If you had to buy it all over again, what chiller would you get?

[bob1852]

Here's my situation - my buddy who taught me how to brew (extract) recently moved and took his equipment with him.

In the meantime, I learned how to do AG, so I have everything for that now, except a wort chiller.

We were using a 25' x 3/8" copper IC for 5-6 gallon batches before he moved. I've upgraded to a 15 gallon SS pot and will likely be doing 10 gallon batches in the future. I'm not sure that I'll ever get into 3-tiered systems or pumps or anything like that in the near term.

So, should I get a 50' x 1/2" copper IC? Or should I look at plate chillers or counterflow?

What did you do at this point in your brewing careers, and any regrets?

Thanks for the feedback

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I truly think that the recirculating immersion chiller is the best for homebrewers. It is so versatile and effective. If you have warmish ground water, you can use an ice tank recirculating through the IC to boost cooling power even more.

Check out Mr. Malty for a good write-up.

 

[conpewter]

Well without a pump I'd just go with an immersion chiller. You can use a CFC or plate but it can be slow, and you'll not be able to drop the temp of your whole batch very quickly.

(I have successfully gravity drained through a CFC in an OK time period, but I had about a 12' drop from my back porch to the basement.)

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

I 50' Immersion Chiller would be easier to sanitize, but I prefer my homemade counterflow chiller. The wort will come out whatever temperature my water is, or within a degree F. My water temp is max 84F in the heat of summer, which is still fine for me. I like the CFC over the IC because I can cool and rack to fermenter in the same motion. I had an immersion chiller for a while, and it took a LONG time to cool down 11 gallons of wort. With the CFC it's more a function of how fast you can drain the wort into the fermenter. I now have a pump too, which makes things even easier. Instead of relying on gravity, I can have it laying on the floor while I pump the wort through and into the carboys.

Run some hot water through it, then some starsan/iodophor to sanitize...pretty easy. If you use a pump, just pump the hot wort through for about 5-10 minutes right before you use it...then flush with hot water when you're done.

March Pump + CFC = best purchase for homebrewing I've ever made

 

[illin8]

+1 to the recirc IC...one thing I'd recommend though is running water straight from the tap first and regulate the flow so it isn't too fast and is coming out warm on the other end. After 5-10 minutes, switch it over to the recirculating ice bath. If you did the recirc ice bath initially, the ice WILL melt and you'll have a warm bath BEFORE you are even close to being done. Start with regular spigot water, then switch.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I'd skip the Shirron and get the Therminator.

By recirculating with my Therminator, I drop the batch temp down quickly enough to halt DMS production. And with Acid #5 I have no worries about crud build-up.

10 Gallons to 54*F in 10 minutes was my last session record. Including re-circulatory time.

 

[SumnerH]

Recirc icewater through an immersion chiller.

I don't bother with faucet hookups--it's technically not as efficient to just start recirculating your ice water, but in practice I still have ice left when my wort's below 70 degrees so I'm not really losing anything and in theory I'm getting the wort down to cold break/no-DMS levels a bit faster. Plus I saved money not buying any kind of faucet hookups. With 10 gallon batches that might be different.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Heat transfer is dependent on temperature differential. Using Ice from the start WILL cool your wort faster. Will the time difference be significant... don't know. For my system, I will be doing this:

1. Fill HLT with ice.
2. Fill ice filled HLT with cold tap water from hose.
3. Pump ice water from HLT to IC
4. Direct warmed heat exchange water into the drain
5. Continue to fill the HLT with cold water
6. Continue draining warmed water to drain for first 5 minutes or until wort temp is around 120ºF
7. Reroute return water into HLT and recirculate ice water as normal

While this is going on I will be whirlpooling the wort for turbulence.

I think this will be a very good solution.

.........

That is my first step, then with my next upgrade I will have my ******* up and running :rockin: For more info on my Bi Immersion Thermal Coil Heat Exchange System, check my system build thread in my sig

 

[olllllo]

The pivotal question is:

How hot does the tap water get in Pinetop?

If I used strictly tap water in the summer I'd never get cold enough.
If I used strictly ice water I'd go through 50# of ice for a 10# batch.

I use a two stage setup in the summer. During the first stage, I run off into a Shirron plate using tap water, then I run that off into a copper coil immersed in ice water.

My next purchase will be a second plate chiller for the ice phase.

 

[HenryHill]

Yes, the 50' x 1/2" OD refrig line wrapped around a corny is the easiest, cheapest solution to your problem. And copper is still cheap. I secured mine with 14g stripped house wiring at 3 places around the coil for durability, and bent the ties down after this pic was taken.

 

[Tonedef131]

I'd skip the Shirron and get the Therminator.

