The hydra wort chiller is advertised as the fastest cooling copper immersion chiller on the market.
Is it worth the extra money as compared to standard copper immersion chillers?
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Yes! I have one and love it. It can get your wort down to temp in about 10 minutes.
+1 on that. I still use my old SS chiller in a pot filled with ice, running the cooling water through it ahead of the hydra.
Absolutely. As fast if not faster than plate or CFC I’ve used and a lot less maintenance
Its way better than a standard chiller - well worth the price. Heavy duty and fast chilling. I chilled my last 5.5 gallon batch to water source temp. in 5 minutes. The old standard chiller would have taken 20-30 minutes.
I really wish they had a stainless steel option. I’d buy it in a heartbeat.
Absolutely worth it. I upgraded after I read Denny talk about it on some website. I can get to around 7° above ground water in Under 10 minutes. The key is to have a normal size garden hose going to and from it and turning on the water full blast. If it’s winter, nothing additional is needed. If it’s summer or you have hot ground water like I do here in Southern California that will get you to 75 or 80°. Then to get to pitching temperature or lager temperature, I bought a 1/4 hp submersible pump. I put 12 pounds of ice in 10 gallons of water and run that quickly through the chiller at the very end and it will drop it to pitching temperature very easily. Whole chilling process in about 10 minutes. ( helps a great deal if you can whirlpool while chilling of course). No more double chiller set up like I used to. Very solid and well made too.
Great buy
I take less than 1/3 as long with the Hydra as I did with my old 25’ SS immersion chiller. It’s pretty slick, though it plugs up like a bastard when using whole cone hops. I’m still getting the damned thigns out of it.
What plugs? The coils?
Are you pushing wort or water through the inside of the Hydra?
Sounds like wort, huh?
I’ve always put the chiller in the kettle with the wort and run ground water through the chiller. Seems much easier to sanitize up front and clean after.
Aw, you’re probably one of those boring guys who put their underwear and socks on first and then their pants and shoes.
Most of the time anyway.
The $150 price tag has me stuck though. At that point I could get into a counterflow chiller. I don’t have one thought, just an IC, so I’m guessing the hydra is easier to clean and you only have one fluid to circulate though.
I don’t have a Hydra either. I do have a CFC and an immersion chiller. The immersion chiller is much easier to clean. Pull out of wort and rinse with the garden hose; let drip dry.
CFC requires recirculating with warm PBW solution; rinsing with warm water; finally, I shoot compressed air to dry it out.
The Hydra is at least as fast as a counterflow and easier to maintain. No contest.
You sold me, Denny.
Agreed
Is it equally advantageous at a lower flow rate? I run my IC (with prechiller) off the kitchen faucet, so it’s a significantly lower rate than I believe is quoted to get the super speed advertised (full line pressure off a garden hose I believe.)