Counterflow Wort Chiller Build (and use)

[TheBreweryUnderground]

Just fit 50 feet of copper through a hose with only a few blisters, that's definitely the hard part. Getting the fittings put together should be easy and this thing should cool anything down. I'm pumped to see it blow away my dinky immersion chiller.

 

[richlong8020]

Here is a side thought. What if you went from hot pot, out a valve, through a 1/2" coil packed in ice and water in a bucket, then out a temp probe to the ferm bucket. You can control the flow to match the cooling.

If it was 1/2" tubing and 50' what do you think the temp would be for the chilled wort?

The idea would work for me in the summer months in SoCal when the water just isn't cool enough.

It's a thought I'd like to put into plans.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Here is a side thought. What if you went from hot pot, out a valve, through a 1/2" coil packed in ice and water in a bucket, then out a temp probe to the ferm bucket. You can control the flow to match the cooling.

If it was 1/2" tubing and 50' what do you think the temp would be for the chilled wort?

The idea would work for me in the summer months in SoCal when the water just isn't cool enough.

It's a thought I'd like to put into plans.

What you're describing is often used as a "pre-chiller." Many people use an IC in an ice water bath upstream from the CFC cooling water input. This chills the cooling water to make the CFC more effective when tap water isn't cold enough.

 

[richlong8020]

Ya like with a pump to move the ice water through the chiller in the wort right?

But what about the wort going through the chiller and being a pitchable temp. I guess I had to re-scope my question.

Do you think 1/2" 50' coil would be too much, therefore, chilling the wort to a point that I'd have to warm it up to pitch temp? I guess if I were to build it I could always trim the copper down until I reach a correct temp. But that would only be if the wort was ridiculously cold.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Ya like with a pump to move the ice water through the chiller in the wort right?

But what about the wort going through the chiller and being a pitchable temp. I guess I had to re-scope my question.

Do you think 1/2" 50' coil would be too much, therefore, chilling the wort to a point that I'd have to warm it up to pitch temp? I guess if I were to build it I could always trim the copper down until I reach a correct temp. But that would only be if the wort was ridiculously cold.

Yes, the ice water would be recirculated via a pump through the CFC water port. I think 50' might be overkill if using a pre-chiller. With ice water, 25' should be plenty. As for wort temp, think of it this way: the best efficiency you can theoretically get from a CFC is 100%. Increasing the length of the CFC can get you closer to that, but longer isn't necessarily better because of the law of diminishing returns (i.e. the curve is asymptotic). At 100% efficiency, your wort will match your cooling water temp, and longer hose won't get it any colder. Instead, I would make your chiller around 25' and restrict the water flow from your pump and increase the wort flow from your kettle if the wort is coming out too cold.

 

[richlong8020]

Oh I see. It's all gravity so no pump, but restricting the flow is a great idea. The build would have a valve and it could be restricted.

I may actually put this plan into action. Thx 🍺

 

[Tiber_Brew]

No problem. Hope your build goes well!

 

[Timzabel12]

Nice write..will be working on one tomorrow.

 

[richlong8020]

So I was able to draw my plan out. Was wondering if anyone can add input to this so I can see it with fresh eyes. A perspective that isn't my own. The coil is 1/2" and 25' and will be in a bucket of ice and water. Thx in advance. Eager brewer lol

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1421993502.111686.jpg

Also if you'd like to see a parts list I can provide links

 

[Tiber_Brew]

So I was able to draw my plan out. Was wondering if anyone can add input to this so I can see it with fresh eyes. A perspective that isn't my own. The coil is 1/2" and 25' and will be in a bucket of ice and water. Thx in advance. Eager brewer lol

View attachment 250793

Also if you'd like to see a parts list I can provide links

Is "cooling coil" your CFC? Or is it your pre-chiller? Either way, one of them is missing.

Assuming your tap water is as cold as it is in Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula, then let's call your "cooling coil" your CFC. In that case, your diagram looks like it will work. Keep in mind your overall Δh has to be sufficient enough to create enough head pressure to allow high enough wort flow rate through fittings and 25'+ of coiled tubing. One thing I've learned from early experience is that you should fill and boil in your kettle before lifting it to an elevation required for gravity flow. If you have a porch, brew tree, any kind of platform to elevate the kettle above your fermenter, set that up before you sparge.

 

[richlong8020]

Cooling coil is a pre-chiller. Hot run trough the chiller packed in ice water and then out the temp probe to the ferm bucket.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Cooling coil is a pre-chiller. Hot run trough the chiller packed in ice water and then out the temp probe to the ferm bucket.

So you're ditching the idea of a CFC altogether?

 

[Timzabel12]

Essentially, it's sounds like using a herms coil type setup. A member of our club uses his coil to serve dual roles, he fills his HLT up with ice water and regulates the flow through the coil for his system.

 

[richlong8020]

So you're ditching the idea of a CFC altogether?

Yes but it's an idea I had.

The water temps in SoCal just don't get low enough for a CFC in the summer months. It would take hours and possibly a pump to get the wort to a pitchable temp.

So I drew up this plan and thought I'd see what you all thought.

 

[wbarber69]

Yes but it's an idea I had.

The water temps in SoCal just don't get low enough for a CFC in the summer months. It would take hours and possibly a pump to get the wort to a pitchable temp.

So I drew up this plan and thought I'd see what you all thought.

I live in southern Louisiana. Personally I use plate chillers in my system. But some of my buddies use immersion and counter flow chillers. In the summer months we don't use straight tap water. Instead we opt for a bucket to bucket gravity feed of our chill water. Basically a bucket of ice water is raised up above the CFC and is siphoned out and run through the CFC to another bucket down low. When the water level of the higher bucket gets too low, we add more ice water and continue. If the chill water coming out isn't too hot we will reuse it until colder water is needed.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Yes but it's an idea I had.

