DIY Chiller System?

[Porter_Stout]

Has anyone ever made a DIY chilling system? My water here in CA is expensive as hell and it sucks wasting all that water with an immersion chiller. I'm thinking of making a DIY looped system, but am trying to figure out what kind of pump to use. I'm thinking a submersible pump in a bucket of ice water. I've noticed that fish tank pumps can move up to 800GPH (13GPM) of water at 32 degrees F and are adjustable flow. Do you think this would work in a loop? (Bucket of Ice water, through pump, into imersion chiller and back to bucket)

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Yep, plenty of those around. I do it in South Africa because we're a water scarce environment and don't want to waste water.

I use a booster pump to get suitable pressure, the backpressure resistance on the narrow copper pipes of my coil, 3/8" IIRC, needed good pressure to get a decent flow rate. Fish tank pumps might have the volume, but check the head rating out as well.

It's also recommended that you capture the first couple of gallons in a bucket because that comes out very hot and would ruin the ice water benefit if pumped back into it. I use that for cleaning purposes.

 

[Porter_Stout]

Fish tank pumps might have the volume, but check the head rating out as well.

The one I'm looking at says it has a 7ft lift rating. I think that should have enough pressure behind it... i think.

 

[Mad Mann]

Yes, use mine all the time. Converted an old air conditioner. Attached is an old diagram but it is similar. I use two different loops with two counterflow chillers and it works extremely well with no wasted water. I use some old wort pump and for the Pex loop I use a sump pump submerged in an old cooler the push the glycol.

 

[Dland]

Lots of DYI chiller builds in this part of forum. The one I made out of an old AC is still going strong after 3 years continuous use.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forums/chillers-stir-plates.255/

 

[Porter_Stout]

Lots of DYI chiller builds in this part of forum. The one I made out of an old AC is still going strong after 3 years continuous use.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forums/chillers-stir-plates.255/

Thanks for this link!

 

[Jag75]

Yup , here's mine . Still running strong.

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

I use a 1/4 hp submersible pump with a 40g brute trash can. Throw in 10 - 1/2g milk jugs of ice into “permanent “ water bath and push cold water thru immersion cooler… works pretty well. When done, jugs go back in freezer. Next up grade is a plate chiller…..

 

[Bobby_M]

Probably the leading false economy you'll find in the brewing community is going out of your way to use ice to chill something to "save" water. In order to make a useful decision on this, you'll have to really evaluate the cost of making ice with the cost of using plain tap water. Where the false economy comes in is the assumption that "I'm already paying to chill the freezer down so the ice is basically free". That is absolutely false.

I'm not suggesting that there aren't cases where using ice makes sense. If you can make a bunch of ice in the winter or if you use solar panels to run your freezer to make virtually free ice, then it does make sense. However, in many situations, using the 50 gallons of tap water is the cheaper method if you're accurate in your calculations.

 

[JAReeves]

I run my hot waste water into a rain barrel in the backyard. Same with the waste water from my RO system. It ends up in the yard eventually. I also built a glycol system from an AC unit, but I only use it for the fermenters, not for cooling hot wort.

 

[balrog]

Probably the leading false economy you'll find in the brewing community is going out of your way to use ice to chill something to "save" water.

Probably.
I don't delude myself. I use tap to get to about 90F, which gives me plenty for cleaning later, but I recirc w ice. And I do it all because I want to use what I have (no new plate/counterflow chiller purchases), and I want to save TIME.

 

[Graham H]

I use a closed-loop, ice-chilled immersion coil, more for the chilling power than any savings. I fill a picnic cooler with two large bags of ice and then fill with house water. A submersed aquarium pump pushes the ice water to the coil and then a return tube dumps the hot water back into the cooler. Since I’m buying ice from the grocery store, I’m definitely not saving money. My concern is the time it takes to chill to pitching temps (One bag of ice ends up melting before hitting target temps; with two bags, I can chill from boil to pitch in about 10-15 minutes for a 5 gal boil).

 

[Porter_Stout]

Probably the leading false economy you'll find in the brewing community is going out of your way to use ice to chill something to "save" water. In order to make a useful decision on this, you'll have to really evaluate the cost of making ice with the cost of using plain tap water. Where the false economy comes in is the assumption that "I'm already paying to chill the freezer down so the ice is basically free". That is absolutely false.

I'm not suggesting that there aren't cases where using ice makes sense. If you can make a bunch of ice in the winter or if you use solar panels to run your freezer to make virtually free ice, then it does make sense. However, in many situations, using the 50 gallons of tap water is the cheaper method if you're accurate in your calculations.

Well there's also the fact that Southern California is in a drought and you can be fined if the find water running out to your curb , as well.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Well there's also the fact that Southern California is in a drought and you can be fined if the find water running out to your curb , as well.

Add to the list Southern Africa, Australia and other severely drought-ridden areas.

 

[Porter_Stout]

I use a closed-loop, ice-chilled immersion coil, more for the chilling power than any savings. I fill a picnic cooler with two large bags of ice and then fill with house water. A submersed aquarium pump pushes the ice water to the coil and then a return tube dumps the hot water back into the cooler.

This is exactly the set-up I was thinking but I'll make my own ice. I have a large freezer.

 

[Porter_Stout]

I run my hot waste water into a rain barrel in the backyard. Same with the waste water from my RO system. It ends up in the yard eventually. I also built a glycol system from an AC unit, but I only use it for the fermenters, not for cooling hot wort.

I thought about this, but I just don't have room for a rain barrel at my house. Nice set-up, though. wish I had room for this.