By recirculating with my Therminator, I drop the batch temp down quickly enough to halt DMS production. And with Acid #5 I have no worries about crud build-up.

10 Gallons to 54*F in 10 minutes was my last session record. Including re-circulatory time.

What are you using to recirculate? I have a Therminator but I quite using it because every time I would try recirculating it would plug my hop-stopper...and without the hop-stopper it plugged the plate chiller within moments.

 

[illin8]

Heat transfer is dependent on temperature differential. Using Ice from the start WILL cool your wort faster. Will the time difference be significant... don't know. For my system, I will be doing this:

1. Fill HLT with ice.
2. Fill ice filled HLT with cold tap water from hose.
3. Pump ice water from HLT to IC
4. Direct warmed heat exchange water into the drain
5. Continue to fill the HLT with cold water
6. Continue draining warmed water to drain for first 5 minutes or until wort temp is around 120ºF
7. Reroute return water into HLT and recirculate ice water as normal

While this is going on I will be whirlpooling the wort for turbulence.

I think this will be a very good solution.

.........

That is my first step, then with my next upgrade I will have my ******* up and running :rockin: For more info on my Bi Immersion Thermal Coil Heat Exchange System, check my system build thread in my sig

This does work but then it isn't really a 'recirculating' system as you aren't returning/recirculating the warm/hot water back into the ice bath. I've done this before (recirculated from the get-go) and the ice melted and had warm recirc water before I was even close to being done.

I think the best compromise is to use the (essentially unlimited supply) cool tap water initially and maintain the increased temp differential, then once the temp gets down substantially (and temp diff is reduced) switch over to the recirc ice bath to bring it down the rest of the way (quicker by way of the increased temp differential). Also, capture all water for clean-up later.

Edit: Just realised I missed your step 7...that'll work but I imagine you'll run out of ice or need another bag. Using the method I mentioned, I only use one large bag from wally-world in my MLT cooler. By the time it's melted i'm down below 80, at the very least. BTW...I use my 70 qt coleman xtreme with manifold in place (after I clean it during the boil) for the ice bath and use a Simer pump to recirculate from the manifold thru the IC and back into the MLT/cooler.

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

I have a 25' CFC & a March Pump. It works quite well, cooling to pitching temps pretty darn quick.

I have 25' of 1/2" laying around, and I think I am going to move to an immersion with recirc.
I just worry about the inside of that CFC ( yes, I run boiling wort for 10 min and clean afterwards, followed by a earplug cleaning ).

I do mostly 5 gal batches.

 

[bob1852]

The pivotal question is:

How hot does the tap water get in Pinetop?

It doesn't get warmer than the high 60's low 70's.

Thanks for all the discussions and thoughts so far everyone keep 'em coming

 

[springer]

I have a 25 and a 50 ft IC. I also have the materials to do a CFC but I just bought a march pump and a Shirron plate chiller . I still may make the CFC if I get bored ...

 

[Catt22]

I've used IC's, two stage IC's, a store bought tubing in a garden hose counterflow chiller and recently built my own CC using 1/2" rigid copper inside of a section of 4" PVC. It works even better than I expected. Cost was under $50 and it was fairly easy to assemble. I pump the hot wort through the chiller and back into the kettle to simulate what many do with whirpooling & IC's.

 

[olllllo]

I'll add that you won't get your wort to lager pitching temps with groundwater that high without using ice. If lagers are in your future, you'll have to consider that.

 

[Catt22]

a couple more shots:

 

[humann_brewing]

a couple more shots:

That looks great! So do you just fill the PVC up with ice water or something?

 

[anemic]

I picked up 25' of 1/4" icemaker tubing from lowes for $8.64. I hooked it up with hose fittings. I partially un-bent the circles of pretty copper and made both ends straight to keep the hose parts out of the wort. It cooled 6 gallons of wort, using pretty slow flowing hose water, to 100 degrees in 9 minutes. I collected the water for reuse, about 12 gallons. My watch said 1 hr 38 minutes when I looked at it; by then, my boil station was entirely cleaned up, my wort was sitting on the kitchen floor at pitching temps, whirlpooling, while I ate dinner with the family. Best $22 I ever spent on brewing gear. I pitched after dinner, racked into the primary. The trub cake was really cool, no bucket dumps was +1. I sanitized a pyrex to aerate a bit for the yeast. Next time I will have a fish tank aerator and a 0.2 um membrane to make sure the aeration air is clean.

