Immersion Chiller Placement

[ledzilla]

A thought occurred to me while replying to another post. I have an immersion chiller since I don't have a sink big enough to give my kettle an ice bath (it barely even fits into my largest sink). The chiller seems a little too tall for my kettle, so the "hook" bends are a few inches above the rim. This in turn seems to cause the wort to only really cool off at the very bottom since it rests on the bottom, and no convention currents occur. I end up with cold wort at the bottom and somewhat hot wort at the top. Is there a relatively simple method for propping up the chiller so it won't sit on the bottom? I've been trying to think of something but it always comes down to fabrication, of which I am not skilled nor do I know anyone well enough who is. I figure just getting it up an inch or two would suffice.

Although, now that I'm writing this out, maybe using a bungee cord connected to the shelf over the spot I chill the wort?

 

[kh54s10]

Heat rises so it is no surprise that the top is hotter than the bottom. Stir the wort gently to move the cooled wort away from the chiller and to mix the cooled and un-cooled wort.

I would guess that most ICs sit on the bottom of peoples pots.

 

[TallDan]

A few things:

The "hook" bends are not to suspend the chiller up in the kettle, they are to get the connections to the side of the kettle so that any leaks don't drip into it. Mine are several inches above the rim of my kettle.

If the wort is only cool at the bottom, you need to stir the wort or move the chiller around during cooling. You will see a huge improvement in chiller performance just by gently moving the chiller back and forth in the kettle. It doesn't take much movement (don't splash if you're worrried about HSA), just enough to keep the wort moving.

Lastly (and don't expect this to make a big difference in cooling) you can stretch the coils some. My cooler came looking somewhat like this:

and i stretched the bottom coil some so that it looks more like this:

 

[ledzilla]

Ok. I guess this all should have been obvious, but I made an assumption that turned out to be incorrect. Thank you.

 

[mongoose33]

To extend the comments above (which are spot on), here are things that improve the efficiency of an immersion chiller:

1. Temp of water flowing through it. Colder is better, obviously. It takes longer for me in August/September than in March, when the ground is warmer and thus the water coming in is warmer as well. This is why some people in places where the ground is very warm (Florida, for instance) will run the water through a chiller loop in a cooler w/ ice prior to entering the immersion chiller. This helps them to maximize the temp difference between the water/chiller coils and the wort.

2. Volume of flow through it. Faster flow is better/faster as it creates the maximum temperature difference between the coils and the wort.

3. Amount of surface area of the coils. More will chill faster. I have a Jaded Hydra which splits the water flow into three coils increasing the surface area exposed to the wort.

4. Stirring or agitating the wort. As the wort is cooled, if no stirring or agitating is done, cool wort stays next to the chiller, reducing the difference in temp between the coils and the wort. Stirring or agitating keeps the warm wort in contact w/ the coils. You can't just let it sit and expect it to chill effectively.

I used to have a Silver Serpent chiller; I would swish that back and forth in the kettle to keep agitating the wort. I can't do that w/ the Hydra, so I stir in the middle with a long spoon to keep the wort moving.