always used a copper wort chiller to cool my wort. effective, just takes a bit more time to get down to 50-60F and uses a ton of well water. i have run my input line into ice to chill the well water further- that helps but not as fast as I’d like it be.
for those who have gone beyond the wort chiller, what are some preferred options and additions to cooling wort quickly- to me that’s about 10-15 minutes vs. 30+ minutes.
I need to improve my cooling process as well. Cooling in the summer takes too long. I have considered buying a cheaper immersion cooler to keep submerged in ice water that would feed the cooler in the kettle. That adds a step that I would prefer to avoid.
I think I just need to get a bigger, more efficient cooler.
I use a pre-chiller here in Texas as the ground water is 80 degrees in the summer. A pump with a whirlpool can cut chilling time in half or more. Small investment and easy to clean.
This may not be the advice you are looking for but I rarely cool my wort past 80 degrees before running off to a fermentor and letting it brought down to pitching temps overnight. There is no harm in doing that, if your sanitation techniques are sound you can feel safe within 12 hours of hitting fermentor.
I need to figure out or procure a better wort chilling method as well. Even in the winter with sub 50°F ground water, with my puny 25’ x 3/8" stainless IC it takes me about 25 minutes to get my wort down to 85-90°F, and I usually go through close to 20 gallons of water. It’s not wasted though, since I collect most of it in buckets then schlep it down to the basement to pour into the washing machine.
I often chill it as close to 80°F within 20 minutes or 4 buckets worth of water is collected then transfer to carboy, seal with sanitized foil and rubber band, then set inside fermentation chamber and cool to pitching temp. It usually only takes a few more hours to do, which isn’t at all bad. I typically pitch my yeast later in the evening once the wort temp has equalized and is at the desired degree.
+1 I do this more and more. Since most of my brewing occurs in the Winter, when I am done brewing, I will cool it to 80ish, run it off into the fermenters with sanitized bottles of ice. That usually gets it to around 70 by the time the transfer is done. I then let them sit in the carhold until before I go to sleep. Take them inside and pitch the yeast. Lagers sit in the sun room overnight, and get the yeast in the morning.
Instead of pre-chilling water, chill with your normal water to 80-100F or whenever it stops cooling quickly. Then switch to running ice water through the chiller using a pump. It’ll be much more efficient and keep a high temperature difference when you get to lower temps.
so as mentioned, I also will chill with wort chiller and then put in freezer for lagers where i’m looking for pitching temp of 45-48F.
for ales, generally just looking to get to 60F. and just deciding if there’s a better way to just get this done more quickly so I can be done with it. sounds like a pump recirculating ice water may be a relatively easy and cost effective way to go. any links for pumps you guys use and have a had good experience with?
High flow pond pumps will work fine for ice water. Amazon is a good source.
steve- is this what you’re talking about?
+1
harborfreight has one for <$40.
and if you can either agitate the wort of the chiller in the wort, it will work even faster.
Should work fine. Might be able to find something a bit cheaper.
I use this for my keg cleaner. It includes a garden hose fitting, so maybe it is a better choice compare to a pond pump. Harbor freight also has pond pumps for pretty cheap.
great-thanks for the info. picked up 1/4HP with garden hose fitting-30 gals per minute so should be good to go. $47.55 delivered tomorrow on amazon prime.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X05G1A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I still use an immersion chiller, but I use it in conjunction with a March pump to do recirculated chilling. I can get 6 gal. from boiling to 60F in 10-15 min with my well water. Although I bought the pump specifically for this, once I had it I found I could use it for other stuff, too.
This is what I do when the tap water is too warm.
[quote=“wort-h.o.g.”]great-thanks for the info. picked up 1/4HP with garden hose fitting-30 gals per minute so should be good to go. $47.55 delivered tomorrow on amazon prime.
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You might want to consider getting a shockbuster deal too. Amazon.com
That Shockbuster looks quite handy!
I’ll chime in with the obvious… are you stirring while chilling? This has an incredible impact on the chilling rate.
yeah stirring for sure.
not a big deal, just thought i’d try to cut my wasted water and time chilling down. when my lager freezer is being used for lager fermentation at 45-50F, im restricted to just using immersion chiller.
I have a 50 Ft immersion chiller with the Jamil Z. return that will move the wort, which causes better convection of heat from the wort to the chiller. It will take 10 gallons down to <65F in <14.5 minutes in the winter. Summer not as fast, heck a coupe years back with a hot summer you could not get to 65F here. Ice and a pond pump solves those situations.
Maximize the chiller area. Maximize the Delta T across the chiller (cold feed water)