How do I cool wort down faster?!

[miafunk2003]

So i live in Miami and I guess our water doesn't get cool enough to bring my wort temp down to pitching temp in a reasonable amount of time using a wort chiller. It takes about 40 mins to get it down to 80 and that's a lot of water going down the drain. What can I do to improve this?

 

[ShakerD]

There are lots of threads on this. You can search by hitting the search button in the middle of the panel up top.


This is how I do it. Edworts Recirculating Ice Water Chiller

 

[tbel]

I have no experience here but I've got some Ideas... what ever they're worth.
You could run 2 chillers in series, a wort chiller through a cooler filled with ice water before going into the hot wort. it would certainly cool the tap water but I don't have a clue how much that would help.
Could also create a closed system with the same idea and use some sort of pump. The water on the cooling side may heat up quit fast though.
I'll be interested to see what other come up with.

 

[gunner65]

I use a pond pump ($20 at harbor freight) to recirculate ice water from a large cooler.

 

[Zen_Brew]

You need to call down to Engineering. Get a hold of Scotty, and let him you know you've got to have More power

If that doesn't work some people make a pre-chiller that runs through ice to bring the water temp down.

Another option is a plate chiller which will get your temps down to ground water pretty quickly if you are using one of the bigger ones ie 40 or 50 plate. This would require an investment and rethinking of your chilling a bit.

Here is a link with some good info and some pics at bottom of page.
http://www.dudadiesel.com/heat_exchangers.php

 

[miafunk2003]

Wouldn't the hot water coming off the output melt the ice in the cooler quick?

 

[arturo7]

Do a few searches in the equipment and DIY sections. Many, many, many good ideas there.

 

[Delorean1981]

I've only used an ice bath for my 2 batches, careful to keep the lid on tight and not spill anything in while stirring, I have cooled my batches to temp in ~20 mins just using this method.

 

[HollisBrewCo]

i use a 40 plate chiller which i freeze in a solid block of ice in a cooler a few days before i brew, i do one pass through the chiller straight into fementer. Wort comes out at 65-63 deg every time so far.

 

[Yooper]

Wouldn't the hot water coming off the output melt the ice in the cooler quick?

Yes. The first really hot water can be diverted out, to use for cleaning or whatever, and then you can add tons of ice and circulate.

I have cold tap water, but I know the guys in Arizonia have issues with cooling, as they have warm tap water PLUS often water restrictions.

A pond pump to recirculate the chiller water plus ice or a plate chiller probably are the best bets.

 

[duskb]

So i live in Miami and I guess our water doesn't get cool enough to bring my wort temp down to pitching temp in a reasonable amount of time using a wort chiller. It takes about 40 mins to get it down to 80 and that's a lot of water going down the drain. What can I do to improve this?

I've mentioned it before (probably on the above thread). I keep 2 liter bottles of ice on hand and leave the pot in an ice bath. This can bring a boiled brew down to pitching temps inside of a half h0ur. I lose a gallon of water at the worst, most of it rinsing the sink when I'm done

You'll need at least four bottles to make it work. Can't say how it compares to a chiller since I don't own one. Maybe it's not as efficient but it's dang near free.

 

[azscoob]

I also use a cooler full of ice and a pond pump, I collect the hot water for cleaning equipment until it drops to below 90° then recirculate until I hit my pitching temps, it works great for me even when it is over 118° outside in the summer.

 

[RugenBrau]

in the past Ive just frozen water in small better bottles and given them a soak in iodaphor and dumped them into the wort. I don't freeze them full... that way the cap is always above the wort and no worry about leaks. Everyone says it is not the safest way, and I won't argue, but I have never had a problem. Neither has the guy who showed it to me.
This past weekend I borrowed an immersion chiller. It was -5 and I have a 40 gallon water tank in a well house. My water temp was 45. I cooled 5 gallons down in less than 10 minutes. During the summer the water temp is usually 55 so guess what I'm building before my next brew?

