Chiller Showdown: Blichmann Therminator vs JaDeD Brewing Cyclone

[BrunDog]

That's odd. The whirlpool should work pretty well. It doesn't eliminate everything but it should reduce it dramatically. I have a pile of hop junk in a mound underneath my element after whirlpooling for 15 mins. I think speed and port location play a role. How are you whirlpooling?

 

[passedpawn]

That's odd. The whirlpool should work pretty well. It doesn't eliminate everything but it should reduce it dramatically. I have a pile of hop junk in a mound underneath my element after whirlpooling for 15 mins. I think speed and port location play a role. How are you whirlpooling?

Port is on the side of keggle, so it should be well above the trub. While chilling, the wort is returned horizontally, causing the body of wort to spin in the kettle to spin slowly. I just turn off the pump when chilled down to 70F, and let it sit undisturbed. I do add whirlfloc at 5m. When I then pump to fermentor, flow is choked down.

 

[markstache]

I'd love to compare this JaDeD chiller to the Morebeer Chillzilla. My brother has one and loves it. One advantage the Chillzilla has is that it uses convoluted copper for its internal tubing. Convoluted copper will increase the turbulence and likely improve the chilling time.

I keep meaning to pick up some copper wire that I can thread into my immersion chiller in order to get this effect. I think either knotting the wire at intervals or soldering on a nut or other obstruction would help increase the turbulence. I got the idea from a DIY counter flow chiller where the guy wrapped the copper in wire before adding the water sleave and bending.

I'll try to remember to pick up some wire and run a pre/post test this weekend.

 

[BrunDog]

Port is on the side of keggle, so it should be well above the trub. While chilling, the wort is returned horizontally, causing the body of wort to spin in the kettle to spin slowly. I just turn off the pump when chilled down to 70F, and let it sit undisturbed. I do add whirlfloc at 5m. When I then pump to fermentor, flow is choked down.

Are you getting a cone at the bottom? Is your pickup to the side?

 

[sredz]

I wrote them in an email and asked them how much it would cost to double the number of runs on their current cyclone. They responded back with the Typhoon and I went for it.

For a while I was going to build my own but my copper sweating isn't the greatest anymore and I have liked everything Jaded sells that I have seen. I pulled the trigger on the beta and sent them a few reports. They did not seem as enthused as I was. I think they were wanting something different from the report.

The Scottish I brewed night before last chilled 12 gallons to 70 degree center kettle in 15 minutes. output of whirlpool at that point was about 59. To me that is really fast. to clear most out of the chiller after I am done, I slowly pump sanitizer and watch out the last output hose and never waste anything.

Typhoon is a great chiller and they should add it to their site.

I have a Typhoon also. It's a massive chiller! My chill times have not been as fast as yours, but overall I've still been very pleased with it. I believe my last batch took about 25 minutes to chill to 68 degrees. I run cold tap water straight into the chiller and whirlpool back into the kettle. Usually I run the pump wide open. Clean up is pretty easy, they even included a nice brush that I can pull through the tubing.

 

[passedpawn]

Are you getting a cone at the bottom? Is your pickup to the side?

Yep, pickup on side. Cone? It's hard to say. By the time I've pumped contents down, it's just a layer of hops sludge an inch thick.

 

[LuckyBeagleBrewing]

Should we assume that the cost of the typhoon was twice the cyclone?

Sorry for the delayed response. I am not sure what they intend on charging but it was a lot less than double. That is a beta of course.

It is worth every penny. For what I do, it is perfect.