IC - pump - Ice water - pictures

[Brewer3401]

Got a 330 gpm pump
Went from 106 F to 63 F (same amount of ice & still 10 minutes) (240 gpm 106 F to 75 F)
The increased flow improved the cooling by 12 degrees.
I may shorten the IC a little more to see what happens.

The wort stirrer is a 280 rpm gear motor. I had the impeller made @ work. Tested with small pieces of newspaper and it does provide a good flow through the IC

My pot is completely covered using the wort stirrer. Have a piece of s/s that covers it. Has a hole for impeller to fit through.

 

[rod]

wow!
i thought my pre-chiller in ice water in the laundry sink was hi tech!
congrats:rockin:

 

[Beerrific]

What size is your IC?

I have a high tech stirrer too, my arms and spoon

I have 25' of 3/8'' and am going to add a 330gpm (was going to be 220 but..) and ice. Hope this will give me a better cold break and can get down COLD for lager.

 

[Brewer3401]

I have 3/8", and after I modified it, I probably have an actual 35' in the pot.

Yes, get the 330 gph. It makes a big difference from the 240 gph.

The 240 had a head of 7 or 8, where the 330 has a head of 12.

I got the wort to 50 F last week by using the 240 gph. (did need 2 large bags of ice, and took 20 minutes or so, and I started close to 95 F).

With the 240 and one bag of ice (and starting at 95-100 F instead of 106 F), I'll be down to below 60 in 20 minutes. (Boiling to 100 F with tap water takes 10 minutes)

 

[Beerrific]

I have 3/8", and after I modified it, I probably have an actual 35' in the pot.

Yes, get the 330 gph. It makes a big difference from the 240 gph.

The 240 had a head of 7 or 8, where the 330 has a head of 12.

I got the wort to 50 F last week by using the 240 gph. (did need 2 large bags of ice, and took 20 minutes or so).

With the 240 and one bag of ice (and starting at 95-100 F instead of 106 F), I'll be down to below 60 in 20 minutes. (Boiling to 100 F with tap water takes 10 minutes)

That is awesome. So hopefully with the 25' of 3/8'', ice and 330gph pump I can get down to the 40s in a reasonable time...maybe 40 minutes.

Great demonstration, thanks for the post.

 

[Brewer3401]

That is awesome. So hopefully with the 25' of 3/8'', ice and 330gph pump I can get down to the 40s in a reasonable time...maybe 40 minutes.

Great demonstration, thanks for the post.

No problem. I liked Jamil's setup also, but I had the investment made on the wort stirrer already. I just wanted to be able to get cold as fast as possible.

He stated that the 140 F was a critical point. With the tap water run wide open, I'm below that in under 5 minutes anyway.

Please let me know how you do.

What is your final wort volume in your brew kettle ?

 

[Beerrific]

No problem. I liked Jamil's setup also, but I had the investment made on the wort stirrer already. I just wanted to be able to get cold as fast as possible.

He stated that the 140 F was a critical point. With the tap water run wide open, I'm below that in under 5 minutes anyway.

Please let me know how you do.

What is your final wort volume in your brew kettle ?

I usually aim for 5.5 gallons post boil.

Last time with my IC and stiring like crazy I got under 140 in no time.

 

[AiredAle]

That is slick.

Have you thought about throwing some table salt into the ice water to drop the temperature of the water below freezing? If you add 15% by weight of salt to the ice water, the freezing point drops about 20 degrees F. The counter balances are: the viscosity of the salt water goes up a bit, so may flow slower through the copper coil, and the heat capacity of the salt water is probably a little less than pure water.

Never tried it myself, just wondering if it would be worth the trouble to drop the cooling temp to shorten the cooling time.

 

[Beerrific]

That is slick.

Have you thought about throwing some table salt into the ice water to drop the temperature of the water below freezing? If you add 15% by weight of salt to the ice water, the freezing point drops about 20 degrees F. The counter balances are: the viscosity of the salt water goes up a bit, so may flow slower through the copper coil, and the heat capacity of the salt water is probably a little less than pure water.

Never tried it myself, just wondering if it would be worth the trouble to drop the cooling temp to shorten the cooling time.

I was think about that too. I know people use rock salt (BTW rock works better for this kind of thing) in an ice bath with their pre-cillers.

I was thinking that corrosion might be a problem but just looked that up and standard copper barely corrodes in salt water, at these contact times their would be no problem.

One other possible problem is its effect on the pump. Doubt that is an issue because these pumps can handle some nasty pond water, just want to rinse when done.

Maybe we can talk Brewer3401 into being the guinea pig again and try this next time. I will probably do it when I brew my lager (number 4 on my list) later this year.

 

[Brewer3401]

Helpful hint:

If you run your output back into your bucket with the ice/water, you'll melt the ice faster.

I played with this on Sunday.

I diverted the output so that there was just enough water for the pump to move through the IC.

I believe this "saved" or prolonged the life of the ice. (save a little on ice, or can get a little lower wort temp with the same amount of ice).

I'll try the salt trick. Only thing, it may cut the pump a little if it's not dissolved completely.

 

[Whiskey]

Glad it worked out for you!

As far as the salt goes, as long as it is completely disolved you should not have any issues. Just make sure that you rinse the pump when you are done, the salt will crystalize on the impeller and internal pump parts when it dries out.

I need to dig up a 110 V to 12v converter, I have a 370GPH 12' HP pump laying around which will be great for this very application.

 

[Brewer3401]

Glad it worked out for you!

As far as the salt goes, as long as it is completely disolved you should not have any issues. Just make sure that you rinse the pump when you are done, the salt will crystalize on the impeller and internal pump parts when it dries out.

I need to dig up a 110 V to 12v converter, I have a 370GPH 12' HP pump laying around which will be great for this very application.

That's a little more than what I just got. Unless you're running some obscenely long IC, you should get good results - good luck.