if I run the water through too quickly.
If your chiller too long, you may find it is over-sized. You might want to do a few trial runs with boiling hot water through itto see what your pitching temperature ends up being.

If the CFC chills to too low a temp., you could shorten it, which would also speed up the drain time somewhat.

 

Honestly, IMO, I would say that the slow flow rate is no big deal. With my pump I try to slow it down as much as possible and find that I can't get it to go slow enough (I live in AZ and trying to cool wort with 95oF tap water isn't easy....).

Since you have an all electric setup... can you keep a cold liquor tank precisely at the pitching temp you want and continuously circulate that through the chiller? This way you would be able to get the exact temp for pitching that you need and not have to worry at all. This would work quite well since the flow rate is slow and you should be able to get a full equilibration before the wort leaves the chiller.

Just a thought. Love the setup!

 

i have a cfc gravity fed, similar to yours, and have no issues, it comes out fast and cold. are you using a strainer to filter out the hops? it could be getting plugged up a bit. ive had airlocks when i attach the chiller to the kettle it has some sanitizer left in it. all you have to do is crack the seal between the kettle and the chiller to release it and it should flow smoothly. and instead of a quick connector try a threaded union

 

You need 2 1/2 feet of vertical seperation just to get 1psi. To get better psi add a pump. and restict on the output side of the pump. You dont have enough gravity force to maintain a flow rate. Think of your local water tower, they higher in the air it is the more psi you have. To offset this the city adds pumps to maintain the psi.

 

I'm only using quick connectors on the cooling water supply. The copper is just connected with 1/2'' bsp. I can cool 99oC to 15oC with this chiller

 

I used to have the same issue of wort flow through my CFC. This is the solution I came up with: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/racking-carboy-through-cfc-no-march-pump-259060/. It uses the water flow into the CFC to create a vacuum on the fermenting vessel to suck the beer through.

 

Get one of those ebay tan pumps. It is what I use to push through my 1/4" CFC and it does a great job. For ~$20 you can't beat it.

 

should i put the pump before or after cfc? in either case it will be below the kettle. does it matter? my thinking is that having the pump below both the kettle and cfc will mean that it can pump for longer because there will be more volume of wort above it and will take longer for it to start running dry.

 

Before. Pumps should push as much as possible, rather than pulling on liquid, which can potentially cause cavitation problems. You also want the pump as close as possible to the potential restriction in flow in the kettle, or there will be a lot of joints below atmospheric pressure which might cause them to suck air in.