Immersion chiller fed by ice bath?

[Taquina]

Whenever I use my immersion chiller I get a dramatic temp drop very quickly, but getting to the final yeast pitching temperature seems to take forever. I just saw a few YouTube videos of some folks who drop a sub - pump into a cooler filled with water and ice (https://youtu.be/MkLUvFEFwZU). I would probably wait to recirculate the water until the wort drops below 100 degrees, but does this actually work? Does anyone do this and, if so, how much ice/water do you need for a 5 gal batch?

Thanks!

 

[billl]

Yes it works. Just run it like normal to get the bulk of the heat out and then switch to the icebath and recirculate until you get to pitching temps. How much ice it uses depends on how low of a temp you start with.

 

[robbyice1]

I run an immersion chiller with ice bath recirc system. I have a rolling ice chest with a submersible pond pump down in the bottom of it. I dump the first 5 gallons of spent hot liquid into a 5 gallon bucket and throw it in the yard... I then recirculate and it takes me only around 15 minutes to get below 70F. I use about 20 gallons of water and 3 bags of ice.. much better and shorter than using hose water for an hour in the summertime...It works great, just be sure to ditch the first 5 or so gallons or all of your ice will melt.

 

[mb82]

I did it about 2 hours ago. I bring my wort to about 110deg then I switch to the icebath. I have about 4 gallons of water with about 15lbs of ice and I use that to get to 60-75deg depending on the yeast I am using. Usually I have some ice left over but not a lot.

 

[fuzzy2133]

Doing it this way is probably the quickest. You do have to pay a little more attention the first few times because the wort can hit into the mid to high 50's with little warning. This does depend on when you start recirculating from the ice bath.

 

[241]

Yes, it works really well.

I run off about two 5 gal buckets worth of water and then fill a third bucket which has my pond pump and several frozen water bottles in it. As it fills, it chills. Once it's 80% full I switch to pumping the ice water. Have a few extra frozen water bottles ready and it will be at pitching temps in no time.

I use the hot water I ran off in my first two buckets to flush out my herms coil, clean my mash tun if any is leftover, half a batch of laundry.

 

[Taquina]

This is great. Thanks!

I think I've hit my gear acquisition limit for this year, but a small submersible pump seems to cost around $12. I assume that 75 gallons per hour is sufficient?

 

[TexasWine]

Just to throw it out there as a no cost option, chill it as much as you can and then put it in the fermentation chamber and let it coast down to pitching temps. Lots of folks, including myself and the guys over at Brulosophy, use this method with no ill effects. It's sort of a hybrid no chill. I'd call it a partial chill.

The only reason I started chilling at all is because I was having a hard time figuring out my hop utilization from the extended time at elevated temperatures.

 

[241]

Just to throw it out there as a no cost option, chill it as much as you can and then put it in the fermentation chamber and let it coast down to pitching temps. Lots of folks, including myself and the guys over at Brulosophy, use this method with no ill effects. It's sort of a hybrid no chill. I'd call it a partial chill.

The only reason I started chilling at all is because I was having a hard time figuring out my hop utilization from the extended time at elevated temperatures.

This is a great option also. My problem is that I tend to brew in the afternoon and waiting for wort to cool if wrapping up at 7 or 8 pm can easily stretch into the a.m.

I did this for several years and never had an infection but with the cheap pond pump, some fittings, tubing and some frozen water bottles I'm pitching my yeast within an hour of cleanup :rockin:

 

[fuzzy2133]

This is great. Thanks!

I think I've hit my gear acquisition limit for this year, but a small submersible pump seems to cost around $12. I assume that 75 gallons per hour is sufficient?

IMO too small that is what I started with and felt the flow was too low. This is what I use now and can pull double duty as a carboy washer pump too.

Edit: Harbor Freight has cheaper pumps with high flow rates however I do not know how accurate their lift height is. Hope fully someone who has first had experience will speak up.

 

[Spartan1979]

This is great. Thanks!

I think I've hit my gear acquisition limit for this year, but a small submersible pump seems to cost around $12. I assume that 75 gallons per hour is sufficient?

The lift is a more important factor. I bought a small pump like that and it couldn't push the weight of the water through my 50' 1/2" chiller. I ended up buying one of these and it works great.

http://www.harborfreight.com/16-hp-submersible-utility-pump-1350-gph-68422.html

 

[TexasWine]

This is a great option also. My problem is that I tend to brew in the afternoon and waiting for wort to cool if wrapping up at 7 or 8 pm can easily stretch into the a.m.

