chiller question
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scinerd3000
Well-Known Member
i love my chillzilla counterflow chiller- it works great. Both are pricy but i hear mixed reviews on the therminators
Been using a new Shirron plate chiller (half the cost of Therminators) with very good results.
Chills 5.5 gallons boiling wort to pitching temps in about 7 minutes. As with any plate or counterflow you have to be meticulous about cleaning and sanitizing.
Chills 5.5 gallons boiling wort to pitching temps in about 7 minutes. As with any plate or counterflow you have to be meticulous about cleaning and sanitizing.
If you are brewing in a pot there is no reason not to build your own immersion chiller. They are cheaper than all the other options and supremely effective. I don't think you can counterflow or Therminate any quicker than you can cool with an immersion of the appropriate construction.
One argument (that I've seen on the web) against the counter flow or plate chillers is that they leave the rest of the wort above or at break temp longer. I don't know if this is a valid argument. It may be something that popped into someone's head and, with nary a single test, ended up in an article somewhere to be handed around by others like it was gospel. So much of the so called wisdom on the web is like that.
Here's mine:
http://s1002.photobucket.com/albums/af143/zydaco/?action=view¤t=0107101512a.jpg&newest=1
Crude but effective. Two coils each with their own cold water.
It has a splitter on the inlet and output to let the two coils each have their own supply of fresh cold water. I have it up on little legs so that it sits high in the wort. This way I don't have to stir or agitate to get good mixing of the warm and cold wort. The mixing is natural because the chilled wort falls, causing it's own turbulence and flow forcing the heated wort up to the chiller's coils.
If you are brewing in a pot there is no reason not to build your own immersion chiller. They are cheaper than all the other options and supremely effective. I don't think you can counterflow or Therminate any quicker than you can cool with an immersion of the appropriate construction.
One argument (that I've seen on the web) against the counter flow or plate chillers is that they leave the rest of the wort above or at break temp longer. I don't know if this is a valid argument. It may be something that popped into someone's head and, with nary a single test, ended up in an article somewhere to be handed around by others like it was gospel. So much of the so called wisdom on the web is like that.
Here's mine:
http://s1002.photobucket.com/albums/af143/zydaco/?action=view¤t=0107101512a.jpg&newest=1
Crude but effective. Two coils each with their own cold water.
It has a splitter on the inlet and output to let the two coils each have their own supply of fresh cold water. I have it up on little legs so that it sits high in the wort. This way I don't have to stir or agitate to get good mixing of the warm and cold wort. The mixing is natural because the chilled wort falls, causing it's own turbulence and flow forcing the heated wort up to the chiller's coils.
Arguments against CF and plate heat exchangers that do make sense are all about efficiency and cleaning.
The plate chiller is a very efficient mechanism. Super efficient, if you take it's compact size into consideration. But unless you are also paying a couple of grand for the thing you are getting a non-sanitary type that you can't take apart and clean like the real sanitary plate chillers allow.
But there's a caveat to that: I have not yet ever heard a single home brewer complain that they are unable to clean their therminators by flushing with cleaning solutions and boiling water. Everybody says it works.
The CF is another matter. they are all copper so they can pit and degrade to the point that they exchange fluids with the cooling fluid in the outer pipe. They are copper so cleaning them means you can't leave them for a long soak in any of the acidic sanitizers like star san.
You can leave them to soak in straight alcohol.
That won't harm them and it's cheap.
scinerd3000
Well-Known Member
counterflow chillers are wayyy way less of a pain in the ass than imersion chillers. Not only do they take less time but they also allow the beer to have a better cold break which will give you clearer product and the beer comes out at pitching temperature. I will never go back to imersion chillers. And yes they are a pain to clean and you have to clean them right after use or they will be impossible to get clean again
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