JaDeD Brewing- Hydra

[Jaxmickey]

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Does anyone have any experience with the Hydra wort chiller? Does it work as well as advertised?

~Cheers!

 

[Murphys_Law]

Love mine. One of the best upgrades I've done.

There is a thread here somewhere. Do a search, there are some good reviews.

 

[Homercidal]

Curious as well. I have been wanting to make an IC to replace my CFC for a while now. There are things about an IC that I like over a CFC. If I do, I want to emulate a 2-stage design like theirs. My biggest problem is getting it to fit in my BK with the electric heater element, dip tube, SS float, etc. It would have to be a pretty interesting shape to clear all of that stuff.

 

[Murphys_Law]

Curious as well. I have been wanting to make an IC to replace my CFC for a while now. There are things about an IC that I like over a CFC. If I do, I want to emulate a 2-stage design like theirs. My biggest problem is getting it to fit in my BK with the electric heater element, dip tube, SS float, etc. It would have to be a pretty interesting shape to clear all of that stuff.

I'll try and find the thread I mentioned but in it they have pictures of a custom Hydra where they added legs to raise the IC off elements.

 

[Oldskewl]

Here it is

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=588143&highlight=jaded+hydra

I've been thinking about buying one for a couple months. Always looking for ways to speed up the brew day.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

So, I'll admit that when I bought my hydra, I was on a friday night after a long week after a "few" brews. I'm a cheap-ass brewer, so spending that kind of bank on a chiller was WAY outside my norm. That said, I am totally satisfied, even thrilled, with the performance. In both my 3-vessel and my BIAB, both with whirlpool ports, I get from boil to 70 in 10 minutes or less - faster this time of year. The getting below 70 in the summer takes a lot longer, but with a harbor freight sump pump in a bucket of ice water, I can get to lagering (45F - 47F) temp in just a few minutes more once I'm to 70F.

If I had tried one before buying it, I would still have bought it sober.

 

[brewbama]

I gotta pile on: this thing rocks! I simply lift and lower it until the intake and output feel the same which is about 10 min. Everyone I show is amazed at the science behind such a simple device.

 

[Konadog]

I would agree, it works like it should, the best part is cleaning. Very easy to spray off with a hose and your done.

 

[Thorrak]

I bought a hydra because I was tired of waiting 25-30 minutes to chill down my wort with my old IC. Mind you - I do 2.5 gallon batches, so take this with a grain of salt, but without stirring the Hydra managed to drop my wort to pitching temps in about 5 minutes.

Highly, highly recommended.

 

[breckenridge]

I had one and sold it in favor of a plate chiller...but honestly cannot recall why at this point. The recent article on the HBT home page does a nice job of comparing chiller designs.

The author complains of nooks and crannies making the Hydra tough to clean, but I never found that to be the case. I'd spray it off when cleaning so it was visibly clean immediately after each use, then dunk it in a brew bucket full of sanitizer immediately before chilling (I always have one around on brew day -- is that weird?).

Anyway, I liked this method better than putting the IC in at 15' because it doesn't interrupt the boil, and the chiller got cool from the sanitizer as well as nice and shiny!

One thing the article doesn't address is water consumption. I didn't do any precise head-to-head measurements of how much the Hydra took v the Therminator, but both were over 15 gallons to cool a 10 gallon batch, FWIW.

 

[mux11]

wish i would have gotten it sooner. cant.speak to other chillers but I go from boil to pitch temp in about 5min. this has sped up .you processes that I can knock out 3, 5 gal batches in one day comfortably. I really like not having to wait overnight for the wort to cool! now I'm looking for a burner so I can get to boil faster.

 

[MrBJones]

What are the specs for a Hydra? Length and diameter of tubing, including the inlet and outlet pieces.
Thanks

 

[LRS_Brewer]

I am bumping this string for the same questions as MrBJones. Specifically, Jaded shows the vertical height from floor to the bottom of the horizontal inflow and outflow tubing to be 20"and 25". I am looking for confirmation on this d I'm someone who owns it. I am looking at a 15 gallon BIAB kettle that is 19.75 inches tall, and need to know for sure if the 20" will be tall enough. I only plan on buying one, and would like to go with the 20" if possible.