Love my new immersion chiller

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neckbone

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Bottled my red ale, and brewed my Blue Moon clone today. Man, I love my new immersion chiller. Went from boiling to pitching temp in 11 minutes. So much better than 45-50 and 40 lbs of ice. Thanks Bobby M.
 
I am right there with you...perhaps one of the best brew equipment investments I have made in a while combined with my turkey fryer. Full boils and quick cold breaks!
 
brewt00l said:
I am right there with you...perhaps one of the best brew equipment investments I have made in a while combined with my turkey fryer. Full boils and quick cold breaks!


Yeah this is where I'm heading right now. Just trying to figure out what I need and want. Looks like I will be getting a 11 gallon SS pot and a 40' immersion chiller 1/2".
I will be doing a full boil with steeping grains for my next batch...I can't wait!
Do you taste a difference in your beers since you started doing full boils and using a chiller?



Dan
 
Just got my immersion chiller yesterday. :ban: I bought a brewing equipment kit from my local home brewing store, but they didn't have the immersion chiller in stock. They gave me the other equipment and said that they would call when the immersion chiller was in. It was a long three weeks waiting for that sucker! I used an ice bath on my first two batches. I can't wait to try the immersion chiller.
 
Mine took 10 min today to cool a 3 gallon boil.
They work great if you monitor the 'outflow' for heat. If it's cold it's not working - gently moving the immersion chiller sideways to another area of the pot can help with getting heat out.
 
Willsellout said:
Do you taste a difference in your beers since you started doing full boils and using a chiller?



Dan

I am currently brewing the best beer I have ever brewed but I think it is a combination of improvements in technique, equipment and ingredients....full boils and the chiller are part of that equation but hard to pin down exactly what percentage if you know what I mean.
 
Caplan said:
Mine took 10 min today to cool a 3 gallon boil.
They work great if you monitor the 'outflow' for heat. If it's cold it's not working - gently moving the immersion chiller sideways to another area of the pot can help with getting heat out.

I was just going to mention this. You need to keep just enough water flowing for the outflow water to stay warm/hot. The key for the immersion chiller is for the heat to be transferred from the wort to the water in the chiller. If it's cold coming out, slow down the volume so that heat is transferred.
 
Neckbone. Actually running the water as fast as possible will cool the fastest. Now, if you care about wasting water, then you're point is well taken. Running it fast guarentees the highest possible temperature delta which cools faster but wastes water.

In any case, the absolute fastest way to cool is to make sure the wort is whirlpooling the whole time. It requires that I use my sanitized paddle about 3 times in a 5 minute cooling period.

Glad you like the chiller by the way.
 
chillers?? why? are we learning how the sew curtains next?? make a wort sickle and you can chill in pracitcally the same amount of time and you can keep your manhood...(ha, ha, ha)
but seriously we are getting a little crazy about all the equiptment we need just to do the same thing that men/women have been doing for centuries. we need to start a movement of simple brewing, no fancy ss pot with a built in thermometer, or bottle washer, autosipons etc. less is more, simpler is better. who is with me....i cannot hear you!!!!!!!!!!!
 
No one is with you. We're all gadget freaks and it makes life easier (not to mention killer cold break). Try cooling a full boil all grain batch with your ice and then come nay saying. I chill to pitching temp in 5 minutes with a chiller.
 
I built my own immersion chiller (20ft of 3/8 copper). Cools down 5 gallons in about 10 minutes. I have been cooling to 85 - 90 degrees and then aerating by bucket to bucket transfer. After a few transfers, the wort is 70 - 75 degrees, nice and bubbly and ready for yeast.

One way to speed up the process is to run the water fully open and stir your wort. This keeps the wort at even temp to cool quicker. Once you get down to your desired temp, let the break material settle if you so choose and drain.
 
i guess this is just another showing for this sissafication of america...at least boldone made his own. that is the american spirit!

what about tradition, what about history, what about living life as simple as possible....i guess we are bound to our cell phones, e-mail and pagers. oh yah i guess pagers are so yesterday. how about blackberries.

i may have to head to my LHBS and pick up one of those chiller things and see for myself how the others half lives, for experimental purposes only of course.
 
Bobby_M said:
Neckbone. Actually running the water as fast as possible will cool the fastest. Now, if you care about wasting water, then you're point is well taken. Running it fast guarentees the highest possible temperature delta which cools faster but wastes water.

In any case, the absolute fastest way to cool is to make sure the wort is whirlpooling the whole time. It requires that I use my sanitized paddle about 3 times in a 5 minute cooling period.

Glad you like the chiller by the way.

