Plate Chiller and Warm Tap Water

[nickofosho]

Anyone have any suggestions about using a plate chiller with warmer tap water. I live in Los Angeles and our tap water is usually between 65 and 75 degrees. I brewed yesterday, 75 air temp and 72 water temp, and had trouble cooling the wort to the desired temp for pitching, 70 degrees. I ran the tap water through a immersion chiller in an ice bath and them into the plate chiller. It got the water down to 78 degrees in about ten minutes, much better than the hour for the immersion chiller, but still not cool enough. Any of ideas, or is running the wort through the plate chiller more slowly my best bet?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[dkennedy]

I'd see what your temp is for the water into your plate chiller, may need to slow the flow to let the ice bath cool your water down. Slowing the flow of wort should help as well, my final pass is super slow to hit pitching temp (I recirculate when chilling)

 

[mgortel]

You will get a better heat transfer rate (faster cooling) in your plate chiller with a higher flow rate...slowing the flow will make it worse....that is just the simple fact of heat transfer physics (faster fluid flow = higher heat transfer coefficient).

You got it down to 78 F in 10 minutes....so just let it run another 5-10 minutes to get it to 70.....if it takes 15-20 minutes to cool...that should not be an issue on beer quality.

 

[nickofosho]

@mgortel I'm using a gravity fed system, so recirculating isn't an option. I'll probably keep my water flow the same and slow the wort. Thanks!!

 

[nickofosho]

I'm using a gravity fed setup, so recirculating isn't an option. I guess I'll try slowing the wort flow while keeping the water moving quickly. Thanks for the advice.

 

[d3track]

Maybe a pond pump in a large bin of ice water. Connect to plate chiller and you should be able to chill down pretty well.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

My ground water is over 80 now. I just push the beer through the hex and let it hit the fermenter at whatever temperature. If it is too high I let my temp control fix it before pitching. I have a glycol system now so I can drop the 15-20° in about 20 minutes so I don't mind. When I used a ferm chamber it took longer but it was also doable.

Using this method I have less to monkey with.

 

[cannman]

Maybe a pond pump in a large bin of ice water. Connect to plate chiller and you should be able to chill down pretty well.

exactly this :rockin:

 

[mgortel]

@mgortel I'm using a gravity fed system, so recirculating isn't an option. I'll probably keep my water flow the same and slow the wort. Thanks!!

Doh! Didn't realize that! :cross:

 

[IslandLizard]

To cool from 200F to 80 with ice water is a waste of ice. Feed it your regular domestic water to bring it down as much as possible, to say 80-100, then the last 20-40 degrees fed with the ice water from the bin. As said before, pump/recirculate that ice water. I just stick the whole hex in a relatively shallow tub with ice water and circulate with a small pump.

Another :smack: You're not recirculating your wort! Why is that so hard to understand for us?
Use a second chiller of some sort in an ice bath for those last 20-40 degrees.

 

[ArcLight]

Given the water shortage in California, why not consider no Chill?
It would save you most of that cooling water, though you'd still need some for cleaning.