Chillers?

[chopdog]

Hey lads, can you run a plate chiller on a gravity setup or do you need pumps? I can get a plate chiller fairly cheap but don't want to buy it if it won't work.

Cheers

 

[CONNOR BREWARE]

Yes mate you can. A slow gravity feed of hot wort will work well with the higher counter flow of cooling tap water.

 

[Truman42]

I have my plate chiller sitting vertically. Wort gravity feeds from the kettle to the inlet at the bottom of the chiller which then fills the chiller and flows out the top outlet and into my FV. My water flow goes the opposite way.

I get a nice steady flow through the chiller

 

[djar007]

Is one pass through the chiller enough to bring it down to temperature Truman?

 

[NewtownClown]

Yes. depending on the temp of your chilling water, the flow rate out of your chiller and the number of plates in your chiller...
A tap/valve/cock on the wort outlet allows you to slow the flow and have the wort spend more time in contact with the cold plates

 

[djar007]

Ok. Thanks Newtown Clown. That pretty much seals the deal for me. Goodbye immersion chiller.

 

[Truman42]

Is one pass through the chiller enough to bring it down to temperature Truman?

I have the smaller chiller that only has half the amount of plates as the full sized one. (Got it from Kk second hand for $20.00)

I can get my wort down to around 25C if I slow the flow right down and let it trickle into the Fv. I use water from my water tank returned back to the tank so I can let it drain for a good 15 mins so it chills right down.

If you have a bigger plate chiller you will have no problems at all. Sometimes in summer I cant get the wort down past 30C so I just chill the FV and pitch the next day. This works for me because I take 2 litres of my wort after boiling for 10 mins and make my starter which has fired by the next morning anyway.

 

[hbnath]

Good to know the answer to this as have been considering whether to go with a copper coil immersion chiller or plate chiller as not really a lot of price difference over here. Plate chiller much tidier with a small space too

 

[woodwormm]

drifting slightly OT... does everyone have an inline thermometer to measure wort coming out of the plate chiller?

when i hook mine up, how do I know how much to slow wort / water supplies to gain correct temp?

any suggestions for quick responding inline thermometer?

 

[Truman42]

You can use a stainless T on your wort outlet from the chiller and screw in a thermowell. Or use an STC1000 probe siliconed into a push in fitting and screwed into the T piece. Which is how my temp probe is fitted to my herms coil outlet.

Something like this but connected to your chiller



I just use an infrared thermometer (not a cheapy so its fairly accurate) and check the wort temp once its filled. to be honest even a stick on job on the side of your Fv would be good enough. You just want to get a ball park of what your worts temp is.

 

[woodwormm]

Does STC react quick enough for liquid flowing past its sensor?

If i drop my STC1000 probe from room temp (approx 25 degrees) into a cold glass of liquid (approx 5 degrees) it seems to decrease a 'point' at a time and only one point per second.. ?

 

[punkin]

I have my plate chiller sitting vertically. Wort gravity feeds from the kettle to the inlet at the bottom of the chiller which then fills the chiller and flows out the top outlet and into my FV. My water flow goes the opposite way.

I get a nice steady flow through the chiller

Thank you. You have just provided a light bulb moment for me. I have never used my plate chiller as i can't be bothered fitting up the march pump and stuffing around cleaning it all later. I couldn't figure how to use it gravity fed and still have clearance, but with this simple process i have lost no height at all.

Funny the simple things i overlook sometimes.