How do you use your Counter Flow Chiller (CFC) ?

[ashley_leask]

... Good large filter on dip tube in boiler to catch everything. No blockages yet...

What do you use? I'd probably do something similar to what you're doing if I could be sure I wasn't going to block the chiller. Do you use pellet hops free in the boil?

 

[Goose]

I use one of these:

But a nylon hopsock that you can pick up from craftbrewer will do just as well.

 

[doon]

Pratty1 what's the fitting your using to whirlpool on your bm

 

[dave81]

I use one of these:

But a nylon hopsock that you can pick up from craftbrewer will do just as well.

Where does one get one of those?

 

[Goose]

https://utahbiodieselsupply.com/brewingfilters.php

 

[Dan Pratt]

Pratty1 what's the fitting your using to whirlpool on your bm

a bloke I know is a plumber by trade and when he replaced our HWS I asked if he could bend some copper tube for the whirlpool. I added a camlock fitting to it and it sits about 2 inches below the wort level after the boil.

1/2 inch copper pipe and camlock


on the BM

 

[doon]

Thats awesome. Will have to look into ding that

 

[MattSR]

Do you run the wort through the inside or outside channel of the CFC? I tested my CFC last night on the Brau and he 'wort' still came out warm...

Also what hoses are you going there too? I want to move to camlocks and that big dia hose looks nice!!

 

[Dan Pratt]

Hi Matt,

The wort should be on the inside pipe so that the cold water flows in the opposite direction, around the hot wort through the CFC.

Im using 13mm silicon hoses for the wort and SS camlocks, the water has the blue hose from bunnings with SS camlocks aswell.

 

[MattSR]

OK thanks - I have it plumbed up correctly, now I'm thinking that the wort us flowing too quickly through the chiller - are you using a valve to restrict the wort flow through the CFC?

 

[dave81]

If you run a pump you could use the valve on the outgoing side of that or you could use a valve on thenoutlet of the cfc or the kettle

 

[Dan Pratt]

I have a ball valve on the cfc outlet to restrict the flow into the FV.

You can zoom in to see the setup.

 

[MattSR]

Awesome, thanks guys - I squeezed the hose during a test and the flow went right down, however the temp was perfect!! I could slow it down so that the outlet temp was just as cold as the tap water..

Just out of interest, how low does it take to drain out 20 litres of wort into the FV with the wort temperature nice and cold?

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Dan Pratt]

Ive been transferring the wort to FV at about 1lt per min and getting about 26c final temp. I could slow that rate to about 1lt per 90secs but it only get about a 2c lower temp and takes another 10mins.

 

[dave81]

How do you account for the xtra bitterness from having the wort sitting st a high temp still for the extra 20mins while transfer to the fv
I would like to know because I will do my first double batch soon and some it may take 40mins or so to transfer it all.
Do you whirlpool through the cfc while chilling b4 transferring to tje fv?

 

[Dan Pratt]

Hi Dave,

The xtra bitterness is not very high, infact rather low. From the dozen batches Ive made and some of these having 45ibu from a 60min addition, the increased bitterness would have been < 5 ibu but i had no " oh geez thats way more bitter than expected". My transfer takes about 20-25mins.

I whirlpool at the end of boil for at least 5mins before transfer to the FV I recirculate chilled wort back to the kettle before transfer. The hot wort goes out the kettle outlet, into pump, into CFC gets chilled and is transferred direct into the FV.

 

[dave81]

Cheers for the reply Pratty
Yeah I was thinking of doing the same as you and recirculate some chilled wort back to the kettle b4 going to the fv

 

[Dan Pratt]

Cheers for the reply Pratty
Yeah I was thinking of doing the same as you and recirculate some chilled wort back to the kettle b4 going to the fv

sorry I should have said - I don't recirculate the wort back while chilling, hot wort get chilled and goes straight into the FV.

I have considered it for a whirlpool at 95c and then recirc and chill to 75c and add more whirlpool hops, Ive heard that get a different extraction of the oils.

 

[MattSR]

Hi Guys,

After adding the valve and restricting the flow the wort is coming out at the right temperature. What I was thinking is that adding a second chiller might enable me to increase the flow dramatically. Running boiling water (100 degrees) through the chiller with no flow control gave me an outlet temp of 50 degrees. I figure a second chiller should be able to drop this from 50 degrees down to near the cooling water temperature..

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Dan Pratt]

Hi Guys,

After adding the valve and restricting the flow the wort is coming out at the right temperature. What I was thinking is that adding a second chiller might enable me to increase the flow dramatically. Running boiling water (100 degrees) through the chiller with no flow control gave me an outlet temp of 50 degrees. I figure a second chiller should be able to drop this from 50 degrees down to near the cooling water temperature..

Cheers,
Matt

Hi Matt,

Good to here that you got a better result from the valve addition.

You could add another chiller and achieve little more than what you already get which is >30c into the FV. If anything add a prechiller for the water to run through, immersion style copper tubing in a ice bath to get that cooling water temp to <10c, this way creating a greater gradiant for the 100c wort to be chilled, dropping your knockout temp down below 20c.

See tap water in summer here is 25c and the lowest temp at 1L/per min I get into teh FV is 32c, I could slow that rate down to 0.5lt/per min but may only get to 30c, but by lowering the water thats chilling to <10c that increases the gradiant and likely get my wort to pitching temps. However I use the fridge to do the rest instead of a prechiller and in your case a second chiller.

For the record in winter the water is like 18c and get my wort inthe FV at around 24/25c so its about a 7 degree variance running at 1L/per min through the CFC based on the tap water temp.

My advice, if you're keen to get to pitch temps then lower the tap water temperature by prechilling.