Counterflow Chiller

[Batz]

Best chillers on the market
http://morebeer.com/view_product/19533/102...terflow_Chiller


Batz

 

[Julez]

This is what i want for fathers day
10 Gal in 5 min now thats saving water!!
But at $199US eekkkk!!!

http://www.blichmannengineering.com/Therminator/


Sintax

Actually, the website says "Chill 10 gal in 5 min to 68oF using 58oF cooling water at 5gpm."

So cooling water is 5gpm x 5 mins = 25 gallons of water to chill 10 gallons of wort. This works out to about 12.5 gallons for a standard 5 gallon batch (or roughly 50L of chill water for 20L of wort).

That's pretty much the same as my Beerbelly chiller (30 plate) which costs just over $100 AUD. I get my wort from boiling to under 20 degrees C in one pass, using chilled water.

Julez

 

[Sammus]

Actually, the website says "Chill 10 gal in 5 min to 68oF using 58oF cooling water at 5gpm."

So cooling water is 5gpm x 5 mins = 25 gallons of water to chill 10 gallons of wort. This works out to about 12.5 gallons for a standard 5 gallon batch (or roughly 50L of chill water for 20L of wort).

That's pretty much the same as my Beerbelly chiller (30 plate) which costs just over $100 AUD. I get my wort from boiling to under 20 degrees C in one pass, using chilled water.

Julez

That post was also over 5 years ago now, that was the first thing anything like it here

 

[Julez]

That post was also over 5 years ago now, that was the first thing anything like it here

HA! What a douche bag, I am. It's been a loooong day :wacko:

 

[technocat]

This is an old thread but I have a new question. The CFC below is a hybrid from the John Palmer article on counterflow chillers. Has anyone used one of these and at which end from an efficiency point of view would the cold water entry point be.

View attachment 32391

Just checking the article in depth it does say that a blind pipe in the centre of the coil should be fitted to force the water around the coils rather than the pushing it straight through. Thanks to those that pointed it out. I have the copper for 15 metres of helicoil and a stainless steel chamber to fit it in. When looking at the design it is a bit like an imersion coil with water moving over it. As I am on tank water I would just reticulate hot water back into a 5000 litre tank behind the shed.

 

[ausdb]

Just checking the article in depth it does say that a blind pipe in the centre of the coil should be fitted to force the water around the coils rather than the pushing it straight through. Thanks to those that pointed it out. I have the copper for 15 metres of helicoil and a stainless steel chamber to fit it in. When looking at the design it is a bit like an imersion coil with water moving over it. As I am on tank water I would just reticulate hot water back into a 5000 litre tank behind the shed.

Honestly don't wast your time and effort, make an imersion chiller coil to circulate water from your tank (sounds like you already have one pump) and then get one of these to recirculate your wort in your kettle
http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalog...13&catID=13
The march pump nazi's may laugh at them but they handle boiling wort fine if you connect them up as an inline pump and then submerge the whole assembly in a in an ice cream container of water to keep them cool. Plus you can buy at least 4 of them for the price of a march :icon_cheers:

 

[dicko]

Hi Beernut

I remember dicko made 1 of these a few years ago, maybe give him a pm.

cheers

nifty

Hi Guys,

I made one of these "hybrid" chillers in 2004 with 15m of 3/8" copper pipe in 150mm pvc with capped ends.
IMO it worked quite well but I made the fatal mistake on day of blocking the out flow (accidentally but that is another story) of the cooling water and that created a pressure in the outer pvc tubing which blew the end caps off the chiller.
Well, what a fu@#ing drama with 50 litres of wort to cool.
To answer your question it cooled the wort reasonably well but I have since made a counterflow chiller and I am very happy with the cooling efficiency.
Back when I stuffed about with these chillers copper was very cheap so what you made was not an issue.
My advice would be to make a CFWC if you have the dexterity to do so or if not buy one like Batz's from the states with the exchange rate the way it is at the moment or pick a plate chiller that will suit your needs taking into account the pros and cons.
I am lead to believe that Beer Belly's chillers are pretty good.

Cheers

 

[gjhansford]

I have one of these ...



... which are only $129 from Ross at Craft Brewer.

Used it for about 50 AG brews so far and it works great. Brings the temp down from a boil to about 24c in summer and 20c in winter just with tap water. Takes about 15 minutes to do 20 litres using a Peristaltic Pump with a garden irrigation filter on the wort in side to keep the hops and crud out of the chiller. Clean it out with keg and line cleaner and steralise it with Saniclean every brew and had no leakage or contamination problems at all. BTW ... the waste water goes into the garden so we don't waste it.

 

[Sammus]

Honestly don't wast your time and effort, make an imersion chiller coil to circulate water from your tank (sounds like you already have one pump) and then get one of these to recirculate your wort in your kettle
http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalog...13&catID=13
The march pump nazi's may laugh at them but they handle boiling wort fine if you connect them up as an inline pump and then submerge the whole assembly in a in an ice cream container of water to keep them cool. Plus you can buy at least 4 of them for the price of a march :icon_cheers:

makes more sense to use the aquarium pump to recirc the water, and using the march (assuming you have one) for the wort.

and for the record, I also use the new-age mkiii plate chiller, and get my 25L from boiling to 20C in about 5min.

 

[ausdb]

makes more sense to use the aquarium pump to recirc the water, and using the march (assuming you have one) for the wort.

and for the record, I also use the new-age mkiii plate chiller, and get my 25L from boiling to 20C in about 5min.

The original poster didn't say that he HAD a march pump at all, I was just pointing out a more cost effective option. Really he could use two of these pumps if he wanted to for less than the price of one march or if his tank is a long way away then get a slightly bigger one for the recirc water from his water tank.

Also for the record I have gone to a chillout MKIII from a 9m copper cfc and noticed an improvement as well.

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

I often lust over counterflow chillers, especially fancy ones using prichillers and convoluted copper coils, But I really just can't go past my simple, no BS immersion chiller. It's effective enough, allows for simultaneous whirlpool/chilling (keeping trub out of my fermenter), and doesn't have any hidden sopts of harbouring nasty bugs. Really can't bring myself to part with it, despite my usual irrational compulsion to spend heaps on brew bling....