How Quick Does Your Chiller Chill?

[scrumpy]

gonna use my immersion chiller today for the ist time, its about 16m of half inch copper. how long will it take to cool about 20L to ale ferm temp??

cheers

 

[jiesu]

Are you just connecting it to a tap and using city water? or are you chilling the immersion water?

 

[paulwolf350]

About 30 - 40 mins, if using tap water, but you wont get wort much below 30 deg.

Quicker if you chill the water, and wort will go lower

Paul

 

[warra48]

Basic physics, you will never chill your wort below the ambient water temperature of your tap or tank water.
That is, unless you use some method of chilling it first by use of a pre-chiller, but even then, you'll struggle to get it much below 20C..

Logically, that also means the chilling performance is season dependent.
In summer, using an immersion chiller, I can chill to about 25C in 30 minutes. The fermenter then goes in the fridge to bring it down to pitching temperature.
In mid-winter, I can get down to 18C in 10 minutes.

 

[roller997]

Using similar length of copper in a 50 liter vessel, in Melbourne I can the wort get down to 24 degrees in summer in 40 minutes (if I stir in a circular fashion to once every minute during the first 30 minutes) and to 22 degrees in Autum and Spring in just over 30 minutes when stiring for the first 20 minutes.
I found that stiring makes an significant difference, however it does have a big drawback that you will stir up anything that has previously settled which you also don't want to transfer into the fermenter. For that reason I don't stir in the last 10-15 minutes and I try to generate a whirlpool like effect.

 

[Carboy]

I have a 12m chiller and I get 23 litres of wort down to pitching temp (24-26 degrees) in 14-18 minutes, but I use a stainless steel mash paddle to gently move the wort back and forth. It also take about 45-50 litres of tap water to get to pitching temp (I recycle all of my water back into a storage tank and use on the vegi garden later).

Note: I think you will find that of your 16m chiller will be out of your wort. 16m will be good for double batches.

8-10m chiller would be good for small <20 litre batches.

My 2 worth

Happy Brewing

Cheers
Carboy :icon_cheers:

 

[rock]

Carboy, I have a similar length of 12mm copper and use melb tap water and it usually uses in excess of 50 ltrs and takes up to 40 min,but I do reuse the waste water collected into my washing machine and the wort gets down to 25C whilst whirlpooling the whole time,Hope that has helped..Rod..Sorry Carboy, I meant Scrumpy

 

[Sammus]

Immersion chillers take that long?! I have a chillout plate chiller and it takes me under 5 minutes to get 25L from just boiled to 20C...

 

[rock]

Immersion chillers take that long?! I have a chillout plate chiller and it takes me under 5 minutes to get 25L from just boiled to 20C...

Gees, I might have to invest in a chillout plate

 

[Dazza_devil]

Immersion chillers take that long?! I have a chillout plate chiller and it takes me under 5 minutes to get 25L from just boiled to 20C...

That sounds the go.
Is that gravity fed?
How cold is your water?
How would that compare to the Stainless Plate Heat Exchanger that Beerbelly sells?

 

[haysie]

Gees, I might have to invest in a chillout plate

PITA to clean and get rid of "dark malt" odours, chemicals help thou. take all the cold break crap to the fermenter vrs leaving it where it belongs, kettle.

 

[rock]

PITA to clean and get rid of "dark malt" odours, chemicals help thou. take all the cold break crap to the fermenter vrs leaving it where it belongs, kettle.

I must admit, there isn't too much cleaning up afterwards with an immersion chiller and no crap into the fermenter..good point haysie..

 

[TidalPete]

PITA to clean and get rid of "dark malt" odours, chemicals help thou. take all the cold break crap to the fermenter vrs leaving it where it belongs, kettle.

Didn't know that about the dark malt odours haysie? Perhaps someone else might care to comment on this?
Re the cold break are you talking about extraction through a plate chiller WITHOUT a filter?
The filter on the end of my pickup tube runs wort from the kettle to my fermenter just about crystal clear. I'm using an immersion chiller ATM which is about 16 metres & takes around 90 minutes in summer to bring the wort down to 18 deg c for ales using ice in an old esky after bringing the wort down to approx house water temps.
Plate chiller is here but not set up just yet.

T

 

[haysie]

Didn't know that about the dark malt odours haysie? Perhaps someone else might care to comment on this?
Re the cold break are you talking about extraction through a plate chiller WITHOUT a filter?
The filter on the end of my pickup tube runs wort from the kettle to my fermenter just about crystal clear. I'm using an immersion chiller ATM which is about 16 metres & takes around 90 minutes in summer to bring the wort down to 18 deg c for ales using ice in an old esky after bringing the wort down to approx house water temps.
Plate chiller is here but not set up just yet.