I correct myself, then. Next time, I will run fullblast and see how quick I can get. Maybe I can drop it to 5 minutes. I was always under the impression that if the heat didn't transfer, then it took longer to cool. I did keep the wort whirpooling the entire time, that way I didn't get cool wort next the the coils and hot in the middle.
 
why in god's name is copper so expensive right now? I was going to build my own, but good grief...Looks like I'm sticking with ice baths and diluting with chilled water...
 
Paperface said:
why in god's name is copper so expensive right now? I was going to build my own, but good grief...Looks like I'm sticking with ice baths and diluting with chilled water...

few reasons . . .
China is buying it big time
increases in domestic construction
dwindling supplies
 
thenatibrewer said:
chillers?? why? are we learning how the sew curtains next?? make a wort sickle and you can chill in pracitcally the same amount of time and you can keep your manhood...(ha, ha, ha)
but seriously we are getting a little crazy about all the equiptment we need just to do the same thing that men/women have been doing for centuries. we need to start a movement of simple brewing, no fancy ss pot with a built in thermometer, or bottle washer, autosipons etc. less is more, simpler is better. who is with me....i cannot hear you!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, I haven't heard of a wort sickle and am interested. But at any rate your argument can always be taken to the nth degree. I for one fall into very traditional methods, but it is seems we shouldn't neglect significant improvements. You can of course make beer without a sophisticated chiller. But you gain several things using a coil chiller. One, it is fast. Two, you get a good cold break. Three, you expose your wort in it's vulnerable temperature phase for a much shorter period of time thus decreasing chances for infection. There are no moving parts. You buy it once.

Folks always give the argument "Well back in my day" etc etc. I can't say I agree with that anymore. Just because there are methods out there that work does not mean that they are the best method for a given task. Why not fire your kettle with wood outside? Not trying to be a smart@ss here, just pointing out that bashing modern methods can be in error.

I agree, simpler is indeed better :). An immersion chiller is one of the simplest, most effective methods of cooling wort. How much does it cost to make ice? You can't do that without electricity. Oh and plus it has a higher continual usage cost. My well water is a nice high 40's, low 50's. Sure I need the electricity to pump it, but it costs more to make ice. 1) you still have to pump the water to make the ice. 2) you have to convert it to a solid form. 3) you waste much more because of thermal transfer loss.

If push comes to shove, I can do all the things necessary to make beer...including growing and processing my own ingredients. I can fire a kettle with wood from my land. I can cool it in the stream in the warmer months and in the snow in the cold months. I am even planning on venturing into spontaneous fermentation in hopefully the next year. But there is one major factor in all of this...time cost.

I don't mean to come down on you but it just seems as though you are calling out people that use technological advances as though they were sissies. :D
 
thenatibrewer said:
make a wort sickle and you can chill in pracitcally the same amount of time and you can keep your manhood...(ha, ha, ha)

Are you talking about using ice??? Those of us that are "man" enough to do full boils don't add water to our finished wort.
 
I'm all for KISS but there are some essential pieces of kit to enable to make good beer simply and reliable.

You Need.

A mash tun
A full boil pot
A chiller
A thermometer
A Hydrometer
A fermenter

Yes you can brew without some/all of these but you brewing will not be simpler or easier without them.
 
I think he's talking about taking a 2 liter bottle of ice, sanitize the outside and dip it into your wort to cool. The problem with this is that the outer layer melts and heats up like crazy which creates an immediate barrier between the ice and wort. You can keep removing it and shaking it to better distribute the heat, but now we're venturing into the more trouble than it's worth phase of the arguement.
 
thenatibrewer said:
what about tradition, what about history, what about living life as simple as possible....i guess we are bound to our cell phones, e-mail and pagers. oh yah i guess pagers are so yesterday. how about blackberries.

You're right: we should go back to using a horse and carriage. Better yet, we could all go back to hurling poo and rocks at each other.

Or not.

The irony here is that you are displaying your distaste for modernization on the internet. :drunk:
 
Paperface said:
why in god's name is copper so expensive right now? I was going to build my own, but good grief...Looks like I'm sticking with ice baths and diluting with chilled water...
I know over the summer the world's two largest copper mines we not producing, for varying reasons. Don't know if it's still the case, but yeah copper is expensive.
 
thenatibrewer said:
try the wort cycle, it creates an amazing cold break...and it is cheap.
So does my counterflow chiller...and it cost $30...and I like it. Thank you, however, for providing another technique that works for you.

