Gravity feed through a counter-flow?

younger96 · Dec 30, 2011

Anyone tried to use a counter-flow chiller with just gravity feeding out of the brew kettle valve? I have a typical coiled wort chiller that I would like to convert to a CF but I don't have a pump (nor do I intend to invest in one anytime soon).

LKABrewer · Dec 30, 2011

Make sure it is full of starsan before you hook it up. Start flowing into a waste can, and when its brown put it down.

HawkATP · Dec 30, 2011

I did about 15 batches just using gravity with my counter flow chiller. Worked fine, just took about 20-25 minutes for a 10 gallon batch. Just make sure you flush it with hot water and star san it before you use it.

ajf · Dec 30, 2011

Yes, I do. It works fine, but I have a spigot at the bottom of the kettle. It may not works quite as well if you have to siphon out of the kettle. I also use whole hops, but have a false bottom in the kettle. The bed of hops strains out almost all of the hot break. The one time I forgot to put the false bottom in before adding the hops didn't work at all well. Instant plugging of the spigot. I don't know if pellet hops would cause a problem.
As LKABrewer said, make sure you sanitize it before you start draining, and drain out the sanitizer into a waste bucket before draining the wort into the primary.
Also make sure you clean it really well after each brew. I drain some oxiclean or PBW through it, wait an hour or so, and then thoroughly flush with hot water.

-a.

itsme6582 · Dec 30, 2011

Gravity draining works great for me. I run about a gallon of Star-San through the chiller and right into my fermentor. I try to do it early to give lots of contact time for the Star-San. At flameout, I give my wort a good stir and let it whirlpool for about 15 minutes before I drain. This gives me a good cone in the bottom and really keeps most of hops out of the fermentor. Whirlpooling and my side pickup tube are the key to keeping out hops. I really think this way is more than adequate.