T

Hi TP, not sure what you mean re filter. Plate chiller is direct heat exchange, rapid cooling kettle > fermenter. It sure works reducing the wort temp BUT the cold break ends up in the fermenter versus an immersion or a cube leaves it in the kettle or the cube. Thats my main point. All things brewing, subjective!
I have never used an immersion but have plate chilled and no chilled. I would n/c every day of the week vrs the plate.

 

[TidalPete]

Hi TP, not sure what you mean re filter. Plate chiller is direct heat exchange, rapid cooling kettle > fermenter. It sure works reducing the wort temp BUT the cold break ends up in the fermenter versus an immersion or a cube leaves it in the kettle or the cube. Thats my main point. All things brewing, subjective!
I have never used an immersion but have plate chilled and no chilled. I would n/c every day of the week vrs the plate.

haysie,

Have just purchased my plate chiller & will still be using my immersion until I set up the plate chiller to my satisfaction.
Using the immersion then whirlpooling then filtering I get crystal clear wort into my fermenter. Can't see anything changing just because I swap my immersion chiller for a plate chiller.
If you look at the CraftBrewer website you will see that they reccommend using a filter before draining to fermenter or whatever through their plate chiller.
HERE is a pic of my filter (Or strainer if you like?) from my Gallery.
I no-chilled the once & am still alive but not too keen on pushing my chances. :lol:

T

 

[goomboogo]

TP, I think what Haysie is getting at is, when cooling with the immersion chiller - cold break forms in the kettle. With the plate chiller the cold break forms as it is passing through the chiller and is subsequently taken into the fermenter along with the cooled wort. Some people (I don't) transfer again into another fermenter in order to leave most of the break material behind. I should have checked the Craftbrewer reference first but I assume the filter referred to might be between the plate chiller and the fermenter and captures the cold break thus preventing it from entering the fermenter.

 

[TidalPete]

TP, I think what Haysie is getting at is, when cooling with the immersion chiller - cold break forms in the kettle. With the plate chiller the cold break forms as it is passing through the chiller and is subsequently taken into the fermenter along with the cooled wort. Some people (I don't) transfer again into another fermenter in order to leave most of the break material behind. I should have checked the Craftbrewer reference first but I assume the filter referred to might be between the plate chiller and the fermenter and captures the cold break thus preventing it from entering the fermenter.

Ah! I see what you're about goomboogo.
I forgot to mention that I also filter a second time after the wort passes through the teaball by placing a hopsock in between the kettle outlet & the fermenter so if I am correct here the hopsock (Much finer mesh than the teaball filter) should separate the cold break from the wort as it comes out of the chiller & into the fermenter especially as it's recommended that the wort is passed SLOWLY through the chiller, Yes?
Having never used my chiller yet I'm open to suggestions re filtering if my theory is wrong. :huh:

T

 

[Thirsty Boy]

You put a filter (just a strainer really) in between the kettle and the plate chiller - plate chillers are vulnerable to blockage by chunks of hops and whatnot, a strainer keeps them out of there.

I wouldn't worry about the cold break thing - unless you are letting your wort rest for hours.. the great majority of it is going into your fermenter no matter which version of chilling you use, cold break particles are so fine they take a very long time to settle, so even in an immersion set-up... what looks like clear wort is actually chock full of cold break.

 

[TidalPete]

You put a filter (just a strainer really) in between the kettle and the plate chiller - plate chillers are vulnerable to blockage by chunks of hops and whatnot, a strainer keeps them out of there.

I wouldn't worry about the cold break thing - unless you are letting your wort rest for hours.. the great majority of it is going into your fermenter no matter which version of chilling you use, cold break particles are so fine they take a very long time to settle, so even in an immersion set-up... what looks like clear wort is actually chock full of cold break.

Even though I have a filter on both sides of the kettle I live & learn thank you Thirsty. :beer:

T

 

[browndog]

Ah! I see what you're about goomboogo.
I forgot to mention that I also filter a second time after the wort passes through the teaball by placing a hopsock in between the kettle outlet & the fermenter so if I am correct here the hopsock (Much finer mesh than the teaball filter) should separate the cold break from the wort as it comes out of the chiller & into the fermenter especially as it's recommended that the wort is passed SLOWLY through the chiller, Yes?
Having never used my chiller yet I'm open to suggestions re filtering if my theory is wrong. :huh:

T

Pete, I did exactly what you decribe on friday, unfortunately the hop sock catches bugger all cold break, most of it ends up in the fermenter, but having said that, I've never had any problems with the resulting beer. When I think about the colour of the copper of an immersion chiller before it goes into the kettle compared to when it comes out, a little cold break in the fermenter does not seem like a bad thing.

cheers

Browndog