Wort Chiller Method Advice

[ErikAtTheW]

I am a novice extract brewer, probably done about 10 batches or so...

I have a immersion chiller made from 50' of 1/4" copper tubing. It works great, but I'm wondering if there is a better way to use it...

I hook it to the faucet and adjust the flow of water so that the water coming out is as hot as possible. Sometimes this means turning the flow down to a trickle.

I recently saw a YouTube video where they stated that you should flow water as quickly as possible.

The immersion chiller is a heat exchanger, you send in cold water and the heat from the wort "exchanges" and out comes hot water.

Any thoughts on this? Like I said, I usually start it at a good flow rate, but then throttle it back as I go.

Thanks!

-Erik

 

[theck]

I have a second IC that I put into a bucket of ice water and run that to the chiller in the pot. I can go from boil to pitch in 14 mins, I timed it ha... I just hook mine to a garden hose as I'm outside on full blast. I collect the hot water in my tun to use to wash with in the end and the rest goes into a bucket or 2 and I pour that into the garden.

 

[Hello]

First, you do not want to rush cold water through the IC. You want to let it flow but it doesn't have to trickle. I just open my tap about 1/2 way, give or take and let it flow. It's not a lot of pressure and it does fine.

In the summer ground water is warmer so many will use a pre-chiller or they'll get an aquarium pump and put that in a big bin of ice water so the ice water i what is being pumped out. It is like chilling in the winter. For me, winter chilling is about 25 minutes with 10 gallons of wort.

I have a plate chiller and intend to get it set up so summer chilling will use that and the 45' IC (had a kink so it was 5' short) will be my pre-chiller.

 

[Demus]

Certainly a slow trickle will yield the highest temperature output. But you are trying to chill your wort, not create hot water. The highest rate of chilling will result from the highest flow rate, period. That said, from a water conservation standpoint the most chilling per gallon used is probably something less than full blast. Personally I go full blast when the wort is hot and reduce the flow as it chills. The rate of chilling slows as the wort gets closer to the supply water temperature. ...


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[Balog]

I have also heard that dunking the chiller up and down or whirlpooling with a pump greatly decreases the time needed.

 

[ErikAtTheW]

Certainly a slow trickle will yield the highest temperature output. But you are trying to chill your wort, not create hot water. The highest rate of chilling will result from the highest flow rate, period. That said, from a water conservation standpoint the most chilling per gallon used is probably something less than full blast. Personally I go full blast when the wort is hot and reduce the flow as it chills. The rate of chilling slows as the wort gets closer to the supply water temperature. ...


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If cold water goes into the chiller, and cold water comes out, how are you chilling the wort? Wouldn't you need to remove the heat from the wort by way of heating the water?

 

[theck]

I have also heard that dunking the chiller up and down or whirlpooling with a pump greatly decreases the time needed.

I stir a lot too which seems to help. If it sits too long it seems to take longer.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

The amount of heat transferred is dependent on the difference in temperature between the wort and the cooling water. So hot wort and cold water is best. In the beginning you need a lot of flow, otherwise your water exits hot, so the last few feet it is the same temperature as the wort and you aren't extracting any heat there.
But once the wort cools your temperature difference is smaller. If you don't mind wasting water you can keep your flow up. But in reality the heat transfer rate is slow enough that you can dial back the flow rate and your wort cooling rate only slows a little.

By adjusting for the hottest exiting water flow you are being efficient with your use of water, but you could be cooling faster. It depends if you are more conserved for the environment and your water bill or the quality of your finished beer.

 

[theck]

The amount of heat transferred is dependent on the difference in temperature between the wort and the cooling water. So hot wort and cold water is best. In the beginning you need a lot of flow, otherwise your water exits hot, so the last few feet it is the same temperature as the wort and you aren't extracting any heat there.
But once the wort cools your temperature difference is smaller. If you don't mind wasting water you can keep your flow up. But in reality the heat transfer rate is slow enough that you can dial back the flow rate and your wort cooling rate only slows a little.

By adjusting for the hottest exiting water flow you are being efficient with your use of water, but you could be cooling faster. It depends if you are more conserved for the environment and your water bill or the quality of your finished beer.

Capture the exiting water and reuse it. The hot water you can toss into a bucket then into your washing machine, cooler water for the garden, baby pools for kids, etc... today for example I'll be brewing the hot I'll use to wash up my tun and the keggle when finished, the med water for the kid's baby pool and the remaining for the garden.

 

[AlfA01]

I have a homemade chiller and it certainly requires constant movement and attention to work. I must redesign it and I am thinking to make a 'counterflow' design. I've sourced all the parts and will order them soon, because using a wort chiller, ice bath and whatever remedy I can think of, just isn't going to work for me. The kettle I have is quite large (60 liters) and wide; therefore, having enough surface area for the current chiller is an issue. And, the depth of my wort is spread more wide and less deep than other kettles, so I am thinking of the counter flow design so that these things are less of a factor.

Cheers,
AlfA01

 

[johngaltsmotor]

Capture the exiting water and reuse it. The hot water you can toss into a bucket then into your washing machine, cooler water for the garden, baby pools for kids, etc... today for example I'll be brewing the hot I'll use to wash up my tun and the keggle when finished, the med water for the kid's baby pool and the remaining for the garden.

Just make sure to keep them straight, I have a couple of 2' dia patches of bare dirt thanks to my IC exit water. Not sure why it didn't used to happen, but this year my lawn doesn't handle hot water well. :cross:

 

[AlfA01]

I have also heard that dunking the chiller up and down or whirlpooling with a pump greatly decreases the time needed.

This is very true. You can actually feel the temp variations (hot side) when moving the chiller around in the wort)

Cheers,
AlfA01

 

[Demus]

If cold water goes into the chiller, and cold water comes out, how are you chilling the wort? Wouldn't you need to remove the heat from the wort by way of heating the water?

Not cold, it will of course be warmer, just not as warm as the wort. My point was maximum temperature of chiller output is NOT minimum chill time...



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[theck]

Mine comes out so hot you don't want to spash it on yourself or touch it, it's pretty darn hot. Maybe the water going in isn't cold enough it your not getting a good transfer of heat? I have a 25 foot 3/8 in bucket of ice feeding a 50 foot 3/8 chiller... even when I had only one it came out warm. Not like it is now but warm.

 

[frozennorth]

In the winter, when outside, I can not use an IC, it is to cold to turn on outside faucets, but you have never seen a wort chill faster than at -40. Some warm water from inside mixed with all the snow I can handle cools it off in a out 12 min.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

That's why I run the hose from my slop sink in the laundry room. Unfortunately I have to remember to bring the hose in from the garage a few days prior to thaw. Not much worse than dropping in the IC and turning on the hose and nothing comes out :-(

 

[Dixon9717]

I use ice bath method plus an immersion chiller that I hooked a pump up to and use the same ice bath water and recirculate the same water takes less then 15 min for 3 gallons of wort and use about 5 gallons of water....


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[mdbrewer1]

I used my new IC for the first time last night and I must have had the water moving awfully quickly. It was barely lukewarm coming out. I ended up picking up the output line and pressing my thumb against it to achieve a sprinkler effect and used it to water as much of the lawn as the spray would reach. Maybe next time I'll dial it back a bit.