I prefer gadgets. I love them. I design them, build them, modify them, and use them. It's what I do. As for your sissification comment, tell me if any of this qualifies as being a sissy:

I make my gadgets with my hands, brain, and:
Steel, aluminum, brass, and wood
3 welders - MIG, TIG, and Gas
Plasma cutter capable of shearing 1/2" steel plate
Lathe capable of turning 12" diameter stock 20" long
Mill capable of fly cutting a 4" swath of steel 20" long
Torches, wrenches, shears, impact tools, saws, etc, etc, etc
And when all of those tools fail, I have lots of BIG hammers

Now, I took a little offense to your use of the word, sissy, not because I think it's a bad word, but because I don't consider myself or most other folks here to be worthy of that sort of insult. I take great pride in making good beer with the tools I have (most of which I made). I enjoy making and modifying mechanical things that I can then use to create good beer. That's part of the gratification I get from the entire brewing process. If you enjoy making beer with a less complex set of tools and gadgets, more power to you. But don't insult me because I do things differently. In the end, I make beer in a fairly traditional manner, just like you:

I mill and mash grain, sparge, boil, add hops, cool the wort, and pitch yeast.
 
thenatibrewer said:
chillers?? why? are we learning how the sew curtains next?? make a wort sickle and you can chill in pracitcally the same amount of time and you can keep your manhood...(ha, ha, ha)
but seriously we are getting a little crazy about all the equiptment we need just to do the same thing that men/women have been doing for centuries. we need to start a movement of simple brewing, no fancy ss pot with a built in thermometer, or bottle washer, autosipons etc. less is more, simpler is better. who is with me....i cannot hear you!!!!!!!!!!!
Your arguments are pretty asinine and it sounds like you are just trying to bate people into an argument.
This hobby is supposed to be about enjoyment. This means we should do what ever we want to make home brewing fun. If a home brewer likes to buy or build gadgets that help make the brewing process more fun and create better beer, that's exactly what they should do. If you want to lay a basket of grain outside in the rain and see what happens that's what you should do.
Everyone should brew in a way that brings enjoyment and we shouldn't criticize other brewers just because they don't do things the way we think it should be done.
 
i have it on good authority that natibrewer wants to buy an immersion chiller but his wife won't let him. he is also looking into the full-boil process and a pot that has a pour spout and a built-in temp gauge. he owns an autosiphon, uses my bottle washer and i think he was joking. bottom line: 'long as the beer goes down smooth, i don't care how it got there."
 
Decidedly low tech.....seriously though, a wort chiller is my next HB equipment purchase.

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backwards said:
i have it on good authority that natibrewer wants to buy an immersion chiller but his wife won't let him. he is also looking into the full-boil process and a pot that has a pour spout and a built-in temp gauge. he owns an autosiphon, uses my bottle washer and i think he was joking. bottom line: 'long as the beer goes down smooth, i don't care how it got there."


Peace in the valley then.
 
thenatibrewer said:
i may have to head to my LHBS and pick up one of those chiller things and see for myself how the others half lives, for experimental purposes only of course.

Well, he can't be THAT against it.
 
WOW!!! that was sweet, i just finished reading your guys commits and i have to admit i never thought i had stirred up such a mess
:D . i really was just kidding and having fun with the chiller thread. i infact as backwards stated am looking at getting a chiller if i could talk my wife into it (i think i am close by the way).

i never and i repeat never called any of you a sissy. and yes sometimes i am a little asinine (richbrewer) but not in this case. i called it a sissification of america (ex/ no smoking a bars), not specifically YOU! so i apologize for any emotional stress my comments caused. i do have a desire to get back to the simple, wood fire and oak barrels. but i realize just like anything else things change and progress. and i am all in for that.

all i want to do is brew great brew the simpliest way possible. i know you guys have helped me with my techniques tremedously thus far. i hope that your help will still be given freely. thanks for putting me in my place. until next time, have a brew on me...:tank:

by the way, what is a troll?
 
rdwj said:
Are you talking about using ice??? Those of us that are "man" enough to do full boils don't add water to our finished wort.


now that is hateful!!!:D :D most of the people reading this add water to the wort, are you saying they are not men either??? it is all in good fun...take care!!!:mug:
 
ah now boys - be nice. nati is coming clean here and you are refusing him back in the community of hops and ales and lagers and whatnot? come on now. i say we embrace like men (and ladies) and get back to beer talk. our lives are too short to worry about feelings and trolls (whatever they are) and all the rest. let us have peace and some talk about growing my own hops.
 
There is peace.
Nati asked what a troll is.
brewt00l told him.
Orfy maintained that he has thick skin, so fuggeddaboutit.
We all got drunk and pissed on the same tree.
I think you got it backwards, backwards.

??
 
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