Chilling Possibilities

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pbrosnan

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Hi all,

My little brewery was reached the point where I need an effective cooling solution. I have been sitting the wort in cold water in the sink but I've moved from the kitchen to a little room off the garage and carting hot wort through the house isn't an option.
I was thinking of buying an immersion chiller from ESB, sticking it in an ice bath, attaching a pond pump and circulating between the chiller and the kettle. Has anyone tried this or are there an issues that people can see? I was wondering about the suitability of the pond pump (high temps and whether it's sanitary).
 
Patrick,

Here's a pic of mine, very simple with the pond pump, a few coils and some frozen ice. All up cost $50 (already had the esky's). I hook up the tap first to take the high end heat out of it before hooking this up to recirculate which drops it to 18C. It can take a little longer, but my beers have tasted fine so far (AG).



Complete_setup.jpg
 
Making a counterflow chiller isn't that hard, check out my attempt at http://brewiki.org/CounterFlowChiller. If you use solder connections and buy your copper from the right place you should be able to make it for no more than $60 or $70.

An immersion chiller is cheaper.

There are lots of pics of various chillers at:

ImmersionChiller.jpg
 
Hi all,

Thanks for the responses. Sos, have looked at your gallery a few time, a great source of inspiration so much so that I have just got back from Reece's with all the bits.
Duff I assume that the esky with the electrical cable going in is where the pump is? Is this to keep it cool? Do you have any close ups of te setup?

cheers

Patrick
 
pbrosnan said:
Thanks for the responses. Sos, have looked at your gallery a few time, a great source of inspiration so much so that I have just got back from Reece's with all the bits.
[post="56847"][/post]​
If I didn't write it down somewhere with few pics I would forget stuff. Its good to know that others can get something out of it.

I take it the copper from Reeces would have been a bit of a sting though?

cheers
 
All up it was $98, that was for 18m of 1/2 inch and the 2 brass fittings for the ends. I'm off to start coiling. Going to use the wrap it round a keg method unless there are better low tech options.
 
Acetic acid or white wine vinigar for the start rinse with boiling water then place in the Wort HLT 10 mins from the end of the boil to sterilise

pumpy
 
OK a couple of things. Just to clarify, I was actually going to pass the wort through the coild while they are sitting in a bath of cold water hence I will need to clean the inside of the tube.
Duff I was wondering what brand of pump you have as I've just come back from Bunnings and their's didn't look like they'd be much use.
 
Cleaning should be pretty rare if you look after it well. After the chill down, wash the coils and dry it well. If you store it indoors in a dry spot (ala for me about my suit) it will need minimal cleaning between brews, and only need to be cleaned with acid pretty infrequently

Will
 
pbrosnan,

much easier to pass the cold water through the coils rather than the hot beer, I made mine with an old boat bilge pump i had & $10 worth of copper tube from the local srcap yard...

Chiller.jpg
 
Ross,

What sort of displacement does the coil have? I've got a 30L urn as my kettle and I'm aiming for full wort boils for 25L batches.
 
Patrick,

I don't pump the wort, simply ice water through the immersion chiller. You can't do it straight up with the boiling wort as it only will lower to 30C (unless you had a series of esky's) and you have to replace the water and ice in the esky's, hence the garden hose and town water for several minutes.

The pump was from Bunnings - White International 'Water Master' Small Waterfeature/Pond Pump. 1000L/Hr @ 1.7m head $20. My guess is you could only do it the way you want to with some sort of external pump and drive pumping it through coils into a secondary vessel (fermenter?). I guess in that case it would be very similar to a CFWC.

With mine I can just hook it up, head inside for a :chug: and not have to worry about it until it's cold.

Cheers - Brett.
 
pbrosnan said:
Ross,

What sort of displacement does the coil have? I've got a 30L urn as my kettle and I'm aiming for full wort boils for 25L batches.
[post="56912"][/post]​

Never measured the displacement, but by the time you put the coil in for the last 15 mins, you have boiled off far more than the displacement volume. i reckon you'll be struggling to get a 25L batch out of a 30L kettle without adding top up water at the end...
 
If I am looking for a new coil of copper where is a cheap chain store to purchase it from? Reece might be a bit steep any other ideas? Does bunnings get copper coils in?
 
Bunnings gets coils in. In Sydney Bunnings i've only experienced that they will only sell a whole coil ie 18m and aren't willing to cut a length for you. Great customer service.

Definately hunt around, apparently guys on this forum have good experience buying copper coils from fridge supply shops rather than plumbing supply shops

Will
 
Thanks Kungy I am after a full 18m coil, I plan to jam as much copper piping in my heat exchanger as possible (making a HERMS system but also going to pump wort from the kettle thought he Heat exchanger fill will cold water, drain then ice water (especially useful when tap water is sometimes in excess of 30*C). I will see what bunnings can do for me.
 
BrissyBrew,

Bunnings here in Perth was slightly dearer then Reece's. I think they said about $94 for 18m coil of 1/2 inch. Reece's was $82 plus GST.
 
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