"New" Immersion Chller

[bschot]

So as titled I have a new idea for a immersion chiller. I want to run the wort through the copper tubing instead of running cold water through it. My plan is to use two 5 gallon buckets. The first one will be filled with ice, tap water temp gets pretty warm in the summer, the tap water will flow into the bucket near the top and will flow out the bottom (being cooled) into the bottom of the other bucket and exit near the top. The second bucket will contain the copper coil. Both buckets will have their lids on them to prevent overflow.
I plan on having a ball valve on the out of the copper tubing to control the speed of wort exiting. I'm hoping that the water entering the bucket will circulate and cool the wort quickly. Overall effect is to keep oxidizing to a minimum, use a minimum of water and come up with something cool.
Hopefully, I was clear in my description if not I'll post a drawing tomorrow. Thanks for any input.

 

[quadbikerjosh]

similar things have been done. i think it could work, but it sounds like alot of work to chill your wort. i have warm tap water too, i was going to do something a little easier. its called a double coil chiller. two copper coils conected by a length of siphon hose. so water goes in one end thru the first coil, out the first coil and into the bottom of the second coil, then finally out the top of the second coil into the drain. the first coil is set in an ice bath and the second goes in the wort. basicaly your just chilling the watter that hits the second coil.

 

[teddy4xp]

They had something similar to this in the last issue of byo. Seems like good idea. Just make sure you flush the coil afterwards

 

[Yambor44]

So as titled I have a new idea for a immersion chiller. I want to run the wort through the copper tubing instead of running cold water through it. My plan is to use two 5 gallon buckets. The first one will be filled with ice, tap water temp gets pretty warm in the summer, the tap water will flow into the bucket near the top and will flow out the bottom (being cooled) into the bottom of the other bucket and exit near the top. The second bucket will contain the copper coil. Both buckets will have their lids on them to prevent overflow.
I plan on having a ball valve on the out of the copper tubing to control the speed of wort exiting. I'm hoping that the water entering the bucket will circulate and cool the wort quickly. Overall effect is to keep oxidizing to a minimum, use a minimum of water and come up with something cool.
Hopefully, I was clear in my description if not I'll post a drawing tomorrow. Thanks for any input.

Why not just use one bucket and recirculate the water from the bottom and back to the top moving the ice water over the coils. Ice, water, coil all in one bucket. What you are describing is basically a HERMS setup. You can use a sump pump in the bucket (or you could also use a cooler as most already have a drain in the bottom) to pump the water also.

 

[Yambor44]

similar things have been done. i think it could work, but it sounds like alot of work to chill your wort. i have warm tap water too, i was going to do something a little easier. its called a double coil chiller. two copper coils conected by a length of siphon hose. so water goes in one end thru the first coil, out the first coil and into the bottom of the second coil, then finally out the top of the second coil into the drain. the first coil is set in an ice bath and the second goes in the wort. basicaly your just chilling the watter that hits the second coil.

I believe this is also referred to as a pre-chiller. Works nicely.