Impact of flow rate through IC

[Keith81]

I was wondering if there was a formula for estimating how much quicker chilling may be if the only variable changed was faster flow rate of water through the chiller?

I currently use a 25' immersion chiller recirculating ice water with a small aquarium pump after collecting the first 5 gallons to use for clean up water. I use my Blichmann Riptide to whirlpool the wort during chilling.

I ran a test and found that if I used the Riptide instead of the aquarium pump flow rate was twice as fast.

I'm trying to decide between getting a second brew pump (which I could utilize for other tasks) and using that for whirlpool and the Riptide for chill water or getting a different submersible pump that would increase flow more than the Riptide but wouldn't be as useful for other tasks.

Ultimately my goal is to cut my chill time from an hour to 30 minutes or less without getting a new chiller (a new chiller is in future plans but I have to decide what I want and save up for it).

 

[GPP33]

Immersion chiller? If you want to speed it up put the kettle in a big tub of ice water. There's a lot of variables at play to give you a firm answer but ultimately the bigger the temp differential between your wort and your cooling water the quicker heat will transfer. It stands to reason that higher flow rates would result in more thermal capacity going in which will mean quicker cooling of the wort, this assumes you can manage the temp of the reservoir so you don;t start pumping warm water in.

 

[IslandLizard]

Use regular (tap) water first until the entire wort is within 20-30F from your water source's temp, and save your ice until you get to that. Then start using iced water, that's where it counts.

With ICs either the wort should recirculate or being pumped/stirred around and/or the chiller moved around in the kettle to extract as much heat as possible during a given time span. The flow rate of the chilling water won't make much difference if the chiller is standing still surrounded by a pocket of cooled wort. Always measure the chiller's exit temp to get an idea how your chilling process is working at any time.

 

[Keith81]

Use regular (tap) water first until the entire wort is within 20-30F from your water source's temp, and save your ice until you get to that. Then start using iced water, that's where it counts.

With ICs either the wort should recirculate or being pumped/stirred around and/or the chiller moved around in the kettle to extract as much heat as possible during a given time span. The flow rate of the chilling water won't make much difference if the chiller is standing still surrounded by a pocket of cooled wort. Always measure the chiller's exit temp to get an idea how your chilling process is working at any time.

Since I started collecting the first 5 gallons of hot water before recirculating the chill water I have plenty of ice, there is usually ice still floating in the cooler when I get the wort down to 65 F.

I keep the wort flowing around the coils by whirlpooling the wort with my Riptide pump (I have Brew Hardware's SpinCycle in the kettle).

 

[IslandLizard]

Since I started collecting the first 5 gallons of hot water before recirculating the chill water I have plenty of ice, there is usually ice still floating in the cooler when I get the wort down to 65 F.

I keep the wort flowing around the coils by whirlpooling the wort with my Riptide pump (I have Brew Hardware's SpinCycle in the kettle).

You can save 3/4 of your ice by not using ice for the first 100-120°F drop. Alas, you'll use around 2 times the amount of water instead. But water is usually cheap, ice is not.

Yes, "whirlpooling" or recirculating evens out the temp gradients in the kettle.