reverse chiller crazy idea?

[lazarwolf]

So, I've been thinking ( i know its a dangerous past time) why do we run cold water through the wort. Why not drain the worth through a ice cold thermo well through a copper tube?

Before I start experimenting, I thought I'd put it out there. Water cools based on the weighted average of the thermal energy of what it is exposed to... doesn't it stand to reason that it would be better to therefore drain the wort through a much colder environment? rather than use a small amount of cold in a copper tube?

 

[WI_Wino]

That's basically the same concept as counterflow or plate chiller. Only difference is those are continuously pushing cold water through vs. a vessel holding the chilling water.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

So, I've been thinking ( i know its a dangerous past time) why do we run cold water through the wort. Why not drain the worth through a ice cold thermo well through a copper tube?

Before I start experimenting, I thought I'd put it out there. Water cools based on the weighted average of the thermal energy of what it is exposed to... doesn't it stand to reason that it would be better to therefore drain the wort through a much colder environment? rather than use a small amount of cold in a copper tube?

This is how counterflow chiller work and plate chillers.

 

[lazarwolf]

yes, but they are expensive and waste water, can you see a flaw in my thinking? im really thinking I may try this, if it doesn't work, ill just turn it into an immersion chiller.

 

[archiefl98]

Just be sure to recirc water in the tank you put the coil in. Otherwise warmer water will tend to stay near the outside of the coil and not chill as effectively. Keep it moving and it'll work a bit better. I've done this before. Immersion was much quicker and water is the cheapest thing I can buy.

 

[WI_Wino]

At the root of it, heat exchange is just heat exchange. Doesn't matter if you are pushing cold water through hot or hot through cold. I personally have a sump pump to recirculate my cooling water through my immersion chiller. Cooling water is in a 55 gallon barrel. Pushing wort through the chiller means you have to clean and sanitize the inside of the chiller, not the outside like you do for a traditional IC. Also if you do not have a pump, you'll be gravity draining through the chiller (slow). You'll also need to monitor the temp of the cooling water to ensure it is still cooling the wort. Adding ice or what not to keep it cool as the wort drains through. Stratification of the cooling water will be a concern, you'll need to stir it up or something to avoid warming only the water right next to the chiller.

 

[feinbera]

The main problem is, it takes lot more than 5 gallons of room-temperature water to bring the whole 5 gallons of near-boiling wort down to near-room temperature. Even with ice-cold water and 100% efficient heat transfer, five gallons of cooling water will only get your five gallons of wort down to 120° or so.

Of course, nobody said you had to stop at five gallons – but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that getting a bathtub full of water down to near-freezing is gonna be more trouble than it's worth – and that's even before you figure out how to clean and sanitize the inside of your chiller, versus just dropping in 15 minutes before flame-out if you're only worried about sanitizing the outside.

 

[FatDragon]

Since you're going to be heating up the water in the cold tank holding your chiller, you're going to reach a point where the tank water and the wort are both hotter than you want to chill to. You'll save a lot of hassle and get much better results if you just attach a pre-chiller to your immersion/counterflow/plate chiller and immerse that in ice water.

 

[lazarwolf]

Just be sure to recirc water in the tank you put the coil in. Otherwise warmer water will tend to stay near the outside of the coil and not chill as effectively. Keep it moving and it'll work a bit better. I've done this before. Immersion was much quicker and water is the cheapest thing I can buy.

So tried already. Just going to buy a plate chiller and make sure I use the run of for something. ...

 

[Monty91]

I have a setup that's similar to what you're talking about. I have a copper coil that sits in a pot slightly larger than the coil. I run the wort through the coil and into the fermenter. While it is flowing (and I run it pretty slowly for more contact time with the coil), I continually add ice to the pot to keep the water cold. I am able to get pitchable temperatures from this method.

 

[lazarwolf]

But, does it use less water, and cool quickly