Two Stage Stainless Counter Flow Chiller

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hockadays

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hello brewers,

I"ve almost finished my two stage stainless CFC. Tested it this arvo hooked up as one stage chiller on a bucket of 70deg water and the water coming out the exit was about the same temp as the chilling water so early tests show that it works. Next lot of tests will be using a Bucket of ice water and a little brown pump on the second stage of the chiller. Its designed so the first stage of chiller will be done with tank or town water and the second with a glycol loop. The first stage is approx 6m long and the glycol stage is about 2m long. The theory is that I should be able to chill straight to lager temps in summer in Brisbane. The only thing left to do is attach tri clover ferrules to the inlet and out let of the chiller. It is constructed from 3/8"OD stainless tubing with 5/8" ID hi temp rubber hosing on the outside. The hose is connected to 5/8' copper fittings and reducers then soldered with food safe solder to the stainless tubing. Soldering the copper to stainless was challenging at first but very easy once you know how. I wanted a stainless inner tube so I can use a range of different cleaners and keep it extremely clean on the inside. The diameter of the coil is quite large and this is so it will fit under my kettle once the legs of the kettle are attached.

chiller.jpg
 
Looks good, I never did really get the hang of soldering those type of fittings.

If you find the little-brown-pump does not provide adequate flow for the 2nd stage, you could easily use a more powerful fish-tank or pond pump, since the cooling liquid will not be in contact with your wort, it does not really matter what pump you use for that.
 
As wolfy said Looks good, should fit out the way easily under the kettle, and hopefully provide man years of trouble free operation. Got a spare one sm_poke.gif
 
funny you ask I have all the bits for a spare as I bought enough stainless for two incase I botched the first so If your interested let me know
 
Tested the chiller on a batch today,
46L of boiling wort, whirlpool for 10min, rest for 15 mins, cast out through chiller. Let the flow go a little quick for the first 5 mins then slowed it down some. took 25min and ended up with 24.5degc into the fermenter. If I slowed it down a little bit more at the start it would have been a few degC lower. The chiller water was approx 16degc from the tank. I've also never been able to see how effective my baffle in the boil kettle is as its always been covered in cold break from using my immersion chiller. It was good to see this worked great. Next will bee too attach triclover to the entry and exit of the chiller then add a temp gage...

photo_1.jpg


photo.jpg
 
Tested the chiller on a batch today,
46L of boiling wort, whirlpool for 10min, rest for 15 mins, cast out through chiller. Let the flow go a little quick for the first 5 mins then slowed it down some. took 25min and ended up with 24.5degc into the fermenter. If I slowed it down a little bit more at the start it would have been a few degC lower. The chiller water was approx 16degc from the tank. I've also never been able to see how effective my baffle in the boil kettle is as its always been covered in cold break from using my immersion chiller. It was good to see this worked great. Next will bee too attach triclover to the entry and exit of the chiller then add a temp gage...
A pic like that makes my heart go garden garden :)
 
love the idea of a 2 stage CFC, at the moment I have a single stage one made out of 6m of 1/2 copper tubing, it can get 23l down to within 4 degs of tap water in about 15min, as you found out the trick is not the let the flow go too fast, its amazing how those few litres of warm wort raise the final temperature. Up here in the mountains the tap water temperature is cold, in winter its about 9 degs and in summer it goes up to about 16 deg but I wouldn't mind the second stage to get the temp down in summer for lager brewing, might give it a go.

cheers steve
 
Im looking forward to using the glycol loop with the temp gauge. Just adjust the flow to get the pitch temp desired should be a no brainer. Just got to find a glycol chiller thats not going to break the bank or build my own maybe..
 
46L of boiling wort, whirlpool for 10min, rest for 15 mins, cast out through chiller. Let the flow go a little quick for the first 5 mins then slowed it down some. took 25min and ended up with 24.5degc into the fermenter. If I slowed it down a little bit more at the start it would have been a few degC lower. The chiller water was approx 16degc from the tank.
I'm surprised that the temperature into the fermentor was not closer to the water temp, if you adjust the flow, you should be able to get it within 1 or 2 deg - if you are pumping cold water through the outside hose, maybe your pump needs a higher flow rate?
 
I think it was because I had the tap wide open to start and pumped around 15L too fast initially through the chiller at the warmer temp. Next batch hopefully I'll have a temp gauge to better monitor..
 
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