Jaded Chillers

[brew703]

Looking to upgrade my IC. Looking at the 3/8" 25' copper IC and the Mantis.
I contacted Jaded and they recommended the Mantis.
I mainly brew 2-3 gallon batches but will be increasing to 5 gallon batches later in the year. Kettle is currently 10 gal.

Anyone who has these chillers would appreciate some info. Just wondering if the Mantis is really worth paying about double vs the 3/8" copper chiller.
The web site claims the Mantis can chill 2.5 gal in 3.5 min using 58 degrees water. During the summer I would have to chill my water and use a submersible pump.

 

[Homercidal]

The mantis is a 2-stage chiller. I don't own one, but the design makes sense to me. When you send cold water through the heat from the wort transfers to the water and the cold from the water goes into the wort. At some point the water reaches a temperature that is very inefficient in conducting heat and cold between them.

With a 2-stage chiller there is more cold coil and less hot coil. Same surface area as a 50ft coil, but it stays colder better.

I think the questions you should be asking, though, is:

a) How fast is fast enough? We have all heard that chilling quickly is important in making the best beer possible. But how fast is fast enough? If you have an IC that chills 5 gallons of boiling wort in 15 minutes, that's WAY better than an ice bath. You may notice your beers are clearer. But by how much? If you upgrade to a 2-stage chiller and can chill the wort in half the time, can you notice the beers being better?

b) Shorten the brewday. You already have an IC. a 2-stage chiller might cut your chill time to half, or less. This means less time getting the same thing done. If you were currently using a CFC or PC your time would be cut by much more since the cleaning of an IC is just a fraction of those. Just dunk in some hot water (That you collected during the chill) and wipe it down.

Only you can decide if it's worth the extra $$. I can tell you that you won't be disappointed in spending less time chilling and cleaning up, no matter if the beer turns out better or not. I think you would be happy with the upgrade for the life of your hobby.

Just don't forget to turn your heat off when you get done sanitizing the chiller. Not doing that can add long minutes to your brewday!

 

[brew703]

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the info.