Therminator.... good lord!!

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Uncle Fat

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2005
Messages
134
Reaction score
1
Location
Beervana
My brewing buddy just bought a Therminator to add to our setup... It's maiden voyage was 5 gallons of Yam Pie Holliday Ale. All I have to say is: HOLY CRAP!! Why didn't we buy one sooner! It cooled 5 gallons of boiling wort to 62 degrees in about two minutes!! Definitely one of the best investments we could have made...

For those who aren't familiar, here's the link:

http://www.blichmannengineering.com/Therminator/Therminator.htm

MoreBeer sells a cheaper version here:

http://www.morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=6242&PHPSESSID=a4d414eadbe125803387a1f198ec1891

But since it's smaller, and with less plates, I'm not sure it would work as well...
 
BeeGee said:
You, my friend, are in the ideal situation: you have a friend who bought a Therminator. It's like having a friend with a boat!

well.. a boat is only useful if you live near water. I'd liken it to a friend that owns a bar. :)

-walker
 
BeeGee said:
You, my friend, are in the ideal situation: you have a friend who bought a Therminator. It's like having a friend with a boat!


It's kind of a trade off... I built the brewing sculpture, made the kettle, mash tun, and HLT....etc... This is his first real investment (aside from splitting ingredient cost). But you're right... I'm pretty lucky. Since he doesn't have any other equipment, the therminator is bolted onto my sculpture. :p
 
Walker said:
well.. a boat is only useful if you live near water. I'd liken it to a friend that owns a bar. :)

-walker

guess that makes me really really lucky... having all three...
 
Remember the therminators performance is based on ground water temp. Since my ground water is usually in the high 70s year round *THANKS TEXAS!* the performance isn't quite so spectacular. Yes it's better than a CFC or IC. For that I am thinking of a therminator or shirron plate chiller (shirron is a 10 plate chiller). The shirron is about 85 bucks shipped from my source.. and the therminator is about 200 shipped. hrm
 
Mindflux said:
Remember the therminators performance is based on ground water temp. Since my ground water is usually in the high 70s year round *THANKS TEXAS!* the performance isn't quite so spectacular.

Well, all three methods rely on heat transfer, so ground water temp is always going to be a factor. Why not try a double-tier solution? I kept my IC just in case I ran into your situation. If needed, I can put the IC in a bucket of icewater to pre-chill the cooling water (like a jockey box) before it goes into the Terminator (I'm thinking 50' of copper coil in an ice bath should drop the temp by at least 20 degrees F) ... Chilling time will be the same, as will water consumption. I have garden hose QDs on all the ends, so it all plugs together quickly, either way.

The Shirron must be the one that morebeer sells... As I said, I was concerned about the relatively few plates, and small size not working as well as the Therminator... If you get the Shirron, let us know how it works!
 
This was calculated out on another board. The Shirron has just over half the surface area as the Therminator. So one would deduce it would have half the cooling potential. There's a number of folks on other boards stating the shirron got their boiling wort to ground water temp for 5 gallon batches in as few as 5 minutes and as much as 10.

There are other factors that play in this however, supposedly the shirron isn't as restrictive as a therminator. And at less than half the price (I can get them for 85 shipped).. it may be worth a look-see.
 
Back
Top