High Flow Counterflow Wort Chiller

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5 Is Not Enough

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I'd like to build a counterflow wort chiller that would accommodate large batches (25g-30g).
I've heard the term "Glycol Chiller".
I think I understand the concept:
"Reservoir of (Ethylene?) Glycol in freezer, pumping through the counterflow chiller and returning to the reservoir".
Is this the right idea?
If so, can anybody help me determine (roughly)
1) How big of a reservoir?
2) What size and length of inner tubing?
3) Coolant flow rate I may need?

Thanks much for any details you can help me work out!
 
I don't ever recall hearing about using glycol for the initial wort chilling operation. Are you sure you're not thinking of using glycol to cool a large fermenter? During fermentation, you'd only be dropping a couple degrees. Wort chilling has to take a huge heat load out of the wort and your glycol would be up over 100F within one circulation.

To me, a high flow CFC would be something like 1/2" OD copper with a 1" ID rubber hose as the water jacket. 25 feet should do it. This all hinges on the assumption that your tap water is under 65F.
 
shafferpilot said:
That's some expensive tubing! Look into a plate chiller and compare the prices, that's what the big boys use.
+1 on the plate chiller. You should be able to pick up a beefy plate chiller (bigger than a therminator) off ebay for $100 - $200. It's probably more expensive than a big CFC, but also more efficient.
 
Well, the big boys use plate chillers than can be disassembled which is a huge advantage compared to homebrew versions. At least CFCs don't trap anything inside. I've found some amazing deals on copper tubing on Ebay over the past year. Twice I grabbed 100 feet of 1/2" for under $100 shipped. That's $25 per chiller.
 
It depends on if you're using a pump or trying to gravity drain. I can run 11 gallons through 25' of 1/4" ID using a March pump in just under 15 minutes. I'd imagine you can do 25 gallons through 3/8" ID in about 20 minutes. Just a guess.
 
Bobby_M said:
It depends on if you're using a pump or trying to gravity drain. I can run 11 gallons through 25' of 1/4" ID using a March pump in just under 15 minutes. I'd imagine you can do 25 gallons through 3/8" ID in about 20 minutes. Just a guess.
If pumping, is a 90degree pickup tube adequate for the increased flow, or is a SS braid manifold the answer?

The increased flow would push the wort past the cooling water faster, therefore reducing the time the cold water contacts the hot wort, right? Would there be a necessity to compensate for this?
 
Any CFC will work just fine. I use a pump to re-circulate icewater through mine, that way I don't have to waste so much water. I can get a 15 gallon batch into the fermenter in under 10 minutes. I'm not sure why you'd need anything that flows faster than that.
 
As Yuri suggests, the speed at which you can flow the wort is directly coupled to the temperature of your cooling water. If your tap is under 60F, you can run the wort very quickly. I'm going to brew my ass off this winter to enjoy the 48F tap water. I actually have to slow the coolant down to avoid over chilling.

If you want the fastest flow out of the kettle, you'll have to use hop bags and then use a 1/2" dip tube with no filtration on it. Trying to stop loose hops with a screen just slows things down terribly.
 
Yuri_Rage said:
Any CFC will work just fine. I use a pump to re-circulate icewater through mine, that way I don't have to waste so much water. I can get a 15 gallon batch into the fermenter in under 10 minutes. I'm not sure why you'd need anything that flows faster than that.
Yuri, how much ice is required to do this? I've also been recirculating ice water, but only after using the water hose to get the wort down to < 150', and even then, I melt an entire ice chest full of ice. If I started using the ice from the beginning, I don't think I would have enough ice to make it through cooling the entire 10 gal batch.
 
I think the problem is dumping the heated cooling water back into the ice container. I'm sure your tap water is much cooler than the output of your chiller so you'd be better off topping it off with a trickle from the hose. There's a threshold I'm sure where the output of the chiller would be about the same as tap temp (say when the wort is 95F) at which time you can have it dump back in.
 
Lil' Sparky said:
Yuri, how much ice is required to do this?
I use about 60 lbs at a minimum. I've used as much as 80. It winds up adding a little less than $10 to the cost of my brew if I go buy ice at the mini-mart. For 15 gallons of AG beer, I figure that's acceptable.
 
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