I was wondering if anyone had any input on building a wort chiller with refrigerant. My boss has his refrigerant license and has a million and one parts in his shop. He said he could make me a condensed version of a frig, and use the evaporator to submerge in the wort instead of my water fed copper. Once compressed, and re-released as a liquid refrigerant can get to around -120 deg. Any downsides?
wort chiller
- Thread starter aaron8699
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-120 is really cold, that would help get the temp down quickly but I have two concerns, though I'm not sure how valid they are.
1. Wort may freeze quickly to the immersed portion of the chiller, creating ice... not sure how quickly considering the wort is at boiling temps though when you start out.
2. I would worry about extreme temperature fluctuations eventually causing a leak of refrigerant. I'm not an engineer, nor do I have any real knowledge of refrigerant so this may not matter.
Just my two thoughts on this... but otherwise, that would be awesome because you could get your wort down in a matter of one or two minutes with temps that cold... even to lagering temps like 43F.
1. Wort may freeze quickly to the immersed portion of the chiller, creating ice... not sure how quickly considering the wort is at boiling temps though when you start out.
2. I would worry about extreme temperature fluctuations eventually causing a leak of refrigerant. I'm not an engineer, nor do I have any real knowledge of refrigerant so this may not matter.
Just my two thoughts on this... but otherwise, that would be awesome because you could get your wort down in a matter of one or two minutes with temps that cold... even to lagering temps like 43F.
Junkster
Well-Known Member
Interesting idea, but I think submerging the evaporator in wort (like an immersion chiller) would be very cumbersome at best. Perhaps if it were connected to the compressor deck via hoses (like automotive A/C), the maybe it could be handled in the way of a regular IC. Maybe a heat exchanger at the unit where you could run the wort through on the way to the fermenter would be easier. I'm considering a homemade cooling unit, but I'm thinking a glycol chiller instead.
