Chiller Performance Testing
Objective
Objective
Assess chiller performance of a Blichmann Therminator Plate Chiller vs a JaDeD Brewing Cyclone Chiller. 205°F water will be circulated through the chiller and back to the keggle. The time to get the keggle to 100° will be recorded for both chillers.
Conclusion
The Blichmann Therminator is ~40% faster than the Jaded Brewing Cyclone Chiller when chilling water from 205° to 100°.
Setup
• 10 gallons in keggle HLT
• 67° Pool water circulated with submersible pond pump
• Keggle contents (hot side) circulated with March pump through a total of ~ 20' of tubing.
• Chiller output returned to the keggle
• Blichmann Therminator (mounted in small plastic toolbox)
• JaDeD Brewing Cyclone
Data• 67° Pool water circulated with submersible pond pump
• Keggle contents (hot side) circulated with March pump through a total of ~ 20' of tubing.
• Chiller output returned to the keggle
• Blichmann Therminator (mounted in small plastic toolbox)
• JaDeD Brewing Cyclone
Chilling Time (205° -> 100°) mm:ss
Discussion- Blichmann Therminator 10:15
- JaDeD Cyclone 14:45
Haven't brewed with it yet!
The test above measured the temperature of the entire contents of the kettle as the chilled water was recirculated back to it. However, many brewers will immediately divert the output of the chiller directly into the fermentor. I tested with the recirculation in order to use the digital temperature sensor in my control panel and kettle. The Cyclone is slower than the Therminator, but I don't care too much - I will be transferring wort directly from the kettle to the fermentors.
Even though this new JaDeD chiller does not perform its chilling function as efficiently as the Blichmann chiller, it has a couple of advantages that will make it better suited for my brewing. Its design allows much larger channels for the wort, which should eliminate the fear of clogging. The Blichmann Therminator would definitely clog if some sort of hop bag was not used. Even when a bag was used, its flow was significantly reduced (visibly) after chilling 20+ gallons of hoppy wort. That reduced flow was an indication of internal arteriosclerosis that would need to be cleaned later. I am hoping that this new chiller will allow me to avoid using the hanging hop bag, and lets me drop the hops right into the kettle. Sweet.
The JaDeD chiller comes with a cleaning brush that makes cleaning it very simple. It has large orifices that you can see right through, ensuring that it's truly clean and free of debris. It also The Therminator is difficult (impossible!) to clean thoroughly. In the past, I've cleaned it all sorts of ways: hot PBW, hose, oxyclean, baked in oven, lye (not recommended). Regardless, later when it was time to brew I would have to hose it out, and the rinse water was always brown. So, I was never confident that it was clean inside.
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. The Chillzilla is about the same total length of copper, but is much more compact due to its coiled design. That might be an advantage for some people. I'm building a stand, so this new chiller can be mounted out of the way, and its larger size is not an issue. The coil precludes cleaning, so I prefer the JaDeD.
The JaDeD chiller shipped quickly. In my comments to JaDeD, when I bought it on their site, I asked for ½" male connections on all ports (not standard, but since I don't use a hose, I did not want the ¾" hose connections). Though there was no confirmation of this, it's exactly what I got. Since it shipped so quickly, I was surprised to have the connections I needed.
I noticed that the water flow through the Cyclone was less than the Therminator. I didn't measure flow, so I can't say with certainty (or quantitatively) what the difference was. But if the chilling water flow is less, the chilling speed would suffer similarly.
Blichmann Therminator: $199
JaDeD Cyclone: $149
PicturesThe test above measured the temperature of the entire contents of the kettle as the chilled water was recirculated back to it. However, many brewers will immediately divert the output of the chiller directly into the fermentor. I tested with the recirculation in order to use the digital temperature sensor in my control panel and kettle. The Cyclone is slower than the Therminator, but I don't care too much - I will be transferring wort directly from the kettle to the fermentors.
Even though this new JaDeD chiller does not perform its chilling function as efficiently as the Blichmann chiller, it has a couple of advantages that will make it better suited for my brewing. Its design allows much larger channels for the wort, which should eliminate the fear of clogging. The Blichmann Therminator would definitely clog if some sort of hop bag was not used. Even when a bag was used, its flow was significantly reduced (visibly) after chilling 20+ gallons of hoppy wort. That reduced flow was an indication of internal arteriosclerosis that would need to be cleaned later. I am hoping that this new chiller will allow me to avoid using the hanging hop bag, and lets me drop the hops right into the kettle. Sweet.
The JaDeD chiller comes with a cleaning brush that makes cleaning it very simple. It has large orifices that you can see right through, ensuring that it's truly clean and free of debris. It also The Therminator is difficult (impossible!) to clean thoroughly. In the past, I've cleaned it all sorts of ways: hot PBW, hose, oxyclean, baked in oven, lye (not recommended). Regardless, later when it was time to brew I would have to hose it out, and the rinse water was always brown. So, I was never confident that it was clean inside.
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. The Chillzilla is about the same total length of copper, but is much more compact due to its coiled design. That might be an advantage for some people. I'm building a stand, so this new chiller can be mounted out of the way, and its larger size is not an issue. The coil precludes cleaning, so I prefer the JaDeD.
The JaDeD chiller shipped quickly. In my comments to JaDeD, when I bought it on their site, I asked for ½" male connections on all ports (not standard, but since I don't use a hose, I did not want the ¾" hose connections). Though there was no confirmation of this, it's exactly what I got. Since it shipped so quickly, I was surprised to have the connections I needed.
I noticed that the water flow through the Cyclone was less than the Therminator. I didn't measure flow, so I can't say with certainty (or quantitatively) what the difference was. But if the chilling water flow is less, the chilling speed would suffer similarly.
Blichmann Therminator: $199
JaDeD Cyclone: $149