The water temps in SoCal just don't get low enough for a CFC in the summer months. It would take hours and possibly a pump to get the wort to a pitchable temp.

So I drew up this plan and thought I'd see what you all thought.

No. If you used ice water in a CFC, it would take you about 10-15 minutes to chill 5.5 gallons. If you don't want to introduce a pump to your setup, try the method wbarber69 mentioned above. I think you'll find that using the CFC is worth the trouble.

 

[JLeuck64]

OK so I've had a few brews since constructing my CFC which I posted back in #258. I can say that it works really well. Too good actually, I have to throttle back on my garden hose spigot quite a bit because my ground water is pretty cold. So I got to thinking... and made a trip down to the hardware store to cruise through the plumbing section. What I finally settled on was a 3/4" ball valve for about $11 and change. I cut the inlet hose and added the ball valve and I now have FLOW control without walking back outside! Yes... I am still using the temp probe in the flow of wort but I gave the old rubber band trick a serious effort on the advice of others and just couldn't get the probe to stay put. So, I sanitize my temp probe before inserting it in the outlet ( ;

 

[Ki-ri-n]

I just finished mine:rockin: what a PIA! Of course I had to use a SS coil :cross: it took forever sliding the hose on. I have it cleaned, all I need to do is brew and see how well it works. Thanks for the inspiration

 

[bakk]

So I was able to draw my plan out. Was wondering if anyone can add input to this so I can see it with fresh eyes. A perspective that isn't my own. The coil is 1/2" and 25' and will be in a bucket of ice and water. Thx in advance. Eager brewer lol

View attachment 250793

Also if you'd like to see a parts list I can provide links

Essentially it sounds like a jockey box? Just gravity fed and used to cool boiling wort instead of a warm keg. Unless I'm mistaken?

Sounds like it might work, maybe if it was in a cooler that you could drain when the water got too hot to sufficiently chill, similar to wbarber69's friend. It's not a "counterflow chiller" by any means. But I wonder why you would build something like that instead of making a counterflow chiller? You could set up a CFC with a bucket of ice as some have mentioned, or you could simply use an immersion chiller with or without a bucket of ice. In the system you describe above, I think it would work, I just think you would have to stop wort flow once you determined the water was becoming too warm. It just sounds like unnecessary work in your future is all.

If you do go that route, let me know if/how well it works!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[bakk]

Double post... Oops! It said it wasn't letting me post!

 

[richlong8020]

Actually it worked really well. Chill time was the same-ish. I do think I'll add a spigot to drain off the warmer water. The main problem I run into is that the water temps in SoCal for 7 months out of the year are just too high. The CFC just won't work for me. I didn't want to buy more pumps and coolers and all the other gear to recirculate ice water.

(Maybe I'll look into a soup chiller.)

This way I created a way to slow the hot wort to a point where ice water contact is at its highest. On my test run the wort came out at 100* so that's a huge drop but with adjustments it came down to below 60*. The problem with this is that the cooler wort was at such a slower rate that it was having a harder time affecting the 100* wort in the ferm bucket. In the end I hit just below 80* and pitched. I have temp control for ferm so it's not a big deal.

I believe that if I had 50' coil it would have been perfect. The wort could have flowed faster and still be chilled to a perfect pitching temp. On another note I can couple in another 10'-15' and get better results that way also. It is definitely a work in process but I am happy with the results for my first run.

 

[wtaylor3]

Just finished mine today, currently mashing the first batch that's going to go through it

 

[Timzabel12]

I am on the hunt for a different hose. f My copper binds every time in the same spot in the hose, no matter what I try.

 

[Helly]

I still haven't brewed with mine but I tested it today with boiling water. With the cold ground water it was immediately coming out at about 55. I definitely want to add a ball valve or some other control right at the cold water inlet but other than that it's ready to go.

 

[JLeuck64]

I just brewed another batch with mine today after adding a ball valve. I also added a pickup tube to my brew kettle prior to this brew day and it worked awesome! I could sit there and tweak the flow through the CFC and once I started picking up trub from the bottom of the kettle I stopped. No more tipping the kettle, wort is at a nice yeast pitching temp, I couldn't be happier!

 

[wtaylor3]

With all the issues I had and all the copper coil I removed due to mistakes, I was very surprised at how well this chiller functioned. I sent 195* beer in one side and it came out the other at 76*

Very happy with this, it even cooled down the water that bowed my autosiphon in the time it took to flow through the chiller

 

[virgil1]

Where is everyone getting it? I want to get my own, but it looks like you can get 20 ft or 50 ft, and 50 ft is already $60. NY Brew Supply sells one all premade for less than $100 on ebay, free shipping. I just don't think I'll save much(if any) unless I can get 25 - 30 ft of copper tubing pretty cheap.

 

[wbarber69]

Check out stainlessbrewing.com I got some stuff for my HERMS from there they sell coils for pretty cheap and will bend for a few dollars more. But anywhere you go stainless by the foot is pretty pricy. But the real cost usually comes down to shipping. Cause 50' of 1/2" stainless coil is pretty heavy

 

[jtratcliff]

Amazon has 25' of copper for $25., free shipping

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AH8HDO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[virgil1]

Wow, thanks so much! I kept looking specifically for "3/8 in. O.D. Copper Soft Refrigeration Coil Pipe". I should have relaxed my query a bit. I'll price it all out with this. DIY is much more fun. Will let this thread know what I decide and how much it all costs.

Amazon has 25' of copper for $25., free shipping

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AH8HDO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20