Immersion Chiller or CFC, ahhh...the million dollar question.

[Beavdowg]

I have a 50ft. ribcage design immersion chiller that I've used for the last 1.5 years. It works decently, I get my wort down to 72* in about 40 minutes or so. Part of the problem is that I built it when I was brewing in a 7.5 gal pot. Now I have a 15.5 gal keggle that I boil in so probably 1/2 the coils are out of the wort when I'm cooling (I mostly brew 5 gal batches). I have a friend that uses a CFC and every time I've watched him use it I become very envious of how quickly he can chill his wort. Here's my only concern: I love nice hoppy IPA's and hoppy pale ales so I'm concerned that if I made an immersion chiller I would lose some of my bitterness. This same friend of mine has made a couple IPA's that were noticably less bitter and aromatic than mine done with my IC. I've read on here that others have had similar problems. Are those of you that have CFC's just not brewing hoppy beers or is the accusation all a myth?

I'd love to hear some comments or suggestions from those that have experienced both.

thanks a ton!

 

[bwiens]

Does your friend have a hop stopper in the kettle? If so, I bet it is the extra 40 minutes yours is in the kettle with the hops that make the difference in the hoppiness. Recipe or procedure change can make up for this I bet.

 

[Beavdowg]

Does your friend have a hop stopper in the kettle? If so, I bet it is the extra 40 minutes yours is in the kettle with the hops that make the difference in the hoppiness. Recipe or procedure change can make up for this I bet.

Yes, he does have a hop strainer but once my wort cools down to some degree below boiling there shouldn't be anymore appreciable bitterness imparted. Certainly this might contribute to the aroma, although he takes 10 minutes or so to cool/transfer his wort to the fermentor so it's sitting on the hops for a little more too.

 

[Crogers]

I get 6.5 gal down to under 70 degrees in 12 minutes with my 50' ribcage. 7 minutes down to 90 with tap water (about 10 gallons, used for cleaning), and then switch to recirculating ice water, pumped with a small pond pump, through the IC, to get it down as low as I please. A very consistent 12-15 minutes, depending how low I want to go.

 

[BeerPressure]

what about a whirlpool chilling setup?

 

[Beavdowg]

Anybody have any comments on CFC's impacting good hop bitterness and aroma?

 

[Beavdowg]

what about a whirlpool chilling setup?

I have considered that but 2 things discourage me a little about Jaml's design:
1) The cost of a March pump
2) You still have to transfer into the fermenters. One cool advantage of the CFC is that you chill and transfer in one step.

 

[BeerPressure]

I have considered that but 2 things discourage me a little about Jaml's design:
1) The cost of a March pump
2) You still have to transfer into the fermenters. One cool advantage of the CFC is that you chill and transfer in one step.

Wouldnt you need a pump to have an effective CFC?

once you are done chilling you could disconnect the pump from the jamil design and pump into a fermenter.

 

[Beavdowg]

No need for a pump with an IC. My friend doesn't use one with his CFC. You definitely need gravity though, obviously.