Ivan Lendl
Well-Known Member
Im curious what most people do...
What type of wort chiller do you use?
- Thread starter Ivan Lendl
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Brewsmith
Home brewing moogerfooger
Immersion chiller all the way. Before I made mine I used an ice bath, but the chiller is definately better.
Jester
Senior Member
I jsut built my chiller today... I'll be using it later tonight.... seems like it going to a lot easier than the cold bath...
OP
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Ivan Lendl
Well-Known Member
Jester said:
i plan on getting a counter flow or plate, ive been using an ice bath, but not in my sink, in a big plastic bin i got at target, i use 4 ten lbs. bags of ice and a few gallons of water and can cool boiling wort in 15 minutes to 65F...
Beermaker
The NAVY WALRUS
I used to use an immersion chiller, but now prefer the counterflow. I use the Chillious Convelutus. I like to draw from the bottom of the boil kettle, through the chiller, and back into the BK. I use the return flow to help keep up a good whirlpool. I also use 50-60 degree well water to drop temps fast.
I'm using an immersion chiller but I'm going to build a counter flow here one of these days. It should be a bit quicker and use less water.
Tony
Well-Known Member
I guess Im the only one with a plate chiller so far...
Catfish
Art by David Shrigley
Ice bath, but I'm going to get an immersion chiller tomorrow, I hope. Trying to hit an actual home brew store tomorrow.
Brew_Meister
Well-Known Member
I use an immersion chiller and an ice bath. I fill a 10 gallon Rubbermaid tub with cold water and 2 bags of ice and put the brew kettle in that with the immersion chiller. Cools off pretty quickly... roughly 15 or 20 minutes to 65F.
Lou
Well-Known Member
that doesn't seem much faster than what most people quote for the immersion chiller alone....Brew_Meister said:
I marked counterflow, but it's been too cold for me to use it yet so I'vve been using ice baths. Last thing I wasnt is my driveway to be a skating rink
Brew_Meister
Well-Known Member
In my experiences the ice bath only helps cool roughly 5 minutes faster. So yeah not too much faster I guess. Just a few bucks for a few bags of ice.
Jester
Senior Member
I just used my immersion chiller last night for the first time and it chilled my wort down to 70 degrees in a little under 10 minutes.... it was so much better than what I was doing before and it barely cost anything to build....
Jester
Jester
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Ivan Lendl
Well-Known Member
wow, i thought there would be more counterflowers out there...isnt counterflow more efficient?
whats the deal with plate?
whats the deal with plate?
im a immersion also, if I had the money I'd go plate. Counter flow and plate are very simular, just more surface area on a plate chiller. So it cools faster and uses less water. Only thing is that the openings are smaller so you have to be careful on what actualy goes into it.
Tony
Well-Known Member
I have a Shirron plate chiller, and use gravity to feed it. Put it this way...the plate cools the wort instantly. It only takes the time it takes to siphon 5 gallons of wort into a carboy.
Industrial plate type chillers are used by large brewerys, and are the most effecient methods of wort cooling. The debated issue with plate chillers is that the industrial chillers are able to be disassembled for perfect cleaning, and the small homebrew plates are not. So, you have to make sure its backflushed IMMEDIATELY, and then flushed with acid based cleaners to try to stop any and all build up of any beerstone or anything else.
So, to be as effecient as possible, you need to set up your carboy with yeast first, and have your airlock ready to install so that you can immediatley begin cleaning the chiller. To me thats no problem. Besides cleaning my mash tun and other equipment during the boil, this is just another simple thing to do for me.
Im hoping on day that someone makes a wort chiller that can be disassembled for cleaning, as it would be the best chiller on the market bar none.
Industrial plate type chillers are used by large brewerys, and are the most effecient methods of wort cooling. The debated issue with plate chillers is that the industrial chillers are able to be disassembled for perfect cleaning, and the small homebrew plates are not. So, you have to make sure its backflushed IMMEDIATELY, and then flushed with acid based cleaners to try to stop any and all build up of any beerstone or anything else.
