Immersion chiller question

[flyfisherwes]

So linger and bigger is better (that's what she said). But eventually there is a asymptote when you factor in cost. What is the general consensus on w good length wort chiller is? 25 ft? 50ft? Is it worth the extra cost for a 50? I doubt it somehow but I'm hoping for a good explanation (I don't feel like doing the math an I haven't done thermal enough to be confident.)

And it seems that I can get one for cheaper than I can make one. This seems odd as well.

Please help.

Thanks.

 

[Kaz]

How much wort are going to need to chill? Longer is better to a point, you have to figure, you have cold water flowing into hot wort, eventually the water warms to almost the temperature of the wort surrounding the chiller. At what length that happens is probably predictable based on incoming water temp, wort temp and some other things that I'm too tired to think of. Also, if you have warm ground water, be prepared to only get chilled down to 78-80F with an IC alone. That being said, I think my chiller is about 25' long and gets my 6 gallons from 212-75F in about 15-20 minutes with some good stirring.

 

[day_trippr]

What size tubing? 3/8"? 1/2"?

For 3/8" I think the sweet spot is closing in on 50 feet, but I expect you could get virtually the same performance with 25 feet of 1/2"...

Cheers!

 

[ozzy1038]

One key to maximizing transfer and waste less water is to slow the flow. You don't want to run the water full blast. I use a 25' 1/2" ID IC. It doesn't take long to get it to around 100F then I switch to my ice chilled closed system chiller using a bilge pump in a cooler with water and frozen water bottles hooked up to the IC.

 

[Lucky_Chicken]

I have found 25' of 3/8" gets the output about the same temperature as the input, i would think 50' of 1/2" would be close to the same. However I use 2 runs of 25' 3/8" and it cools a lot faster. I get 212F down to 70F in just under 7 minutes.

 

[sudsmcgee]

I can tell you this much, I have two immersion chillers (one 40 ft and one 25 foot) and on my last 11 gal beer I used both at the same time. It didn't really cool any faster than the 40 ft. one by itself. I'm not sure why this was the case, but I it still took forever to get from 90 down to 65. My water is currently in the low 60s.

I also have a pump in an ice bath for times when my water is above 70.

 

[flyfisherwes]

Thanks fellas.