Immersion cooler; wow, I had no idea!

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

szap

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
188
Reaction score
64
I recently purchased a larger brew pot that allows me to do full boils. I also finally broke down and purchased a 25' immersion cooler. OMG, I wish I had known 12 months ago how well these coolers work! I did my fist BIAB and had 5 gallons of wort. Immersion cooler took it down to upper 70's in less than 15 minutes. Now granted, it is still fairly cold here in Missouri and the water running through the hose was pretty cold, but the previous 5 gallon batch I cooled in a tub with ice water took almost 40 minutes. Thought I would post this for anyone who has been considering a cooler, but has been putting it off. For me, it was money well spent!
 
Mine can drop a 5 gallon batch to 60 in under 5 minutes with ice water, and well under ten using hose water. They work really good if they are done right.
 
Yea I had the same experience lol. I stole my Dads turkey fryer last time we were up visiting and bought an immersion cooler at the same time and was blown away at how quick it works. Never going back to ice baths in the kitchen sink again lol
 
"Mine can drop a 5 gallon batch to 60 in under 5 minutes with ice water, and well under ten using hose water."


Poptarts, are you running ice water through the immersion cooler, and , if you are, how are you doing that?
 
"Mine can drop a 5 gallon batch to 60 in under 5 minutes with ice water, and well under ten using hose water."


Poptarts, are you running ice water through the immersion cooler, and , if you are, how are you doing that?

It is easy in winter. Night before my brew I set a 15 gal tub filled with water outside. It gets pretty icy over night. When time to chill I have a small pump I hook to the chiller lines. If there is snow on the ground I will throw some in as well.
 
I hope this is isn't a silly statement but I am sure someone doesn't know, make sure you stir your wart or move your IC around a bit, I have found that IC can cause cold and hot pockets, I can watch my thermometer drop and drop fast only to stir the wart and watch it clime right back up again.

Another trick, spend $20 bucks at the hardware store and by 10' of copper tube, coil it up and use this in an ice bath, it will bring ice cold water to your wart IC and drop it even faster to a more controlled temp that your ground water my not reach.

Summer months work best for this trick.
 
"Mine can drop a 5 gallon batch to 60 in under 5 minutes with ice water, and well under ten using hose water."


Poptarts, are you running ice water through the immersion cooler, and , if you are, how are you doing that?

Yes. I have a 20 gallon brute trash can that i fill up with water and snow on or before brew day and I pump it out with a sump pump threw my chiller. Only uses 15 or so gallons. I have no running water in my garage so I have to use a pump all the time. But yea if there is snow on the ground its easy to make ice water.
 
Haha, I'm in AZ....water is warm pretty much year round. I just upgraded from a 20' chiller to a 50' chiller and demoted my old chiller to pre-chilling duties in an ice bucket....needless to say the new setup works incredibly well...


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
I made 1 and used it on my last brew and was very happy with it!! They really work!!!
 
I'm in TX so water is always warm. I make an ice bath in my kitchen sink which the brew pot sits in. I then use a small aquarium pump to pump the same ice bath water through my immersion chiller.

Figure, I'm chilling it from the inside and outside.
 
I literately just finished making mine. 3/8" OD soft copper coiled around a ball lock corny. Soldered in 4 90 degree elbows, made sure to clear to pot so hose fittings won't leak in and i also soldered about 4" of every 5th coil together to tighten it up some. Going to put in boiling water and run star san through it just to make sure its all clean before the first dip this weekend.
 
I suggest everyone put their new copper chiller in a vinegar bath for a couple of days to pull out any chemicals. It'll turn your bucket vinegar blue from all the chemicals seeping out. Then just put it int he boil the last 15 minutes and it will sanitize it. I love my 25ft one.
 
While I can't speak to there being chemicals in your new copper chiller, or the effectiveness of a vinegar soak in pulling them out, I'd guess that it turns blue because of copper acetate compounds produced when the acetic acid reacts with the copper. Copper (II) Acetate
 
I love my IC too. I really need to rig up a pump to use ice water. Partially to cool faster, and partially to not use quite so much water.
 
If you don't know about it already Google "Jamil Chiller" or something similar. It is a combo whirlpool/chiller technique. I whirlpool and cool 12 gallons of wort down to lager temps in about a half hour. Ale temps in 20 min or so. Love it.
 
I made a 50' IC and then I bought a fountain pump from harbor freight. I bought some quick-connect garden hose fittings and hook them up. I then make a 15-20 gallon ice bath drop the pump in there and away I go. It chills down 5gal in about 10 min.
 
What's better than one IC? Two ICs!

(Or more / larger copper pipe in the one IC, I suppose, but I had this pre-chiller laying around and figured I might as well use it)

double_ic.jpg
 
Back
Top