So, to be as effecient as possible, you need to set up your carboy with yeast first, and have your airlock ready to install so that you can immediatley begin cleaning the chiller. To me thats no problem. Besides cleaning my mash tun and other equipment during the boil, this is just another simple thing to do for me.
Im hoping on day that someone makes a wort chiller that can be disassembled for cleaning, as it would be the best chiller on the market bar none.
bikebryan
Well-Known Member
Counterflow chillers may be more efficient, but they are harder to clean. You have to worry about cleaning the inside of them, AND sanitzing them. With an immersion chiller, you just drop it into the boiling pot the last 15-20 minutes of the boil, and when done remove it and rinse it down.Bjorn Borg said:
Beerdrop
Well-Known Member
I also have the Shiron plate chiller and it works great! Just like Tony, it cools my wort down in the time it takes to drain my 5 gals of wort from the kettle through a 1/2" value via gravity. I have a bazooka screen to make sure my hop pellet residue doesn't make its way into the chiller
In addition to a disassembl for clean up, the problem I have is drying the inside after flushing. I need to put it in the oven for about an hour to make sure I don't hear anything swishing inside. No problem as my beer is already safe and sound in the fermenter by then, just another step.
Bob
TwoHeadsBrewing
Well-Known Member
Counterflow Chiller. I like IC's, but nothing beats cooling and racking in one motion. Well, unless it's a plate chiller...
rico567
Well-Known Member
THIS. I have no need for anything except my low-end copper immersion chiller. I brew 5-gallon batches, maybe 20-30 per year. A plate or counterflow chiller would be complete overkill in my case, and I don't need "instant" chilling. 15-20 minutes with our 55 degree well water works just fine for me.
silvervan83
Well-Known Member
I run my hot wort through my HERMS coil with cold water and ice in the keggle. Whirlpooling the wort and cooling at the same time.
TwoHeadsBrewing
Well-Known Member
Maybe it's just the temperature of my water in the summer, but using an immersion chiller would take 30-45 minutes for a 10 gallon batch. And cleaning/sanitizing a CFC is pretty darn easy. Before I had a pump it was a bit more difficult, but now all I have to do to sanitize is recirculate boiling wort for the last 5 minutes of the boil. And as far as cleaning goes, I use the leftover water in my HLT and run that through the chiller afterwards. This flushes out any wort or trub left behind. Maybe my IC was crap or whatever but it just seems like a much easier process now with the CFC. Cool and rack in one motion, both 6 gallon carboys filled up in about 10 minutes.
I see this thread has been brought back to life a few times. Do you think the voting would be different now or about the same?
I think about the same. Immersion chillers are cheap and easier to make then the other ones. Well besides the ice bath.... but that just takes too long!
I think about the same. Immersion chillers are cheap and easier to make then the other ones. Well besides the ice bath.... but that just takes too long!
cheezydemon3
Well-Known Member
I think that "Ice in the wort" is far more effective and legitimate than widely thought (and certainly deserves more respect than being lumped in with "snow bank")
It chills as fast and effectively (or faster) than anything else.
It chills as fast and effectively (or faster) than anything else.
worsemorebad
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I used to use an immersion chiller, but I swapped to a plate chiller and I don't think I'll ever look back. The ground water where I live in the summer time can get up to about 60 and it is just terrible in an immersion chiller.
Wow, I just saw the date this one was started.
I made a 2 part immersion chiller. One coil is smaller than the other so both can go into the boil pot in the winter when the water is cold. During the summer one goes in the wort and the other in a bucket of ice-water.
A plate chiller may be purchased sometime in the future.
I made a 2 part immersion chiller. One coil is smaller than the other so both can go into the boil pot in the winter when the water is cold. During the summer one goes in the wort and the other in a bucket of ice-water.
