Anyone here brew 1-bbl batches? If so, how do you chill the wort… large immersion chiller, or some kind of plate chiller?
If IC, what length and diameter is the coil?
If plate chiller, any info on make, model, # of plates, and what pumps (if any) you use, would be appreciated.
thanks
red
try a prechiller to a counter flow chiller. you could do as many gallons as you like so long as you have something to keep the prechiller cold.
I was just at a nanobrewery (2 50gal kettles) and they used two therminators (actually, one was a therminator on steroids) and they used one as a prechiller. But thermodynamically, I’m pretty sure it would be better to run the wort through both. Chill with tap water in the first and pump ice water through the second.
I brew 60-75 gallon batches and chill with a single therminator. I recirculate until the output is at pitching temp, then run it to the fermenter.
What kind of pump? Basic March 809 or…?
March 809 for now, I’ve ordered the 815 impeller to make it all go a bit faster. I might need to recirculate longer, but it will give me a better whirlpool and the final transfer will happen a lot faster. Not to mention the other transfers 
I used to run 45 gallon batches through my Chillzilla and March pump w/no problems. I would just run over to fermentor and pitch the next AM if the water wasn’t cold enough.
Looks like those kegs are attached. I kept wondering what they were for!?
Same here. I thought, “Man - those are some BIG ASS HOPBACKS”
…glad I’m not the only one…
probably, however this way they only have the wort exposed to one piece of equipment for sanitizing etc.
i can’t fathom these large batches anymore. if i make more than 2 or 3 gallons at a time i get over worked 8)
I just pulled it out and took a picture. Kegs just happened to be there.
Currently I use a single Therminator on tap water and when the wort is down to near 100f I change the water source to a submersible pump in ice water. The whole time the wort is being recirculated back to the kettle. It recirculates until sufficiently cold to be pumped directly to the fermenter. Most of the time the minute I connect the ice water pump I can pump to the fermenter. I also have another Therminator that I can run in series with the first running tap water and the second one running ice water, and this can go directly to the fermenter a lot sooner. With the two hooked up, I still recirculate hot wort for a while for sanitation, then turn on the tap water for a while to cool the wort down a bit (no reason to waste more ice) and then kick the ice water pump on and pump to the fermenter. There are lots of ways to use this setup, so this is just my method as needed. One plate chiller does the job well. Both are now mounted to my brewstand (lower right corner).
Without going into the math and physics, one normal plate chiller can chill very large batch sizes if you have the proper velocity of flow of both cooling water and wort. If you have enough chilling tap water flow to return wort to your kettle (wort output) that is the same temp as your chilling tap water (water input), you’ve used the capacity of your plate chiller properly, and you don’t need more chiller. The problem I see most often is when folks refuse to turn up the tap water flow enough, or they buy some underpowered submersible “pond pump” that is not capable of generating the flow needed for the chilling water side.
dean, do you have any clogging issue recirculating through the therminator when sanitizing? how do you manage hops going through the plate chiller?
FWIW that’s why I went with the chillzilla. No clogging issue and it allowed me the convenience of sanitizing during the boil. Chill rate was plenty fast for me.
I am also wondering that… anyone using a plate chiller that can share filtering tips for pellet hops?
-red
The keg kettle has a false bottom and I usually use whole hops in combination with the pellets and it sets up a nice filter bed so not a lot of hop sludge goes through the chiller. I also use nylon paint strainer bags for large pellet hop loads. In many years I have never had an issue with getting the plate chillers clean enough.
I backflush well with tap water in both directions after use and that seems to be fine. Sometimes when I have time I recirculate hot PBW and always get some debris and green color, but nothing major enough to be of concern. I have never had a clogging issue.
To sanitize I start recirculating wort 15 minutes before the end of the boil as best I can and it gets the whole setup above 180f in all places. Even if there was residuals in the chillers nothing will be alive in there
I’m playing with a canister filter from Brewer’s Hardware to eliminate the need for the false bottom and plan on whirlpooling alone to control the debris with my new kettle (20gal from Stout Tanks). Unfortunately I have only been able to get the filter to work after the pump and not right out of the kettle so far, so not yet optimum.
