80' ground water, counterflow?

[JohnnyBrewGood]

My ground water is north of 80' so the 25 foot immersion isnt doing crap.

Will a 25' counter flow work to bring the wort down to less than 100?

An hour to mash an hour to boil and an hour to cool is getting old.

 

[JLeuck64]

my ground water is about 62 now. I just brewed today and I also use a 25 foot CFC. I have no problem getting the wort down to 68, I could go lower but I figure the fermentation chamber can handle another couple of degrees.

80 degree ground water sucks!!! You'll have to cool the wort, put in in the ferm chamber to let it finish cooling, then pitch your yeast a day later! That would totally screw up my schedule for a yeast starter...

 

[Scriv]

Do you have a large cooler? If so grab a cheap submersible pump from Harbor Freight, connect one hose from the pump to your immersion chiller, another hose goes from the immersion chiller back to the cooler. Add a couple bags of ice to the cooler and add some water, plug pump in and you'll be at pitching temps quickly.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Do you have a large cooler? If so grab a cheap submersible pump from Harbor Freight, connect one hose from the pump to your immersion chiller, another hose goes from the immersion chiller back to the cooler. Add a couple bags of ice to the cooler and add some water, plug pump in and you'll be at pitching temps quickly.

This.

I use a 50' immersion chiller for 5-10 gallon batches, and during the summer, I also have ~80°F groundwater. I chill as rapidly as I can to 100°F (takes about 5-10 minutes depending on batch size), remove the chiller from the groundwater, and start pumping ice water through.

Difference is, until the wort temperature (or at least temperature coming back out of the chiller) is less than groundwater, I don't recirculate back, I add more groundwater to the ice water at just enough flow to keep the level above the pump, and store the spent chiller water for cleaning in a different vessel. Once the output is below the groundwater temp, THEN I start recirculating. Otherwise you're just wasting ice.

Depending on batch size and pitching temp, even with 80°F summer groundwater I can go from boiling to lager pitching temps (50F or so) in about 20-25 mins on a 5.5 gallon batch. Ale temps (usually 60-65) are more like 15 minutes (and add 5-10 mins for larger batches in either case).

 

[JohnnyBrewGood]

Thanks for the replies. I have read about most of the suggestions above. I have tried the immersion cool fed by ice water before and it was more work and to be honest the whole immersion chill method feels cumbersome at best. Cant set the lid, have to interrupt the boil to sanitize, I cant figure out how to whirlpool effectively with it ect ect ect.

I am looking to get away from it all together. I live in the Bahamas so any "just go out and get" suggestions take some time unless I want to pay thru the nose.

I ordered a hose and will most likely use a combo of the methods above with ice going thru the counter-flow if I can make one lol.

 

[berrywise]

You are definitely going to need to do something to get your temps down. I'd recommend a five gallon plastic bucket that will fit an immersion coil in it. Cut a couple holes in the lid for the hose to connect.

The night before you brew put a gallon milk jug of water in your freezer. When you start brewing put the frozen jug in the middle of the water filled five gallon pale. By the time you are done with the boil your water will be ice cold in the bucket. Run your tap water through the coil to supercool it and then have that connected to a plate chiller (or counterflow).

 

[sloanfamilydsm]

During summer months I cool as best I can with the IC then put it in the ferm chamber and plan on pitching the next morning. Works great for me!

Brew On

 

[JohnnyBrewGood]

Looks like I will have to buy something, black Friday can not come soon enough lol.

 

[jcav]

Do you have a large cooler? If so grab a cheap submersible pump from Harbor Freight, connect one hose from the pump to your immersion chiller, another hose goes from the immersion chiller back to the cooler. Add a couple bags of ice to the cooler and add some water, plug pump in and you'll be at pitching temps quickly.

Great advice! Here in Florida I have to do that with my counter flow chiller. Ground water in the 80's so after knocking it down with the hose and groundwater as far as it will go, I will then go with the cooler and ice water and cheap submersible pump route, to get to pitching temps.

 

[mabrungard]

The most efficient way is to remove as much heat as possible with your counterflow and tap water. Only spend 15 minutes or so with that. Then cool the wort the rest of the way by using the chilled water source. That way you don't exhaust the chilled source prematurely or have to oversize it.

 

[grevengrevs]

Similar to what mabrungard said, I had to change the way I use my IC. I used to place the kettle in an ice bath and use the IC connected to my kitchen faucet and try to get to pitch temp at the same time. I was wasting the ice by doing this as the kettle was so hot it would just heat the ice bath and melt the ice before any real cooling occurred. Now I use the IC for about 15-20 minutes to get the temp down to around 100 then I place it in an ice bath. The ice lasts a lot longer and it cools down a lot quicker from there.