Goliath 6m C/f Chiller

[warrenlw63]

Hiya all.

Contemplating going down the C/F chiller route. I'm interested in the 6m Goliath C/F. Looks nicely made for the price.

Just wondering if anybody is using one of these and if so how do they perform? Would they be any good for 40 litre batches or should I consider either the 9m model or a Chiller Convolutus from morebeer.com? :unsure:

Any advice would be most welcome. :beerbang:

Warren -

 

[roach]

I have the 6m Goliath CF chiller. Works OK for the price, but struggles to get the wort cooler than high 20's. For me this is acceptable as I chuck the cube in the ferment freezer overnight, rack to the fermenter and pitch the next morning at my target pitch temp.

If you have the readies I would go for the B3 chiller and be done with it.

not sure whether the goliath chiller is available anymore though. Would pay to ring Bill from Brewmaker who took over the online business from Dave.

cheers
roach

 

[RobW]

I have one too Warren & do pretty much the same as Roach.

Dave at Greensborough HBS sell them too but I don't know anybody who has one of those.

 

[warrenlw63]

Thanks Roach and Rob.

I was contemplating using my old 15m immersion chiller as a pre-chiller. Not sure if you do the same. I believe this should lower the temps a little.

The B3 Convolutus is looking the front-runner ATM. Like the thought of being able to throw the whole thing into a pot of boiling water.

Pity nobody in Oz has had the foresight to stock them as yet. :beer:

Warren -

 

[Screwtop]

Looking at chillers myself, which way to go, immersion or CFC - off the shelf or home brew. Have been browsing sites all morning and decided to stick with immersion, having wort left in the CFC seems to add mess to me. Also lots of comment about requiring a pre-chiller for both Imm and CFC in the warmer climates. Will follow this thread with interest.

 

[Jez]

Goliath still have the 6m. I purchased one from Bill about a month ago - yet to try it out though.

Jez

 

[roach]

...having wort left in the CFC seems to add mess to me.

[post="83299"][/post]​

a CFWC works really well if you have a pump in your system(relying on gravity is a PITA). Certainly sped up the brew day for me.

B4 draining the kettle i pump 1/2 a fermenter of weak ortho solution to sanitise it. I then pump the wort out of the kettle through the CFWC into a cube/fermenter. Afterwards I pump some more santising solution through the CFWC to clean it up, and then drain.

So for me it meant less mess(or much easier to clean up) rather than more cf with the immersion chiller I previously used.

 

[wee stu]

I run a goliath 6m CFC by gravity in my state of the artless brewery.

It works fine, though as in most things to do with my brew days it is not wholly a time or labour saving success. And, as roach says it is hard to get temp down below mid 20s .

I also agree with roach that the CFC is much less hassle and mess than my old immersion model.

 

[Boots]

Another vote for the convolutus here.

As Roach said, the Goliath is very good for the price, but could easily be twice as long for better results. On mine, I normally get it down to around 25-28 during winter, and I haven't used it in summer yet, so I'd say for a 40L batch size you'd really want something a bit better.

To get it anything cooler than that means trickling the wort through slowly with water on flat out, which uses a crap load of water.

 

[user 384]

I've got a convoluted CFC (Northern Brewer) and they do work well, but you still end up using loads of water. In winter time I can get the wort down to pitching tem, but you still have to have the water flat out. For lager's it's a case of cooling as much as possible, then into the fridge to drop the temp more, and pitch in the morning. In the middel of summer I have to do the same for ales.

I haven't done this yet, but will borrow from Ross' idea. I'll cool 2 or 3 jerry cans full of water down in the fridge to 1C-2C, then use a small cheap pump to run it through the CFC and collect again in a jerry can. Even in the middel of summer this should get the temps down, and means I'm using the same cooling water over and over again so no waste.

Moral of the story is that on a HB level, there is no perfect way, particularly if you live in a hot climate, and that there is a level of compromise in all methods. It's then a matter of balancing the what level of compromise against the brewing budget.

Cheers
MAH

 

[warrenlw63]

Thanks guys.

It's sounding more and more feasible to keep my immersion chiller. :unsure: Thought that maybe a Convolutus or longer Goliath chiller would be able to match (or better) the IC in terms of performance.

