Prechiller vs re-circulating ice water

[Dan]

Cheers!

Please give me a break on typos. I'm posting from a phone and sometimes its just better to let some imaginary word that sounds like one spelled correctly let sit than time it takes to navigate and fix on this tiny screen.

Ive always depended on an IC. They work well, best if ground water is nice and chilly and better yet if i stir the wort around the IC.

CFCs and plate chillers are extremely impressive temperature reducers. I built a CFC a few yeasts back following a posted tutorial here on HBT - it dropped boiling wort temps to cool very fast. As in from the time it took a gravity fed system to run though 3/8" id copper - boil temp to nearly garden horse temp, a little warmer than the ground water temp used to cool. Very effective mone the less. Thats with water as a wort substitute. Whe i ran wort throgh, the thing plugged but, that's a different topicave found to cool wort effectively and efficiently

My question is, discussion is; what has been the most effective way you have found to cool the cooling water?

Im not sure if it depends on the cooling method, iC, CFC, or plate chiller.
Tell me��

Cheers

 

[humblehops500]

Hi Dan- I designed this chiller: 50 feet of 3/8" copper that sits in a large container and covered in ice. The boiled wort runs through the copper and as the ice melts, I drain it off and just add more ice. This way, I maximize my ability to cool the wort quickly and, if all goes well, use a minimum amount of water, say 12-15 gallons vs 45-60 gallons the traditional IC or CFC method (100 lbs more or less of ice ÷ 8.3 lbs/gal = 12 gallons). I'll be debuting it this weekend, wish me luck. Cheers...Mike

 

[normonster]

I pump cooling water from my HLT to a plate chiller (first 15 then gets pumped to MLT to clean). The second time around I add a 15 lb bag of ice to get that last few degrees and the water stays in the HLT until I use it to either back flush the plate chiller or clean the BK.

Not the most efficient method cuz I'm cooling the entire BK. I just made a "thrumometer" though so now I'll start transferring to the fermenter as soon as the outflow from the plate chiller is at temp.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

I put my IC in the BK for the last 15 min o the boil. Then I place the BK in an ice bath with a pump circulating the ice water through the IC and back into the ice bath. Just refresh tbe ice periodically. Not including the ice, this uses about 4 gallons of water. The ice probably totals another 3-4 gallons. With stirring, I go from boiling to <70F in 15 +/- minutes.

 

[Cyclman]

1/2" 50' IC, with a 25' 2/8" pre chiller in an ice bath. Cool 10G in 10 min. or so.

 

[ZeMadMonkey]

Dan - I use an IC, a submersible pump, and a bucket full of ice and a little water. I also have a pump that I whirlpool with so the chilling wort is steadily circulating across the cools of the IC.

My process, I hook my faucet to my IC and let it rip at the coldest setting possible on the faucet. Once it gets down below 110F, closer to 100F, I disconnect the chiller from the kitchen faucet and attach it to a submersible pump that is sitting in a bucket full from a 20# bag of ice and just enough cool water to let it circulate.

I find that using the submersible pump in ice cold water in a bucket and the pump to whirlpool, chills my wort in no time. The pump and whirlpool are critical as it allows the chilling wort to pass over the coils of the IC, constant motion, eliminating dead spots of chilled wort right around the coil.

 

[ZeMadMonkey]

Dan - FYI, prior to my pump I had a pre-chiller coil that I used. The pre-chiller coil in ice and water is no contest against a pump, whirlpool, and submersible pump in ice water. Take this with a grain of salt, as I did not have a plate chiller or something like that inline before pumping my wort back into the Brew Kettle. ALSO, understand I live in AZ where the ground water is hot as a mofo most of the year.

 

[GCPHomebrew]

+1 for a pump and IC . 58f in 20 minutes. I add rock salt(for making ice cream) to the ice.