Wort chiller vs. Ice Bath

[freisste]

I'm no math whiz, but as an example let's say you have 3 gallons of 212 degree wort. Adding two gallons of 32 degree water (ice) will NOT get you 5 gallons of 65 degree wort- more like 100 degrees. So then you have 5 gallons of too-warm wort that takes even longer to chill.

Yooper, your math is good (3@212 + 2@32 = 5@140). However, you are forgetting two points. One, ice from the freezer is more like 0-5f I think. Two, a lot of energy is needed to melt the ice (energy in the form of heat from your wort, aka "latent heat of melting"). Doesn't matter because you are still correct that it won't get you where you want to be.

Also, I have built an emersion chiller very similar to what is being described. All parts from Lowe's, total cost around 24 compared to LHBS at 70. Anybody else having problems with the copper to vinyl hose clamp connection? I'm afraid to tighten more for fear of crushing the copper, but I have noticed a very slow leak. Planning on making a solder connection.

One more note that I thought was cool and I haven't seen in the past - I wanted the cool to have a low profile so I could use it on very small brews (think yeast starter). I bent my 20ft into a double helix so it is about half as tall as other models I have seen. Probably took me 5 min of though plus 10min of bending instead of just 5 min of bending, but worth it IMHO.

 

[Crito]

when you are carrying the boiling wort to the ice bath. Just remember, if any spills on you... It might be painful.

My old cooler mash tun is going to be my new holder for ice and water. I am going to add a pond pump and use it to pump really cold water into my imm. chiller.

 

[jbaysurfer]

A wort chiller sounds like a great , albeit costly, idea. However, I prefer the sink ice batch method myself. I wouldn't want to worry about dropping in a coiled chiller into my nice, fresh sanitized wort. Also, who the heck would want to clean it and store it when your done????

You drop it in with 15 minutes to go in the boil. It's sanitized by chill down time. You clean it immediately after you rack to the fermenter, just like with your boil kettle. Fill with hot water and PBW (or Oxyclean or whatever you clean with), let is soak for 15 minutes. Use a standard kitchen sponge, and wipe it down. Rinse, dry.

It's really not all that hard, as a owner of 2 coil chillers I also don't think it's a valid complaint. Cleaning one is no harder the filling the sink with ice, filling it with water, draining it, do it again. It's just a preference thing.

I'll use my $60 coil chiller and not carry 60lbs of Boiling liquid any day. I'm too klutzy to take on that risk too many times.

 

[eastoak]

Yooper, your math is good (3@212 + 2@32 = 5@140). However, you are forgetting two points. One, ice from the freezer is more like 0-5f I think. Two, a lot of energy is needed to melt the ice (energy in the form of heat from your wort, aka "latent heat of melting"). Doesn't matter because you are still correct that it won't get you where you want to be.

Also, I have built an emersion chiller very similar to what is being described. All parts from Lowe's, total cost around 24 compared to LHBS at 70. Anybody else having problems with the copper to vinyl hose clamp connection? I'm afraid to tighten more for fear of crushing the copper, but I have noticed a very slow leak. Planning on making a solder connection.

One more note that I thought was cool and I haven't seen in the past - I wanted the cool to have a low profile so I could use it on very small brews (think yeast starter). I bent my 20ft into a double helix so it is about half as tall as other models I have seen. Probably took me 5 min of though plus 10min of bending instead of just 5 min of bending, but worth it IMHO.

2 words: compression fittings. as far as crushing the copper with a hose clamp, i doubt it.

 

[freisste]

2 words: compression fittings. as far as crushing the copper with a hose clamp, i doubt it.

I looked into compression fittings, but I couldn't seem to find the right thing. My current plan is to solder two 3/8 hose barbs which should be pretty economical. Current setup only cost about $22 and I don't want to spend an extra $20 on fittings if I don't have to. I'll update when make the changes.

As far as crushing the copper - I tightened until the torque started going down. I'm either crushing the copper or (more likely) pinching the tube and causing the leak. Either way I will feel better with brass barbs.

 

[zeg]

As far as crushing the copper - I tightened until the torque started going down. I'm either crushing the copper or (more likely) pinching the tube and causing the leak. Either way I will feel better with brass barbs.