 

[Catt22]

Thanks! No, I just run tap water through the PVC full blast and the same for the wort recirculating back to the kettle in a continuous circuit. The goal was to crash chill the wort as rapidly as possible to somewhere around 140 deg. F which is supposed to help lock in the flavor and aroma of late addition hops. My old store bought CC had only 3/8" OD tubing and was much too restrictive and slow for my purposes. I can chill on down to fermentation temperatures for both lagers and ales easily. The lagers in warmer weather require either ice water fed from my HLT or I have the option of placing the fermenters in refrigerators if necessary. During the cooler seasons, plain tap water will get it low enough without the need for ice. What I am impressed with is the fast drop initially which I attribute to a high flow rate through both the pvc and the copper. I'll post some test results timing the temp drops next time I brew which should be a 12 gallon batch in the next few days. One end cap is removable and one is cemented. I don't plan on needing to open up the PVC for any reason, but I can do it without too much trouble if need be. Screws are holding the end cap in place and there are no leaks even when under pressure. The caps fit very snugly on the pipe. I need to take some more pics of this now that it is completely finished. I'll post some more soon. The inlet/outlet for both the PVC and the copper are not yet installed in these photos. I was photographing this while I was building it, but you can get the general idea I think.

 

[Damonic]

... The inlet/outlet for both the PVC and the copper are not yet installed in these photos. I was photographing this while I was building it, but you can get the general idea I think.

Okay, that makes a LOT more sense now. We were all sitting here going, there's only one inlet and outlet???

 

[JesseRC]

How do you get all of the wort out of the chiller, it would seem like you'd lose quite a bit in there.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I Love my CFC over the old IC (which now the innerds of my cfc). But am starting to realize come summer time when ground water ramps up to ~80*F, I will have to abandon hose water and push ice water through it. Which I already have a pond pump I used for pumping ice water through my IC.

 

[bob1852]

I'll add that you won't get your wort to lager pitching temps with groundwater that high without using ice. If lagers are in your future, you'll have to consider that.

no plans for lagers any time soon. It's ale fermenting temps pretty much year round in Pinetop - a little warm during the summer, but manageable with a water bath and frozen bottles.

I'm still leaning towards the IC just ease - it seems like cleaning and maintaining CFC or plate chillers is more than I want to deal with (of course 6 months after I buy a 50' IC, I'll probably have upgraded to plate chiller, pumps, 3-tiered rig, etc...)

Is $105 shipped a decent price for a 50' x 1/2" copper IC? I know copper prices have flucuated so much recently.

 

[IrregularPulse]

no plans for lagers any time soon. It's ale fermenting temps pretty much year round in Pinetop - a little warm during the summer, but manageable with a water bath and frozen bottles.

I'm still leaning towards the IC just ease - it seems like cleaning and maintaining CFC or plate chillers is more than I want to deal with (of course 6 months after I buy a 50' IC, I'll probably have upgraded to plate chiller, pumps, 3-tiered rig, etc...)

Is $105 shipped a decent price for a 50' x 1/2" copper IC? I know copper prices have flucuated so much recently.

Cleaning a CFC is the same as running water through your IC. The same exact copper sticking out the ends.

I would never personally pay $100 for an Immersion Chiller. You can get a 25ft CFC that will chill faster for 70ish

 

[bob1852]

Cleaning a CFC is the same as running water through your IC. The same exact copper sticking out the ends.

I would never personally pay $100 for an Immersion Chiller. You can get a 25ft CFC that will chill faster for 70ish

Do you need a pump for a CFC or will does gravity work? If so, I'll need to get a spigot on my pot

 

[Catt22]

How do you get all of the wort out of the chiller, it would seem like you'd lose quite a bit in there.

Less than a quart of wort is contained inside the chiller pipe. Most of this can be recovered by simply tipping the chiller outlet into the kettle. There are some additional losses in the hoses, but all together not much is lost. I compensate for these losses when formulating my recipe and batch sizes. I brew a lot of 12 gallon batches hoping to get two full five gallon kegs as the end product. Sometimes I will have enough surplus to fill a couple of two liter PET bottles in addition to the two kegs. The losses would be more significant for a smaller batch of five or six gallons, but there again, I simply up my recipe to compensate if need be. It only takes another pound or two of grain to compensate. No big thing at all.

 

[lamarguy]

Do you need a pump for a CFC or will does gravity work? If so, I'll need to get a spigot on my pot

Gravity will usually work. But I would recommend a pump and valve to control the flow rate and blow out any hop plugs that may develop.

And yes, I vote for a counterflow chiller too. I use an "after chiller" in the summer months that consists of 5 feet of copper submerged in ice water after the counterflow chiller to hit ~73F.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Do you need a pump for a CFC or will does gravity work? If so, I'll need to get a spigot on my pot

I used a gravity setup for mine for 5-6 brews. Worked great, but nowhere near the flow that you get with a pump. The higher up you have the boil kettle, the faster the flow will be.