CFC or IC?

[derekbooth]

I just built the stand below. Originally, I had intended on using an immersion chiller, but now i'm toying with the idea of a counterflow chiller. My concern is gravity and available space between the spigot of my keggle and where the lip of my bucket/carboy will be.

The stand will be on casters by this weekend, which will add rougly another 6" of height to the stand. Once on wheels, the brew keggle's spigot will be about 25" from ground level. My biggest fermenter stands 21" tall at the lip. So far so good. But if I were to mount a Counterflow Chiller (this particular chiller is 3" wide, which drops the "exit" down to about 22" from ground level) to the post of the vertical post of the stand as seen in this (admittably horrible mock-up) image below JUST below (maybe 1/2") the height of the brew keggle's spigot, that gives me about a half-inch to spare above the lip of my carboy.

So, my question is... will this work? Does the counterflow chiller have to stand upright (flipped 90 degrees from what is shown in this image, in other words)?

...or should I err on the side of safety and get to bending 50 ft of copper?

 

[blowmax10]

My preference would be for the immersion chiller - Their cheap easy to use easy to clean and work well

Plus you cool all your work at the same time and don't have part of your wort sitting in the kettle building up DMS

But this is just personal preference - I'm sure other people would make the case for a counter flow

Nice brew stand by the way!

 

[annasdadhockey]

Plus you cool all your work at the same time and don't have part of your wort sitting in the kettle building up DMS

DMS is driven off during the boil. The main argument for cooling all at once is so so the wort is not sittng at boiuling temps for a long time, driving off flavor and aroma hops. Both have their advantages. I have used both, I like both. It is personal preference.

 

[Reelale]

I just built the stand below. Originally, I had intended on using an immersion chiller, but now i'm toying with the idea of a counterflow chiller. My concern is gravity and available space between the spigot of my keggle and where the lip of my bucket/carboy will be.

The stand will be on casters by this weekend, which will add rougly another 6" of height to the stand. Once on wheels, the brew keggle's spigot will be about 25" from ground level. My biggest fermenter stands 21" tall at the lip. So far so good. But if I were to mount a Counterflow Chiller (this particular chiller is 3" wide, which drops the "exit" down to about 22" from ground level) to the post of the vertical post of the stand as seen in this (admittably horrible mock-up) image below JUST below (maybe 1/2") the height of the brew keggle's spigot, that gives me about a half-inch to spare above the lip of my carboy.

So, my question is... will this work? Does the counterflow chiller have to stand upright (flipped 90 degrees from what is shown in this image, in other words)?

...or should I err on the side of safety and get to bending 50 ft of copper?

Um, you're showing a plate chiller. A counter-flow chiller is usually coiled copper inside a hose. I think both work with gravity flow, but a pump is preferred.

 

[derekbooth]

My preference would be to use a counterflow chiller, as it would save quite a bit of space and, from my research, chill quicker.

That being said, I'm looking for some feedback regarding the use of a CFC's ability to utilize gravity when considering the the height specifications (or limitations???) mentioned in my first posting.

Guess I could have been clearer in my initial post...

 

[derekbooth]

Um, you're showing a plate chiller. A counter-flow chiller is usually coiled copper inside a hose. I think both work with gravity flow, but a pump is preferred.

A plate chiller is a type of counter-flow chiller. Just more compact.

I know both work with gravity. I'm looking to find out if, given the height limitations, will a counter-flow chiller (or plater chiller if you will) suffice?

 

[Reelale]

A plate chiller is a type of counter-flow chiller. Just more compact.

Yes, yes it is. I guess I was stuck on common names.

I know both work with gravity. I'm looking to find out if, given the height limitations, will a counter-flow chiller (or plater chiller if you will) suffice?

I think that as long as the receiving vessel is below the donor vessel gravity will work. I would think that as your keggle empties, the head pressure would decrease though and flow might stop or at least slow down, depending on how much back-pressure the chiller exerted.

 

[SumnerH]

DMS is driven off during the boil. The main argument for cooling all at once is so so the wort is not sittng at boiuling temps for a long time, driving off flavor and aroma hops. Both have their advantages. I have used both, I like both. It is personal preference.

Pretty much.

The main technical difference in how they chill is:

ICs chill all the wort at the same rate. You're likely to have all the wort down below 140F faster with an IC than a plate/cfc chiller.

CFC/plate chillers are faster overall--you're likely to get all the wort down to 70F faster with one of them.

Personally, I'm a believer that if time is at all important, it's in getting below DMS production/hop aroma and flavor destroying levels as fast as possible, so ICs are probably the better way to make good-tasting beer. There are some great brewers (e.g. Jamil Z, at http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php ) who agree.

There are also some great brewers who disagree, and ultimately I'm not sure it really matters all that much. Heck, several no-chill beers have won awards, too, sitting at high temperatures for hours and not having yeast pitched for several days.

So, as I said, I agree that it's primarily a matter of personal preference.

 

[iparks81]

I built myself a 30' CFC and hav used it on about 7 beers now...Im wishing I had a pump to speed the process up a bit....Maybe im just impatient but it takes a good 12-17 minutes to chill 5.5 gal ..(I dont know if thats a long time or not, but it seems like when all you have on your side is gravity it makes for a slow trickle through the CFC..cant complain about the temps tho its right at Faucet water temps-65-70F

 

[RegionalChaos]

12-17 minutes seems fast to me. I want to build a chiller tonight. I was gonna go CFC, now I'm second guessing myself and thinking about an IC. I'm also doing a keggle conversion tonight, so I'm mainly thinking about 10g batches.