 

[Slowfro]

I just bought a 3-burner system with pump and keggles and the whole bit, and it came with a plate chiller. I know the flow directions for beer in/out and water in/out, but I'm curious if people leave the chiller itself sitting out in the open environment or if they do something like submerge it in cold water to dissipate the heat from the block at all. I only ask because I ran some hot water through it to rinse the lines and just that made it very hot to the touch. Obviously it will cool more efficiently if it's put in a cooler environment, but I'm not sure if there are any downfalls to submerging it or if it's even required to get the beer down to temp. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[pfooti]

Yeah, I use a copper coil and a 1/4 HP utility pump I got from a hardware store on sale. I use the first batch of hot water to do things like run backwards through my MLT outflow valve (rinsing it) and generally collect it for cleaning with. After the outflow falls to reasonable temp, I recirc and throw in a bag of ice. How much ice, when you change from dumping to recircing, and other factors all depend on your type of chiller and its efficiency, the flow rate of your pump, and your water temp, so YMMV.

 

[edsrockin]

i am new to brewing but on the three partial-boil extract batches i have done, i've been able to get my wort down to pitching temps w/in 20 min. each time. the first was only 2.5 gal. as the kit instructed, but the other two were 3 gal. i may try 3.5 next time.

anyhoooo .... since my sink isn't big enough to hold my 5 gallon brewpot, i bought a big plastic tub from wallymort and spread one bag of ice across the bottom. this allows me to place my brewpot in it without melting the plastic. ;j i then pack two more bags of ice and spread around the outside of the brewpot. then vigorously stir the wort until it is down to pitching temps. our local drive-thru beer store gives two bags of ice away/case purchase and if not buying beer they sell for $1 a bag. hard to argue, cheaper than running water if you ask me.

i have been tempted to add a gallon of cold water to the wort instead of the fermenter to bring it up to quantity, but have not yet as what i have been doing seems to have worked out (so far). i have also considered taking a sealed container full of ice and swirling it around (after sanitizing it of course) but again, what i have been doing .... so far, so good.

good luck

 

[Rob_B]

I live near Tampa and have the same problem with ground water so I bought the Blichmann Therminator plate chiller. It's a bit pricey and is the Cadilac of my brew system, but it does a great job getting to pitching temps quick without any ice or too much runoff water.

 

[azscoob]

I live near Tampa and have the same problem with ground water so I bought the Blichmann Therminator plate chiller. It's a bit pricey and is the Cadilac of my brew system, but it does a great job getting to pitching temps quick without any ice or too much runoff water.

What is your ground water temp? I tried using a friends plate chiller, but with 103° ground water here in the summer, I still had to use ice and my pump.

 

[Rob_B]

This time of year it's fairly cool at about 70* and is a bit warmer in the summer but holy hell it's no where near 103*! What kind of plate chiller was it? I understand their performance varies from brand to brand. But if I had those temps to contend with I would be using ice too. Even South Florida doesn't get as hot as it does in AZ, thank god for coastal living.

 

[miafunk2003]

I think im gonna put my keggle in an ice bath and at the same time run my wort chiller and see if that helps ....thaks for all the great ideas!!

 

[shroomzofdoom]

I fill my bottling bucket with ice water and run that through the IC-pump or gravity feed.

Use the sink to get below 80, then ice water to get down to 65

 

[KevinM]

How about using those frozen bottles or chill packs in place of ice for that cooler filled with water and a aquarium pump for use with the wort chiller? This way, you're not concerned with the whole ice/water usage there either. (I'm aiming for that one when I get a cooler, clear out my freezer, plus since this apartment's fridge has a defrost cycle that melts my normal ice, it'll keep a good steady temperature.)

If you want, you can stick the cooling pot in another ice bath at the same time?

 

[brewguy82]

i ussaully use my mr beer fermenter for small 2 gallon batches and cool in my freezer for a lil while

 

[miafunk2003]

what size pump do you use?

 

[graduate]

If you had two ICs you could precool the tapwater through the first one in cooler of ice. That should bring the temp down sufficiently to cool wort with second IC. Here in western NY my well water comes out of the ground 51 degrees in winter and 54 in summer.