HELP: Sink faucet to wort chiller setup helps

[olharris]

Hello fellow brewers,
I'm trying to add a plate chiller to my homebrew setup, and my plumbing knowledge is null. I know I have a sink faucet (huzzah!) and I am planning on buying a plate wort chiller from Dudadiesel (30 plate chiller). I have been browsing through some homebrew supply websites, and I am still lost as to what other accessories I need to buy to make my set up work.

Ideally, I will have a water hookup running from the faucet to the chiller and then dump out into the sink, but I don't know what type of chiller to buy, whether I need to buy a faucet adapter, and what other adapters/fittings/tubing I need to buy. I don't own a garden hose (live in an apt building) so i am literally starting from a blank slate.

As for wort-side hookups, it looks like I am going to be dealing with 1/2" male NPT fittings on the chiller. My plans are to run my wort through a fine nylon mesh bag into a bottling bucket to remove anything that might clog up the tubing, and then from the bottling spigot (via gravity) through the wort chiller into my ferm bucket. What tubing/fittings/etc do I need to investigate for this set up?

Any help, links, advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Runyanka]

I have never used a plate chiller with gravity, so Im not sure his well your flow will be. Northern brewer sells sink adapters on their website. So you should just have to unscrew your sink faucet head, and screw in the adapter.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]My plans are to run my wort through a fine nylon mesh bag into a bottling bucket to remove anything that might clog up the tubing, and then from the bottling spigot (via gravity) through the wort chiller into my ferm bucket.[...]

Running boiling wort into a plastic bucket then through a plastic spigot does not sound like a good idea.

Cheers!

[edit] Can't leave it at that. In your situation you should seriously rethink your plan. I would go with an immersion chiller instead of a plate chiller, chill in your boil kettle until you reach pitching temperature, then run the cool wort into your ferm bucket - using your mesh bag if you wish (sanitized, of course).

This would solve all the potential problems with boiling wort in plastic containers and plastic fittings, as well as trying to run your wort down hill from kettle to bucket then through plate chiller to another bucket - which unless you perched your kettle at an unsafe height, is unlikely to work...

 

[Shockerengr]

I have to second the immersion chiller. Without a pump, I couldn't recommend anyone use a plate chiller...it's quite difficult to get them really clean, so heat is the best method of sanitizing. Without a pump, you'd have to boil it seperatly.

Immersion chillers are also less finicky, and on 5 gallon batches are every bit as fast as a plate chiller.

nybrewsupply.com has some of the best prices I've seen on them.

 

[logdrum]

I have to second the immersion chiller. Without a pump, I couldn't recommend anyone use a plate chiller...it's quite difficult to get them really clean, so heat is the best method of sanitizing. Without a pump, you'd have to boil it seperatly.

Immersion chillers are also less finicky, and on 5 gallon batches are every bit as fast as a plate chiller.

nybrewsupply.com has some of the best prices I've seen on them.

I use a 40 plate chiller via gravity every brew, with zero problems. I do have a cheapo Harbor Freight pond pump (< $10) that I use to back flush with (and run an ice water loop into the cold side in the summer). I absolutely hated using an immersion chiller. IME the plate chiller is about 4x as fast as the immersion.

-d