immersion chiller

[swampfox]

question for yall... i got some stuff to make an immersion chiller for a full five gallon boil what i got was 20 feet of 1/2 OD copper tubing and hose clamps with rubber hose and what not, my question is will this be enough to cool my wort.
im not too concerned with cooling it at warp speed or anything plus the price of copper here is pretty high.

 

[Ace_Club]

It should work, although being in FL, your ground water temperature may require longer chilling periods and you would probably benefit from a pre-chiller. However, I believe it is fairly standard to use 25' for 5 gallon ICs and 50' for 10 gallon ICs, so you should be fine.

 

[JLW]

I have about the same set up and I can chill my wort from a boil to 68-70 in 10 to 15 min.

Using the chiller to swirl the wort will help it chill faster.

 

[swampfox]

i figured it would be ok just thought id check... i tested the water temp and its right around 80 degrees so i think im going to also give it an ice bath while using the IC then eventually make a prechiller

 

[TheDom]

I wouldn't mess around with a prechiller, just get the cheapest POS harbor freight pond pump you can find, and recirculate ice water through your chiller. Use the warm ground water to get down to 110 or 100, then switch over to the pump. It gets much colder water circulating through there than a prechiller ever could, saves water (for those who care), and is cheaper.

 

[JLW]

You can also make a "post chiller". another coil of copper submerged in ice water bath. siphon the beer from the boil kettle through the coil and into the fermenter.

 

[P-J]

i figured it would be ok just thought id check... i tested the water temp and its right around 80 degrees so i think im going to also give it an ice bath while using the IC then eventually make a prechiller

I believe you would be far better off buying a submersible pump from Harbor Freight and then use it to recirculating ice water through your chiller. Use tap water until you drop the temp to about 110° and then switch over. You will use far less ice in the process and waste way less water overall.

Just keep the chiller moving in your wort or stir it. This will cut down your chill time dramatically.


Edit: Getting old sucks. I took way to long composing a reply. As soon as I did I saw this:

I wouldn't mess around with a prechiller, just get the cheapest POS harbor freight pond pump you can find, and recirculate ice water through your chiller. Use the warm ground water to get down to 110 or 100, then switch over to the pump. It gets much colder water circulating through there than a prechiller ever could, saves water (for those who care), and is cheaper.

Good job!

 

[swampfox]

im going to try pumping ice water with a cheap pump... and my loan officer authorized me to get a turkey fryer today off we go to the flea market

 

[JLW]

One other thing I think you could do as a short term fix. I have larger rubbermaid containers I use for bottle storage. I usually have one empty and I use this as my swamp cooler. I also make a nice ice water bath to set the fermenter in to get it even colder. As the temp rises I add frozen water bottles to keep it a consistent temp.

 

[kapbrew13]

I wouldn't mess around with a prechiller, just get the cheapest POS harbor freight pond pump you can find, and recirculate ice water through your chiller. Use the warm ground water to get down to 110 or 100, then switch over to the pump. It gets much colder water circulating through there than a prechiller ever could, saves water (for those who care), and is cheaper.

++1
This method works great but I use a cheap harbor Freight submersible pump. Takes about 16lbs of ice and cools to 68 in about 8-9 minutes.

 

[swampfox]

ok ran my test today and so far its awsome.
using my new uber fryer i got a full five gallons up to steep temp in almost 15 minutes then i let it sit to see what my temp loss is, and i was losing about one degree every three minutes so i put it on the lowest setting and bounced between 155 and 165 to get the feel then went for boil, took almost as long to get to boil as it did to steep but still faster then on my stove.
transfered to the counter top an got from boil to 110/109 in about 15 minutes (very impressed) i stopped there since i wasent realy getting any more heat transfer so im guessing with using a pump and some ice water i can get from boil to pitching temp in a good half hour or less... this makes me very happy.

 

[mcaple1]

One other thing I think you could do as a short term fix. I have larger rubbermaid containers I use for bottle storage. I usually have one empty and I use this as my swamp cooler. I also make a nice ice water bath to set the fermenter in to get it even colder. As the temp rises I add frozen water bottles to keep it a consistent temp.

Huh? We're talking about an immersion chiller, not an aquarium fermentation chamber. I assume that's what you're talking about right?

 

[TheDom]

Glad we could help man. I typically need about 2 of the 8lb bags of ice or two or three frozen gallon jugs to get my wort down to pitching temps. Happy brewing!