Cooling paddle for chilling?

[mscroggi]

I am intrigued with these cooling paddles that restaurants used to bulk chill soups etc. example - Cooling Paddle

I have an immersion chiller and don't like it much and thought I might tinker with a different method. I know you can freeze 2l soda bottles and use them. but these things intrigue me.

Does anyone have any experience with one of these?

 

[Rish]

Haven't used one but it looks like you'll get a lot more surface area than a 2L soda bottle, so should cool faster.

 

[Bobby_M]

30 pounds of ice at 0F will get 5 gallons of wort down to 77F. Since that paddle only holds a half gallon (about 5 pounds of ice), you'd need six of them. For $150 you can buy the Cuss Brewing short and stocky chiller and have the same temperature drop in a few minutes without making and storing that much ice.

 

[agentbud]

I have 2 of them that I bought from a restaurant supply store years ago. This was back when I was new to brewing and thought they might help with my antiquated methods of cooling at the time. They do help cool a little but as mentioned above, there are much better ways of cooling, faster and for less money. I have not used mine in a few years. I would suggest looking at other options.

 

[Whisky River]

30 pounds of ice at 0F will get 5 gallons of wort down to 77F. Since that paddle only holds a half gallon (about 5 pounds of ice), you'd need six of them. For $150 you can buy the Cuss Brewing short and stocky chiller and have the same temperature drop in a few minutes without making and storing that much ice.

Not to hijack the thread but since you seem to know the math, would you happen to know about how much ice or thermal energy has to be used to cool 5 gallons from 80 down to 70 degrees? Looking for better ways than the aquarium pump and ice bath, to chill the last little bit when my ground water is warm.
OP the paddle looks really interesting, haven’t seen one of those before. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bobby_M]

I knew the formulas at one time but I lean on calculators. Online Conversion - Mixing Water
I trust it because someone did do the math on one question that was asked and it lined up with the calculator also.

When using the calculator, just be mindful that it's based on weight not volume so you have to convert that first. Figure a pound of ice at 16 ounces and 1 gallon of hot wort being about 9 pounds (144 ounces). 5.5 gallons x 144= 792 ounces.

That looks like 2 pounds so one of those cool stick things would work if you start at 88F and get you to 71F.

 

[mscroggi]

30 pounds of ice at 0F will get 5 gallons of wort down to 77F. Since that paddle only holds a half gallon (about 5 pounds of ice), you'd need six of them. For $150 you can buy the Cuss Brewing short and stocky chiller and have the same temperature drop in a few minutes without making and storing that much ice.

Yeah I should have explained my application... I am doing no-chill. I am not interested in a chiller (I have one but hate using it) I don't expect to cool the wort to pitching temp with the cooling paddles. I just thought that if I could accelerate the drop in temp to get past the danger zone by simply dropping one or two if these in the kettle, it would be a good thing. Researching the paddles, they seem like a perfect process tweak.. I might do a couple of frozen HDPE bottles. Anyway it's not a complete cooling attempt..