Immersion Wort Chiller , Flow direction???

[Esmitee]

Hey Guys, I'm making a chiller and wanted to know about this. If you have a Immersion Wort Chiller , where does the water go into your chiller.

#1 Does the cold water start at the top of the coils and go down and exit from the bottom?

OR

#2 Does the cold water go down to the bottom of the coils and exit from the top of the coils?

#3 Don't make a difference?

I'm thinking it starts at the top of the coils and exits from the bottom?

I've been looking at pics of them on different sites that sell them. It's hard to tell whats what with the 2 connections at the top.



I may be thinking wrong, If the cold water was starting at the top and going down to the bottom, It would be bringing warmer temps with it, in a cooler part of the kettle????? RIGHT ?

 

[mux]

I don't think it matters, cold water in-hot water out. Control the flow for more efficient use of water.

 

[BrewKnurd]

I may be thinking wrong, If the cold water was starting at the top and going down to the bottom, It would be bringing warmer temps with it, in a cooler part of the kettle????? RIGHT ?

Eh?

I think there is an advantage to starting at the top with the cooling water. The reason is that you will cool the top of the wort first. Cool wort = denser wort, so the now cooler wort at the top will be denser than the hotter wort at the bottom, and so it will start sinking, creating some natural circulation.

If you go the other way, you cool the bottom, and the denser cool wort is content to just sit there.

 

[mux]

Eh?

I think there is an advantage to starting at the top with the cooling water. The reason is that you will cool the top of the wort first. Cool wort = denser wort, so the now cooler wort at the top will be denser than the hotter wort at the bottom, and so it will start sinking, creating some natural circulation.

If you go the other way, you cool the bottom, and the denser cool wort is content to just sit there.

Wouldn't you stir the wort while cooling?

 

[BrewKnurd]

Wouldn't you stir the wort while cooling?

I don't. You can if you want. I prefer to have my wort covered while cooling to minimize exposure to air and the potential contamination contained therein.

Some people have whirlpool chiller setups where they use a pump to circulate the wort as its chilling, and in those setups, i imagine the direction in which you run the water is pretty near irrelevant.

 

[Palefire]

Some people have whirlpool chiller setups where they use a pump to circulate the wort as its chilling, and in those setups, i imagine the direction in which you run the water is pretty near irrelevant.

This. If you stir while chilling (which really does significantly shorten chill time), direction doesn't matter at all. If you don't, having cooler water coming into the top will probably help a little. Whether that little will end up being a noticeable amount of time, I don't know.

 

[BrewKnurd]

This. If you stir while chilling (which really does significantly shorten chill time), direction doesn't matter at all. If you don't, having cooler water coming into the top will probably help a little. Whether that little will end up being a noticeable amount of time, I don't know.

Yeah, I should say that I also have no idea how much difference the flow direction might have, only that cold water coming in the top is theoretically better. Whether it's enough to notice? No idea.

 

[mux]

Definitely faster to stir while chilling.

 

[gunner65]

Stir with a wire whisk to aerate at the same time.

 

[Hang Glider]

yes. otherwise the 'natural' circulation is very slow, and the center doesn't really move at all. There's just a small cascade from the top wrap of coil to the bottom wrap.

I've cooled uncovered for 10 years, and cannot verify that any random infection 'dropped in' during this phase - (although I found out to replace my tubing regularly !)

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

The flow direction will have a negligible affect on cooling times. The biggest advantage you can gain in cooling is stirring the wort around the chiller (or just use the chiller to stir). Convection flow within the kettle will be very small and you will end up with fully cooled wort directly next to the coils thereby negating the temperature differential between the chilling water an the wort it is interacting with. That drastically lowers the heat transfer between your full volume of wort and the chilling water.

Long and short, flow direction doesn't matter, creating turbulent flow around the coils in the wort does.

 

[starman]

The maximum delta over the entire length of the coil (without stirring) would be cold entering on the bottom. Unless you live life with a stopwatch in one hand, i doubt it matters.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

In a standard 5g setup with a 25' 1/2" chiller, stirring will drop your cooling time approximately in half. To some that may not matter; to most saving time is the whole reason to spend money on a chiller.

If you are worried about covering the kettle, just swirl the kettle with the wort and chiller in it. you don't need to go too crazy to get a turbulent flow around the chiller, you just need the wort to be actively moving.

Or not. That will just make it chill faster.

 

[Lucky_Chicken]

Stir with a wire whisk to aerate at the same time.

Dont do this until after its cooled! That would be hot side airation causing off flavors.

 

[Esmitee]

OK Guys, Thanks for your opinions. I'm taking it as it DON'T Really MATTER

I decided to put the same threaded 1/2" male ends on both the Intake, and the output pipes. I'll then put hose connectors on them.

That way I can switch them around for experimenting to see what way works best.

I'll start by supplying from the top of coil.

Talk about being ANAL......hahahahahahah

I'll never do the swapping anyway

 

[Hang Glider]

OK Guys, Thanks for your opinions. I'm taking it as it DON'T Really MATTER

as long as I move the wort around!

there - fixed that for ya!

 

[Esmitee]

there - fixed that for ya!

yes ... I did my 1st AG batch on the 31, 5.5 gal, from boil to 65 in 10 minutes.

Wow what a time saver, BTW the water goes from the top down to the bottom LOL

We totaly stired and could watch the temp go down right before our eyes.

This is a great brewing tool.