A plate chiller may be purchased sometime in the future.
Mozart
Well-Known Member
I use a water bath (emptying the galvanized steel tub 2-3 times as the water gets warm) combined with topping up with near freezing water (chilled to about 34 degrees in my fermentation chiller).
I have a friend who freezes top-up water in small tupperware containers, but I like the near-freezing temp water better as those ice blocks tend to splash sticky wort around and make a little bit of a mess no matter how gently one attempts to drop them into the kettle.
I have a friend who freezes top-up water in small tupperware containers, but I like the near-freezing temp water better as those ice blocks tend to splash sticky wort around and make a little bit of a mess no matter how gently one attempts to drop them into the kettle.
cheezydemon3
Well-Known Member
AMEN
(to ice in the wort)
No question. On Ice cubes, my wort goes from 200F to 61F in 3.6 seconds.
Granted I am chilling 3.4 gallons (to end up with 5), not 5, but I think the time works the same assuming proportions are maintained.
same here 4 gallons in two shakes of a lambs tail
I got it figured out just how much ice to put in the FV then DUMP the wort right on it.
cheezydemon3
Well-Known Member
I think that resistance to this idea comes from an illusion of "diluting" the beer. Despite the fact that 5 gallons is condensed into 3 or 4 and then water (ice) added back.
OH well. Clear as hell beer and no filtration or finings are proof in the pudding.
Mozart
Well-Known Member
Hrm...
Maybe I'll have to try a slightly different method this time.
As mentioned, I've been doing 2-3 water baths, changing the water when it gets warm, and sometimes adding ice to the latter baths. For my last batch, I got the final dose of cooling by adding near freezing top-up water.
I've been avoiding adding ice directly to the wort as I can't keep larger blocks of ice from splashing a bit, losing a small amount of wort, and making a little bit of a mess.
What I am pondering for next time is freezing gallon jugs of water into solid blocks of ice, spraying some StarSan on the outside of the bottle, and just placing the bottle in the kettle. No splash, no risk of putting in too much ice as I can pull the bottle out of the kettle at any time....
Anyone try this? What have your results been?
Maybe I'll have to try a slightly different method this time.
As mentioned, I've been doing 2-3 water baths, changing the water when it gets warm, and sometimes adding ice to the latter baths. For my last batch, I got the final dose of cooling by adding near freezing top-up water.
I've been avoiding adding ice directly to the wort as I can't keep larger blocks of ice from splashing a bit, losing a small amount of wort, and making a little bit of a mess.
What I am pondering for next time is freezing gallon jugs of water into solid blocks of ice, spraying some StarSan on the outside of the bottle, and just placing the bottle in the kettle. No splash, no risk of putting in too much ice as I can pull the bottle out of the kettle at any time....
Anyone try this? What have your results been?
cheezydemon3
Well-Known Member
Put the proper amount of ice in the fermenter (USE BUCKETS) and then no splashing.
I even put my yeast and ice in the fermenter and pitch HOT wort on that.
Putting PLASTIC jugs in hot wort is a BAD idea.
Mozart
Well-Known Member
Ahh... now why didn't I think of that? I ferment in plastic buckets, so freeze the proper amount of water in my fermentation chiller the night before, and dump the wort right atop it! Genius!
Actually, for fun, I just figured out how much ice I might need:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/science-applied-wort-chilling-418895/
Have you tried this? In your experience what is the proper amount of ice? An amount roughly equivalent to the amount of wort being poured over it? A little less?
The more I think about it, the more genius of an idea I think it is, as it also solves the problem of the residual heat in the kettle! No need to cool down the kettle along with the wort with this method!
Thanks!
Never having tried this technique, I can't comment from experience but I would worry about the extreme temperature change of pouring hot wort into a plastic bucket that has a frozen cake of ice in it. Before doing this with wort, I would try it with just boiling or near boiling water. Just my $0.02.
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