I was playing with my new kit and I think your latter guess is right. On mine, the hose clamps are pretty clearly getting out of round as they tighten. There's a cusp right beneath the screw mechanism, and the hose bunches up, leaving noticeable gaps.

I'm going to look for compression fittings, but if I can't find 'em, my plan is just to make sure the dripping is outside the kettle.

 

[jbaysurfer]

Freistte,

That is really nice work you did on your chiller. Kudos!

 

[freisste]

Freistte,

That is really nice work you did on your chiller. Kudos!

Thanks! Always nice to meet a fan .

So far I am 1 for 1 (chiller made, waiting first batch of homebrew to finish fermenting, waiting anxiously with fingers crossed that I didn't screw anything up).

 

[MZRIS]

i just got a solid copper reverse flow wort chiller ( copper pipe inside of copper pipe, coiled) and i'm not looking back!! this thing takes in boiling hot wort and dispenses 80 degree wort with a quickness. I can drain my boil kettle in 6-8 mins..

almost just like this one..

http://www.breworganic.com/deluxecoppercounter-flowwortchiller.aspx

 

[J187]

What up i'm new to brewing aswell and I have about 6 or 7 batches under my belt thus far. I had no wort chiller so I relied on sink water and ice but couldn't bring my temp down properly so what I did was place a two gallon soup pot that I already had fliped it upside down in a plastic tub. Stuck my garden hose in and turned it on full blast.. Being that I Brew at night with the cold water constantly flowing I can bring my temp down to 60 within 20 mins easy..bucket was free hose was free and water is included in my utilities! Works great for me plus my plants get waterd!

I don't think I fully understand what you do...

I ice bath in my sink. only done two brews got it down in about 20 minutes as well,I just plug the sink fill with ice water,unplug it and refill ect until the wort temp is down,takes about 20 minutes also. my LHBS sells wort chillers for like 60$ and since the two brews I have done ,the ice bath method worked I doubt I'll drop that,or at the very most ,make a wort chiller myself.

I've used an ice bath in my sink for my first two batches and it cooled my wort down in about 20-25 minutes which is not bad at all. Out of convenience I bought a chiller, mostly because hauling 2-3 bags of ice up 3 flights of stairs to my apartment is a PITA, but I used my chiller now on my most recent batch and it chilled it down in a whopping 8 minutes! Granted I'm doing extract brewing and chilling about 3 gallons of wort, so a larger batch would probably take a bit longer, but so far I'm very happy with my purchase.

What kind of ice are you using?!?

Yes, I do cover it in between stirs. I've found 5 gallons cools quickly as long as you keep the ice up to the wort level. It probably helped too, that the air temp was around 30 the last time I did this.

To those who are getting their wort to 60-70 deg in 20 min with nothing more than an ice bath - are you sure? I use an ice bath with plenty of ice and continuously change my water, I stir constantly and I can get my temps down to pitching in about 35-40 min... but 20 min for an icebath seems crazy for anything over 2 gallons - especially 5!!

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

i just got a solid copper reverse flow wort chiller ( copper pipe inside of copper pipe, coiled) and i'm not looking back!! this thing takes in boiling hot wort and dispenses 80 degree wort with a quickness. I can drain my boil kettle in 6-8 mins..

almost just like this one..

http://www.breworganic.com/deluxecoppercounter-flowwortchiller.aspx

$220 for wort chiller?!?!

I honestly dont think chilling in 10 minutes instead of 20 is going to make a damn bit of difference, in fact we all know it doesnt because there are plenty who wait 8+ hours for wort to chill on its own and make great beer.

 

[zeg]

$220 for wort chiller?!?!

I honestly dont think chilling in 10 minutes instead of 20 is going to make a damn bit of difference, in fact we all know it doesnt because there are plenty who wait 8+ hours for wort to chill on its own and make great beer.

At that point, I think you're paying for a bit of convenience more than the time (and it basically saves all 20 minutes of cooling time if you siphon from your kettle to your fermenter, since it does both cooling and siphoning simultaneously).

Whether that's worth it depends on many factors...