I have a pre-chiller and immersion chiller connected. I put the pre-chiller in a cooler and cover it with ice and run the hose through it to the immersion chiller that it sitting in the wort. It takes about 30-45 minutes to bring the wort down to sub 80 degree temperatures. I'd like to reduce this time. I do have a 10 gallon pot and even the 50' wort chiller is still small by comparison. I think this is causing the wort to displace too much and the temperature not to drop evenly. What's the simplest way to circulate the wort around the chiller to bring this temperature down faster? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Pre-chiller and immersion chiller setup
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NathPowe
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Using a pump to recirculate wort in your kettle (whirlpool) is the easiest, but pumps are somewhat pricey (relative to general brewing equipment). Before I had a pump, I just stirred the wort in my kettle with my immersion chiller. It worked well, but it was just annoying to stand there and stir. That's actually one of the reasons I bought a pump.
Another thing you could try is to ditch the pre-chiller and use a cheap pond pump (check out harbor freight) to recirculate ice water through the main chiller. The trick to this is using tap water to get the wort down to 100*F. Then switch your hoses to recirculate the ice water through your chiller. It's much more effective than a pre-chiller. I do this a lot during the summers in NC when our groundwater is like 80.
You're definitely right that you need to keep that wort moving to maximize the chiller's effectiveness. Good luck and Cheers.
Another thing you could try is to ditch the pre-chiller and use a cheap pond pump (check out harbor freight) to recirculate ice water through the main chiller. The trick to this is using tap water to get the wort down to 100*F. Then switch your hoses to recirculate the ice water through your chiller. It's much more effective than a pre-chiller. I do this a lot during the summers in NC when our groundwater is like 80.
You're definitely right that you need to keep that wort moving to maximize the chiller's effectiveness. Good luck and Cheers.
^^^ +1
Before I had a pump I would just move my IC up and down a few times every few minutes, kind of stiring the wort so to speak.
When I built my stand I added the extra port to the BK to whirlpool the wort, didn't change my IC but it's twice as fast now. Depending on the ground water temp for how low it will go but normally into the 80's at about 12 to 15 minutes
Before I had a pump I would just move my IC up and down a few times every few minutes, kind of stiring the wort so to speak.
When I built my stand I added the extra port to the BK to whirlpool the wort, didn't change my IC but it's twice as fast now. Depending on the ground water temp for how low it will go but normally into the 80's at about 12 to 15 minutes
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