Wort chiller not chilling

[texag06ish]

Haven't brewed in a couple of months due to moving. Brewed last night and for some reason the wort chiller wasn't getting as cold as it usually does. Usually it get so cold it sweats. Last night it was barely cold to the touch. Any idea what caused that?

 

[Yooper]

Haven't brewed in a couple of months due to moving. Brewed last night and for some reason the wort chiller wasn't getting as cold as it usually does. Usually it get so cold it sweats. Last night it was barely cold to the touch. Any idea what caused that?

Warm tap water would make the chiller not get very cold. In the winter, my tap water is really good (45 degrees!) but it takes much longer to chill in the summer when my cold water is in the 60s.

 

[texag06ish]

That what was odd to me. It was 40 degrees put last night and we were using the hose. Figured it would have cooled a lot quicker. Instead it was the exact opposite.

Btw, it is a normal copper coil wort chiller.

 

[Zorin]

What you have to take into consideration is ambient temperature is not the same as ground temperature. It will take several weeks if not months of continuous low temperatures for the internal ground temperatures to drop where your tap water will be cold, unless your water supply is spring fed or your pipes are above ground.

 

[texag06ish]

With that being said, all of our other batches were brewed in the heat of the summer as well.

Are you saying there is no way it could fail mechanically?

 

[MalFet]

With that being said, all of our other batches were brewed in the heat of the summer as well.

Are you saying there is no way it could fail mechanically?

Is water going in and coming out? It's just a copper tube, ultimately. There's not much to it to fail.

 

[h22lude]

Is water going in and coming out? It's just a copper tube, ultimately. There's not much to it to fail.

My thoughts exactly. If water is going in and coming out, it has to cool boiling wort.

What is the temp of your hose water? Did it lower the temp of the wort to?

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

With that being said, all of our other batches were brewed in the heat of the summer as well.

Are you saying there is no way it could fail mechanically?

What mechanics does a wort chiller have? You said you moved, your water supply might have changed...giving you warmer tap water.
You said it doesn't sweat anymore from condensation, you run water thru it to chill the copper before chilling your wort?
Im not sure i understand what you mean by this

 

[texag06ish]

I realize that may have come across as condescending. I didn't mean for that.

I really didn't think there was a way for it to fail mechanically but maybe there was something I wasn't taking into account.

I guess it has to be the water supply. I think Austin may have come from an underground source.

 

[MalFet]

I realize that may have come across as condescending. I didn't mean for that.

I really didn't think there was a way for it to fail mechanically but maybe there was something I wasn't taking into account.

I guess it has to be the water supply. I think Austin may have come from an underground source.

I didn't take it as condescending, no worries, and didn't mean my response as anything along that line either

It's always worth comparing the input and output temperatures. Ideally, you want them to be as far apart as possible.

 

[lgilmore]

copper sweat = humidity?

 

[texag06ish]

The portions that stuck out would sweat some.