I did this for several years and never had an infection but with the cheap pond pump, some fittings, tubing and some frozen water bottles I'm pitching my yeast within an hour of cleanup :rockin:

Just pitch the next day.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Just to throw it out there as a no cost option, chill it as much as you can and then put it in the fermentation chamber and let it coast down to pitching temps. Lots of folks, including myself and the guys over at Brulosophy, use this method with no ill effects. It's sort of a hybrid no chill. I'd call it a partial chill.

The only reason I started chilling at all is because I was having a hard time figuring out my hop utilization from the extended time at elevated temperatures.

This. I use the cool brewing bag, so with my tap water my wort chills down to 79 degrees or so then I transfer to my fermenter and it usually sits at 78-79 when I pitch my yeast and tuck the fermenter away in the bag with frozen 2 liters. By the time the yeast starts to take off it's down to 68-69 degrees and I have had no issues with this method.

 

[hucklb]

It works great. You just have to consider the dimension of the hose that will work with the pump and the dimension of the hose that ill work with your immersion chiller. As a prior member mentioned, you must have enough HP to get the water through the hosing and the immersion chiller. The pump pictured above will not work with my 3/8 inch chiller.

 

[PGEduardo]

I use ~5 gallons of cold tap water for the initial cold break (stirring with the immersion chiller to maximize heat transfer to the water) and run this into a spare small kettle to use for cleaning the boil kettle and misc brewing supplies, then dump that out on trees later/the next day.

I then use another ~5gallons of cold tap water with frozen water bottles/ice packs to get it near the 90's before sometimes dumping in 10lbs of ice if I'm in a hurry to pitch the yeast. That water then gets dumped on trees/plants as well.

If it's late and I'm brewing a dark beer/wheat beer (don't care about clarity as much even though that's debatable), I'll just pop the kettle lid on and let it cool off slowly overnight, then rack into a carboy and place in the ferm. chamber to get to the right temp before pitching. This does save some water for those of us out west...

 

[PGEduardo]

It works great. You just have to consider the dimension of the hose that will work with the pump and the dimension of the hose that ill work with your immersion chiller. As a prior member mentioned, you must have enough HP to get the water through the hosing and the immersion chiller. The pump pictured above will not work with my 3/8 inch chiller.

Embarrassing confession time...

I have been known to "suck-start" my immersion pump if it didn't have enough pressure head to get the water "over the elephant's hump". Once you do this, you can get the benefit of siphoning and it works great...


:cross:

 

[hucklb]

With good planning, another toy or two and maybe a little Starsan you may be able to use the same pump to aerate your wort.

 

[hartlesj]

I put about 15lbs of ice in a cooler with just enough water to cover the intake of the sump pump. I start running the water from the tap through until it reaches about 140, then switch to recirculating from the ice water in the cooler, through the IC, then back into the cooler. I used to use just a plastic drink tub, but switched to a cooler to slow the ice from melting while I do the mash and boil. I started switching at 110 but noticed I had a lot of ice left and started slowly working my way up in temp as the switch point. I figure the earlier I switch, the less water I waste. At 140, I still have a bit of ice left as the wort reaches 65 deg, so next batch i'm going to go a bit earlier, say 145 deg or so.

 

[KPBrews]

Smaller pumps work fine, depending on your setup. If you have to have water on the ground and the wort is 4' up on a stand or kitchen stove, you need more power. But realize that many people only use gravity and a siphon to run water through their immersion chiller coils. That's all I had last run and it worked fine. You just need your ice bucket higher than your kettle, and/or the collection bucket to be lower. Next run, I'm adding one of these:

http://www.harborfreight.com/264-gph-submersible-fountain-pump-68395.html

Big sale on this model right now. It's their second most powerful fountain pump, and should work fine. (And if not, for $15, who cares, or return it)

 

[Scriv]

The lift is a more important factor. I bought a small pump like that and it couldn't push the weight of the water through my 50' 1/2" chiller. I ended up buying one of these and it works great.

http://www.harborfreight.com/16-hp-submersible-utility-pump-1350-gph-68422.html

This. I use the same pump and 25' garden hoses, works great.

 

[grimzella]

I saved a bunch of gator aid bottles then fill with water and freeze. maybe about 20 or so. works like a champ!! I also use a small pond pump.