High volume wort chilller

[muddylars]

Hi I'm a brewer at a small brewpub. Currently we are going nuts brewing 3 times a day 6 days a week on a 10 gal Sabco system. We are using the Chillzilla wort chiller and it is taking about 40 min to chill a 10 gallon batch, this is making our brew day quite long. We are want to get a new wort chiller that will be more efficient. However, we are also looking into expanding soon (to a 2.5ish bbl system?) and if it is possible we would like to buy a chiller that would work both on our current set up and on our future, larger one. I've heard of some plate chillers to which you can add more plates. Has anyone heard/know of these and could recommend any brands or places to look for them. Or does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks a lot,
-Lars

 

[Bobby_M]

If you can't blow your wort through a chillzilla a full blast and hit 70F on the output, it has to be an issue with your coolant water temp. Have you measured the temp of your water supply?

A stackable "plate and frame" chiller is going to cost $1000 minimum.

 

[stevehaun]

I used to have a chillzilla. I switched from 15 to 30 gallon batches. My well water is 50-55F. With the chillzilla it would take me over an hour to chill a 30 gallon batch. I bought a therminator and I now can chill 30 gallons of wort to 60F in less than 30 minutes. A plate chiller is way more efficient. All that said, I am not aware of any small plate chillers that are expandable. I think at 2.5 barrels you will be looking at a commercial chiller with capability for bigger hose ID and more powerful pumps.

 

[Marsdude]

I don't know if this is something that would help - but... Someone in another thread on this forum put up a link for a place that had some good prices on plate chillers. The link:

http://www.dudadiesel.com/heat_exchangers.php

They have one 60 plate chiller for $262.35.