March Pump before Plate Chiller, or after?

[rsmith179]

The title pretty much sums it up. I'm in the beginning phase of getting a new rig together. Basically, I'll be using two March pumps and a plate chiller. When it comes time to chill, do you pass the wort through a pump and then to the plate chiller or vice versa? I'm thinking that you'd want to force it out of the BK with a pump, but then again, you might want to force it back to the BK with a pump. I'd just like to know how you guys are current doing this...

 

[FSR402]

The title pretty much sums it up. I'm in the beginning phase of getting a new rig together. Basically, I'll be using two March pumps and a plate chiller. When it comes time to chill, do you pass the wort through a pump and then to the plate chiller or vice versa? I'm thinking that you'd want to force it out of the BK with a pump, but then again, you might want to force it back to the BK with a pump. I'd just like to know how you guys are current doing this...

Pump before the chiller.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

If it's up high enough to gravity drain, you don't require a pump to use a plate chiller.

Personally, the way I do it is as follows: I recirculate the wort through the chiller back into the BK until the kettle is down to 140º or so, then it's a single pass at full flow into the fermenters. We have hot ground water here, so I also use a post-chiller in ice after the plate chiller when I'm transferring to the fermenter. If your ground water is cool enough, this isn't necessary.

 

[rsmith179]

Right on, thanks for the info guys. I'll probably end up going with something similar to your idea Sparky. Recirculate the wort while passing through the chiller. I'll have my BK circulating ice water and will hook that up to the chiller once it reaches about 140F or so. Thanks for the help/advice!

 

[FSR402]

I do the same thing. I pump from the BK thru my chiller and back into the BK until I'm to 100* (about 10-15 minutes for 11 gallons) then pump thru the chiller into the fermenter.