Stainless shell and tube for chilling

[dmcman73]

As a herms tube, it is pretty good, a tad slower than running my submerged herms coil. I think it has to do with the air temp. It seems to be losing some heat in the tube. I be some insulation will help.

Here is my chart. 13 gallons in hlt, 8 in mash.

It's possibly slower because you have less surface in that straight tube than a coil of 25 or 50 foot herms coil. Even the CFC has a lot more surface area than the straight tube as that's at least 12 feet.

 

[milldoggy]

I wrapped it with reflectix and it helped, was only 3 degrees of my hlt. So I would say a successful replacement for my herms coil. Chilling now.

I never used my CFC for my herms as I had a coil. No other reason

 

[milldoggy]

Also, I noticed I rigged this up opposite what the doc suggest. I have my wort going through the inner tubes and cooling water in the shell. The docs says the opposite, the boiling or heating/cooling water in the tubes, pool water in the shell.

I guess I need to reverse it and repeat the test

 

[milldoggy]

Here are the cooling times, system wide open, hose wide open. This is 12.5 gallons from boiling to 100 in 25 minutes. I slowed the output to about how fast I typically fill up my carboys and it is coming out at 59.

I would success

Edit, left numbers are temp of hlt, middle number is exit temp of water from hex

View attachment 1457971064496.jpg

 

[milldoggy]

Testing heating right now wired as suggested in doc. As my system is already hot, will not be able to report ramp numbers, but I will see if I get closer to hlt temp in mash tun and then will test cooling from boiling

 

[poptarts]

awesome thanks for keeping us updated

 

[milldoggy]

Ok, wiring it as the directions stated did not help. Hlt was at 159, mash would not go over 151. I would say I am keeping it as I have it set. Think I might skip the boil test as I would like to keep one side water only.

Either way. I am real happy with it and ready to try it in beer.

Only comment so far would be that the 155 k one( I am testing the 85k) would probably would help out a lot and only cost a bit more.

 

[milldoggy]

Wort through the shell and water through the tubes was about the same. Will stick with wort through the tubes as it appears easier to clean.

 

[milldoggy]

Base on my test. Here is how I replumbed the chiller.

View attachment 1458097490882.jpg

 

[dmcman73]

Nice. And I love the idea of using cotter pins to hold it in place, easy removal for cleaning. If you haven't done so, place a small metal bracket or piece of wood over the pins on the back. That way the pins stay in place and makes it easier to mount the chiller back on and insert the cotter pins.

 

[milldoggy]

Good idea, I did drill the holes small and pounded the pins in with a hammer. I used some washers to slim them so the bracket is tight. Think I will secure the back just in case.

 

[WPStrassburg]

With it horizontal the wort might not be filling the upper tubes and shorting you some surface area for cooling.

If you pump has enough capacity you might be able to run full throttle through the chiller for a minute to purge the air from the upper tubes and then return to normal chilling flow rate. or make it so you can tilt it to purge the air at the beginning of your chill. Vertical would eliminate the issue on the wort side but might create the same issue on the water side where some gets trapped at the top.



my buddy brought a big one by one day and it had the outlet port offset towards the top (HX is on its side in the photo) to presumably keep the top from being run dry.

 

[milldoggy]

Interesting, with the flow I am getting, I doubt there is any air, but next time, I will let it run and then tilt it to see if any air comes out. Thanks for the tip.

 

[milldoggy]

First brew day with the chiller.

Heating the strike. About 1 hr 15 mins. That is about 15 slower than using a dedicated copper herms coil. I typically turn on my system and hang out up start with the kids, so this time difference is not significant for me.

Air in the tube: I let it run for a while and then tilted it. I did get some air to come out, not a huge amount, but some, thanks for the suggestion WP.

I also am going to send off samples of my wort and tap water for lead and copper testing. Midwest labs will do a copper and lead test for 40$. I want to be extra sure there is no lead in the chiller.

 

[milldoggy]

Done mashing, is it a direct replacement for a herms coil, no. I had to keep my hlt @164 to get 151 in my mash.

Since there is little restriction, I compacted my grain bed. I left the valve wide open. Once I figured this out, stirred the mash, things were moving good. I had to close the valve to get about the flow I had with my old coil, 70% closed.

Heat exchange efficiently was not as good. After dough in, my mash was at 145. Took say 20 minutes to get to 150. I did have the grain bed issue and my hlt was not hot enough. So next time I will dough in hotter and ensure my hlt is hotter.

Conclusions: if you are looking for a precision herms system, use a herms coil. Will I reinstall my coil, not yet. For how I brew, this exchanger might work. I am not trying to be exact every time and I think I can be dsrn close after what I learned today, so my vote is still out if this device works for a herms system.

More to come on cooling.

 

[milldoggy]

Looking at the sticker in the exchanger, it is made by http://www.betaheatexchanger.com/

 

[milldoggy]

Cooling: not able to get below 80 in a single pass from wort temp of 140. I recirced while hop standing, that was all good. 80 was best I could get. Recirc some more to cool the entire volume to 120 and will try again. Again not a deal breaker, just need to account for it. Wonder how this compares to a stainless CFC, might have to set mine up for a test

 

[milldoggy]

Brewed again, results much better. Changed the orientation around and that helped. Bleed all the air out. For a herms tube, pretty good. The Delta between output temp of wort and hlt temp was 7f.

For cooling I was able to go from 190 to 80 with a slow flow.

Next test is I am going to hook up my stainless CFC in series with this to see if I can be more efficient with my cooling water

Lead and copper test are back;
Copper unfiltered tap.29
Copper in wort, water filtered with 5 micron filters .11

Lead in water unfiltered .0011
Lead in wort, water filtered with 5 micron filters : undetectable

 

[brewslinger]

Update request:
Are you still using this heat exchanger?
Has your opinion of it changed at all?

 

[BrunDog]

My custom one works well.

 

[brewslinger]

What customizations did you make or have made? I must have missed it although I read the entire thread again looking for it.

 

[BrunDog]

Whoops, sorry: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=7812755

 

[milldoggy]

I have used mine till last batch, when I went back to a herms coil and only a CFC. Ground water is so cold, my stainless CFC worked great. Not abandoning it yet, but I'd you get one, get a larger/longer one like brundog

 

[brewslinger]

Now I get it. Sorry I didn't realize there were two people posting on the thread.