After Chiller

[Damian44]

Hi ya. My 30 Plate chiller is not getting my wort temps down to pitching temps and i would like to remedy this. I was thinking of coiling some S Steel piping into a coil and sitting it in a ice bath. So the near boiling wort would come out of the kettle go through the plate chiller than through the S Steel coil than into the fermenter already sitting in the fridge. So my questions are...

1. Will the March 809 pump (being shipped) be able to push it all through?
2. What size S Steel piping should i buy and where from?
3. Is this a daft idea and do you have a better one?
4. How do you connect Silicon hose to the March pump?

TYVM Damian

 

[tavas]

Hi Damo

I can't answer all of your questions but will answer what I can.

1. Would need to know the head for the pump.
2. I would use copper tubing, cheaper than stainless and easier to work with. Plus copper has better heat conductivity. Not knowing your plate chiller size, I'd say match the two outlets (eg: 1/2" to 1/2").
3. There are no daft ideas. Just ideas that work and those that end in tears.
4. Try a 1/2" barb. 1/2" threaded female to 1/2" barb or 3/8" barb depending on the size of your silicon hose.

 

[unrealeous]

An cheaper/easier way to do it is to make a 1/2" copper coil (cheaper than stainless and better conductor), and place this in an ice bath. Your hose water then goes into the copper coil, gets pre-chilled, then into the plate chiller.

 

[Kodos]

Since you're getting a march pump, try recirculating the wort through the chiller and back into the kettle for a while, this drops the temp of the entire wort much faster (stopping isomerisation of hops in the kettle quickly, like an immersion chiller does).

Keep an eye on the temp of the wort as it comes out of the return hose, and when it's around your pitching temp, divert it into your fermenter.

I tried this a couple of months ago (when water temps in canberra were bloody cold) and it worked amazingly well - got the wort temp down to 12 deg in less than 20 minutes!

The copper coil inside ice for your chiller water will help too.

good luck!

 

[Damian44]

Thanks guys. It would make more sense to chill the water instead of the wort. One less thing that needs sanatizing and reduces the pumps workload. Recycling the wort is a great idea also.
This looks like good value but im not sure how much shipping would be from the U.S. http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shoppingcart/pr...52dchiller.html

TYVM Damian

 

[goomboogo]

Damian, pre-chilling the water works well. I chill using gravity so you have more options available seeing that you will be using a pump. But I have no trouble getting the wort to 18-20c in a single pass using water between 5 and 10c. I use a flow rate of approximately 2 litres of water to 1 litre of wort.

 

[Damian44]

Do you think this chiller will have the same connections as an Aussie hose connections?

 

[raven19]

Possibly, however you can always cut the ends off and fit your own, etc.