Prechiller for Blichmann Therminator Plate Chiller

m1k3 · Oct 22, 2015

Hi All-

I finally got around to building a prechiller for my Blichmann Therminator Plate Chiller. I live in California and my water temp in the summer is too warm to chill down to pitching temp.

I could put the fermenters in the ferm chamber (fridge) and refrigerate the wort before pitching but that takes quite awhile. (I have been brewing 15 gallon batches with two buddies)

Anyway I wanted to share my solution. The build uses two copper immersion chiller coils (since I had two that were no longer used). I joined the two together using a washing machine mixing hose. Finding this type of hose made the project much easier.

I first recirculate the wort back into the kettle using just hose water until the wort gets down to 90F or so.

Then I put the prechiller in an ice water bath and put it in the hose water loop. (it just chills the hose water and not the wort directly)

I get 2.5 gallons per minute through the plate chiller when the prechiller is in the loop.

For the first run I used 10# of ice, for a 15 gallon batch. I could have used more to get down to lager pitching temp but it sure helped!

Here are some photos:
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1445501240.441594.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1445501260.046082.jpg

KPBrews · Oct 22, 2015

By splitting your water through the two chillers separately, you are increasing your water flow rate, but decreasing the dwell time and cooling efficiency of the setup. Why not run the two coil chillers in series? Then you're sending the water through twice as much tubing, and the temps drop that much faster.

Speaking of faster, how fast are you chilling a batch with the new setup?

m1k3 · Oct 24, 2015

KPBrews said:
By splitting your water through the two chillers separately, you are increasing your water flow rate, but decreasing the dwell time and cooling efficiency of the setup. Why not run the two coil chillers in series? Then you're sending the water through twice as much tubing, and the temps drop that much faster.

Speaking of faster, how fast are you chilling a batch with the new setup?

When I used these two chiller for there intended purpose I did connect them in series. But I figured that for this application I would get a better flow rate with them in parallel.

My concern was the 3/8" tubing but once I got the washing machine mixing hose, it looks like the internal diameter is far more restrictive.

I've only use it once, and didn't note the chilling time. So, I can't answer that one. Maybe when I do an IPA next the chilling time will be more critical (locking in the late hops). But maybe dropping down to 90F on the first few minutes is good enough (before I even use the ice chilled water).

Prechiller for Blichmann Therminator Plate Chiller

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