With my IC I just run tap water for 20 mins then recirculate ice water and metho via a pond pump for another 20 mins or so. This usually gets pitching temps as low as 14-15 in winter and about 20-22c in summer.

The main reason for wanting a C/F was that I've just bought an 80 litre ally pot and didn't fancy butchering the lid to fit the IC outlets.

Might just do a bit of careful cutting I think. Or maybe even fabricate a lid from alternative sources. :beerbang:

Warren -

 

[Wortgames]

Instead of a pre-chiller, maybe look at converting your immersion into a post-chiller (provided you are pumping or have enough height). Once your wort is cooled through the CFWC, pass it through an ice water bath to get it down to pitch temp instead of fridging it overnight. Alternatively you could use a fountain pump to pump the ice water through the immersion chiller in your fermenter.

Also, if your cooling water isn't coming out red-hot then you're running it too fast. I use my HLT as a kind of counterflow chiller, and the runoff water is usually steaming hot. I collect it in buckets and the washing machine and use it for cleanup.

 

[redbeard]

I also have a gravity fed 6m Goliath CF chiller, with similar results to above. I found there wasnt that much difference to have the water hose half way & flat out. The water exiting was cooler but the wort temp was similar. I collect the hot water in 3 jerries & use one for cleanup & the other 2 in the hlt for the next brew. Come summer, i might have to do some pre-cooling or maybe borrow Ross's method.

 

[BoilerBoy]

As I will be looking into a chiller in the near future I am interested that roach said that a gravity fed CFWC is a PITA!

How many of you guys using CFWC are gravity fed?

How long does it take?

Also with all that water going through for 20 min or so which seems a waste in this water conscious society, could it be possible to build a tank where the coils are submersed in ice and water inlet at the top and out let at the bottom.

As the wort flows through the water could be continously stirred using a paint stirrer in a power drill which could be mounted for this purpose.

Could this work and has anyone done anything like it?

 

[Wortgames]

BoilerBoy - you'll find that 40 litres of boiling wort and 40 litres of freezing water will result in both ending up around 50 degrees (theoretically a bit higher as the wort has a greater thermal mass than water), so you'll need a very large tank if you plan to recirculate your cooling water.

It would be better to run it into a collection tank, then run this back into your main tank when you've finished cooling with it.

If you had a large body of cold water, like a swimming pool or a large rainwater tank, you could probably recirculate it. There's no point submerging anything in ice until its already cold - running your boiling wort through ice will just melt the ice. Better to cool first with water then use the ice to chill the last few degrees out of it.

I agree that its a crime to waste water, but if you can get your cleanup done with it, and maybe get a bath and a laundry wash out of it, you don't waste much.

 

[RobW]

As I will be looking into a chiller in the near future I am interested that roach said that a gravity fed CFWC is a PITA!

How many of you guys using CFWC are gravity fed?

How long does it take?

[post="83390"][/post]​

I think he meant more that fluid handling for sanitising & rinsing is easier with a pump . I have a gravity feed and don't find it much of a hassle - you just need to do a bit more lifting

 

[BoilerBoy]

No worries

Thanks Rob W

 

[Justin]

Warren, what about making your immersion more efficient.

By that I mean adding a stirrer to stir continously while chilling or if you have a pump, recirculating your hot wort so you whirlpool around your immersion chiller to keep things moving. My immersion chiller chills quick, but even quicker if I can be bothered to keep it moving all the time. My plan is with my new pump and brewstand to recirculate the hot wort as I'm chilling so it whirlpools in the kettle-thus keeping it all moving without the need for me to stir or swirl the chiller. I'm hoping I wont have cavitation problems, time will tell.

Cheers.

 

[warrenlw63]

Justin.

Sounds like a good idea. Would it be better to maybe recirculate the wort while it's still at boiling temps to sanitize the pumps/hoses? :unsure: Hate to think that any scrud from the pump would get into the wort once it starts dropping below about 70c.

Very tempting idea though. Would probably be easier to implement than a stirrer I'd say . :beerbang:

You must browse more web pages than me Justin. You're a plethora of ideas. :lol:

Warren -

 

[warrenlw63]

Here's a link.

Good setup for recirculating the hot wort around the IC.

Linky

Warren -