using temptwister to prechill wort chiller

[fluketamer]

i have a temp twister collecting dust . if i ran ground water through my temptwister sitting in ice bath before it goes in my wort chiller will it cool the wort faster.


i have found that brewing outside in the hot sun gets the boil up very very quick but on the flip side it takes longer for my wort to chill.

 

[Thorrak]

Yes, but whether or not it is worth the effort depends largely on where you live (and how cold you care about getting your wort). Keep in mind that if all you're trying to do is stop the production of DMS then you just need to drop the temperature below 180F. The groundwater temperature is generally the average of the year-round temperature outside. In south Texas this might be in the 70s, but in large parts of the continental US it's going to be in the 50s or lower - which in either case is far colder than the 212F of boiling wort.

If you're trying to chill faster, my recommendation would be to start by measuring the temperature of the water coming out of your wort chiller. If the water coming out of the chiller is still cool/cold when you first start cooling, then the problem is with your chiller, not your water temperature.

 

[IslandLizard]

I had to look up what a Temp Twister is, it's designed for controlling temps inside a fermenter.

Compare the TT coil with your immersion coil and you'll see the TT doesn't have the surface area needed for the heat exchange needed.

I tried something similar, pre-chilling tap water in a bucket with ice water using a (smallish) copper immersion coil, but the heat exchange is just too slow. And that copper coil is a lot larger than the TT.

First I use tap water to chill the wort down to 130-150F (recirculating to the kettle). I then use 6 gallons of pre-chilled ice water (from the keezer), and use that to bring the 5.5 gallon of wort down to fermentation temps.