Chilling Problems

[CharlieB]

I brewed yesterday and could not get the word down past 90 while using a wort chiller along with a pre chiller. is there an easier way w/o spending alot more $$$

 

[malkore]

that seems odd. i don't have a wort chiller, and do two 3gallon pots (split my wort down the middle) to get 5 gallons.
I just do a water bath and can get my wort to 70F in like 45 minutes.

sure i'm dealing with less volume, but I also have to cool from the outside-in, rather than direct cooling with a chiller.

is your tap water warm? too low a pressure? how big a wort volume? 5gal? 10?

 

[CharlieB]

well im doing a 5 gallon boil which takes alot more to cool anyway. i made the pre chiller at home, could it be that i dont have enough copper coil in the bucket to chill the water that is being pumped through there? the water coming from the hose is 84.

 

[malkore]

84? that's part of it. most people get 70 degree tap water year round. it doesn't seem like it, but 14 degrees is a fair amount of heat soaking ability.
How much copper (in feet) is your chiller? its an immersion chiller? and you're using a few gallons of extra cool water in addition to the 84F water?

 

[Blender]

I tried a pre chiller and I thought it would do a better job than it did. I ended up buying a sump pump and running ice water through the chiller and that works much better. I recirculate the ice water through the chiller until the water gets to warrm. I use a 5 gallon plastic pail and around a bag of ice.

I have a pre-chiller for sale now.

 

[CharlieB]

i just rebuilt the chiller and now have 60 feet of copper running through a bucket. that filled with ice water should do the trick