6m Counterflow Wort Chiller

[Hopsta]

To those that use one of these, i have recently purchased a 6m CFWC which i havent used yet as im still in the process of building my setup, i also have a 60lt kettle to hook it up to. I am worried that the CFWC will not be able to chill the wort sufficiently with the 1/2 inch ball valve tap on my kettle fully open? Has anyone had this problem? Hence if i was to open the tap half way to slow down the flow im assuming this would overcome the problem? Would any air be able to get up inside the copper pipe with the tap half open? Should i be worried about HSA at all?

Sorry lots of questions, probably just paranoid, hope someone out there has the answers?

Cheers,
Hopsta

 

[sosman]

To those that use one of these, i have recently purchased a 6m CFWC which i havent used yet as im still in the process of building my setup, i also have a 60lt kettle to hook it up to. I am worried that the CFWC will not be able to chill the wort sufficiently with the 1/2 inch ball valve tap on my kettle fully open? Has anyone had this problem? Hence if i was to open the tap half way to slow down the flow im assuming this would overcome the problem? Would any air be able to get up inside the copper pipe with the tap half open? Should i be worried about HSA at all?

Sorry lots of questions, probably just paranoid, hope someone out there has the answers?

Cheers,
Hopsta

[post="67755"][/post]​

gravity or pump?

 

[Hopsta]

gravity or pump?

On my current design i had planned to use gravity from kettle through CFC to fermenter. And i was going to use pump from HLT to mash tun.

 

[vlbaby]

hopsta,
you should be able to use the cfwc by gravity as long as you have sufficient drop from your kettle to your fermenter. However I wouldnt bother guessing too much.
I would try the system on boiling water first and take some measurements. Open the kettle valve fully open as you are using gravity and it will need all the help it can get. Then just experiment with how much cooling water flow you need to achieve the desired temperature.
Even if the temperature only get down to say 24degC, you can still stick the fermenter in the fridge for a while before pitching the yeast. Its not really a big deal if you delay pitching for a short time. ESB fresh worts packs prove that.


vlbaby.

 

[JasonY]

Hopsta, I have a 7m one that I made and the best I have managed is about 24degC with that. It will depend on the tap water temp a lot (in summer I get more like 28 - 30degC). I also throttle the flow (pumped) but it is also a trade off between wort temp & how long you are prepared to wait for the wort to transfer (I think mine is done in <10mins). If I could go back I would have made the chiller a couple of metres longer. 6m will do the job I am sure.

In any event I chuck it in the fridge to get it to temp before airating & pitching.