cold break...should I be scared?

[THEDIETZ]

So i am upgrading from my 5 gallon..cooler mashtun system to a 3 keggle gravity tier system to make 10 gallons. So i need to also upgrade my chiller and I have been doing a lot of reading. Cold break is something I never concerned myself with. But I am still torn between getting a bigger immersion chiller, or getting a counterflow chiller. From what I get counterflow chillers produce large amounts of cold break.

When exactly does cold break happen? If I use a counterflow could I just run it through a strainer when it comes out of the chiller to seperate the cold break material?

People who have a counterflow...if i buy one with 3/8" copper and it is 50 ft...could i run the wort from the chiller directly into a fermenter?

I am also up for suggestions....a 50 ft 1/2" copper immersion chiller or a 50ft 3/8 copper counterflow chiller....they are about the same price on ebay....thanks for the advice!!!

 

[Yooper]

I just went from an immersion chiller with my old system to a CFC on my new system. Just from looking at the wort, I'd say the cold break happens at about between 80 and 90 degrees.

Why the aversion to having the cold break in the fermenter? I'm not sure I understand.

 

[THEDIETZ]

I don't completely understand either but from what I read some people say you want to get it out. Some seem to think it is a good thing.

One of the reasons I read was if you planned on reusing your yeast. This is something I don't do but would also like to learn.

Do you like your CFC better than your immersion?? Can you send your wort straight into the fermenter from your CFC?

 

[Yooper]

I don't completely understand either but from what I read some people say you want to get it out. Some seem to think it is a good thing.

One of the reasons I read was if you planned on reusing your yeast. This is something I don't do but would also like to learn.

Do you like your CFC better than your immersion?? Can you send your wort straight into the fermenter from your CFC?

Yeah, I love the new CFC! I just brewed today, and it was a perfect 62 degrees right into my fermenter. I pump from the BK to the CFC and I get a nice stream from the tubing from the CFC, which also aerates nicely. There is probably a boat-load of cold break in the fermenter, but I'm not going to sweat it. I've been using the CFC since January, and I really like it.

 

[THEDIETZ]

you don't need a pump for the CFC though do you? I could just use my friend gravity to use a CFC i hope!

 

[Yooper]

you don't need a pump for the CFC though do you? I could just use my friend gravity to use a CFC i hope!

Sure, if your set up can do that. I don't have enough space to make it work for me. There are other brewers who can do it, though.

 

[Troubs]

I use a CFC and good old gravity. It gets my wort down to 65 degrees in one pass, right into the fermenter. Its your standard issue 25' 3/8th CFC