Immersion and/or plate chiller dilemma

[Brewer dad]

I am in the process of building my new electric recirculating BIAB setup(more on that here). I have largely accumulated my gear on the secondary market via folks moving almost entire brewing setups for great prices(read with almost everything I need minus minor parts left I finally exceeded the price of the new spike kettle I was originally looking at).

As a result I have an immersion chiller designed for the 20 gal spike kettle I picked up(with a built in whirlpool arm), as well as a plate chiller. I am wondering if anyone has ever tried to use both, such as initially chill with the immersion and finish with the plate. I have two pumps so could always do something like recirculate ice water for the plate.

However I understand that there can be complications especially with the plate chiller for things like hop matter. As well I am trying to make this system do both five and ten gallon batches, and with the false bottom a lot of the immersion chiller will be above the liquid level. So I think I will need to tailor what I do to the size of the batch.

Really here I am looking to see how I can use both these items in conjunction(if that is feasible) in a system, rather than make this a which is better post.

 

[mschoeffler]

I have started using the immersion to get the temperature down to 160 to lock in the aroma hops and then send it through the plate chiller. I do a retrograde PBW, then hot water, then StarSan series to clean the chiller. I still take it apart yearly and still have debris…sanitized debris.

 

[Velnerj]

Put your immersion chiller in a bucket of ice water, connect that to the plate chiller so that the plate chiller is using ice cold water through it. You'll have cooled wort in no time at all.

 

[Deadalus]

I have used both on my 3 vessel 2 pump EHERMS. I had a Therminator PC which does not come apart. I used a hop spider with it. I wouldn't let the hops free float with a PC.

As far as cooling, you can recirculate initially with a PC to drop the temperature then do a final pass. The initial recirculation can be done without water to sanitize the PC. Also, you recirculate to drop the temperature to whirlpool hops. The time needed to do that is super fast, not longer than a minute I'd say. Unless you are brewing a lager, you probably won't need to use both.

I happen to have a spare large hop spider I could sell you reasonably, you might be close enough to arrange a meetup ir passing through some time to avoid shipping. DM if interested. I misjudged the size in a picture, thought it was smaller which I needed for my smaller BK.

 

[Climb]

with the false bottom a lot of the immersion chiller will be above the liquid level

Can't you remove the false bottom after the mash? If you can remove the false bottom, it will cause more of the IC to be submerged. It should help a little.

If you plan on running the IC and PC at the same time, think about how your going to plumb that running off of one pump so the second pump can be used to recirculate the wort.

Put your immersion chiller in a bucket of ice water, connect that to the plate chiller so that the plate chiller is using ice cold water through it.

Why not pump the chilled water directly through the plate chiller?

 

[Velnerj]

Why not pump the chilled water directly through the plate chiller?

Exactly my point

 

[Brewer dad]

@Climb there’s a heating element at the bottom of the kettle, would prefer not to rest the IC on it.

@Deadalus I’ve moved away from my hop spider as I feel I get better hop utilizations without it, plus on my current setup the kettle got crowded. I think instead I would add another port to my kettle and put some kind of filter/strainer on it for this purpose. I have the equipment on hand to do it thankfully.

 

[Deadalus]

Adding another port was how I resolved using free floating hops as I have a Hopstopper. I mostly copied @day_trippr 's idea except my rig is electric. Recirculating is too slow through the Hopstopper for whirlpooling IMO, and it clogged the Hopstopper when I tried it. I also use a CFC. I switch drain ports when done whirlpooling. You'll need a significant amount of surface area to any screen you use if the hops are free floating and you whirlpool. That will be very much true with a PC, where you really want complete filtering coming out. That's why I switched to a CFC. I can whirlpool on the open port and switch to the Hopstopper port when transferring to the fermenter. My CFC is ~1/2" on the wort tubing, so no clogging.

 

[hungupdown]

I have started using the immersion to get the temperature down to 160 to lock in the aroma hops and then send it through the plate chiller. I do a retrograde PBW, then hot water, then StarSan series to clean the chiller. I still take it apart yearly and still have debris…sanitized debris.

My worry, is that any remaining debris can go mouldy, even if star-san etc has sterilised its surface.
And that no amount of heat, at next use, can destroy all toxins produced.

So I stick with just an immersion chiller.
But, with living in the Scottish Highlands. The low supply water temperature, means an immersion chiller, usually doesn't take long, anyway.
The supply is normally 12 - 15°C. This summer it is 17°C, so cooling 25L wort to 19° took maybe 20 -25min.

When my Brewzilla (boil) extension tube is fitted, the immersion chiller might only be ¼ submerged. It's a pain having to remove the extension, prior to cooling.
I wish the coil ends pointed up, rather than out.

 

[Dgallo]

Put your immersion chiller in a bucket of ice water, connect that to the plate chiller so that the plate chiller is using ice cold water through it. You'll have cooled wort in no time at all.

I know guys that just put their plate chiller directly an ice water bucket. That gets them to pitching temps into the fermenter. I’m sure using the immersion in that way to the plate will work relatively the same

 

[Jag75]

Do you have have a glycol chiller? Im guessing not . If you dont, id use an ice chest with ice water and pump that through your chiller or submerge your chiller like Dgallo mentioned , Allowing your wort to get to pitch temp quickly.

if you do have a chiller , the plate chiller is sufficient w/o the use of an IC. I have a chiller at home as well as the Brewery. At home I use a CFC , and my Grainfather has a false bottom, so theres no issues of hop sluge getting by.

At the Brewery there is no false bottom, so I use a filter on the inlet of the PC. Sometimes I have to change the filter screen multiple times , depending on the brew.

 

[mschoeffler]

Put your immersion chiller in a bucket of ice water, connect that to the plate chiller so that the plate chiller is using ice cold water through it. You'll have cooled wort in no time at all.

I do that when I’m making lagers. Add a little rock salt and keep stirring.