New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association
Uncategorized Boards => General => Topic started by: ECH on April 13, 2014, 05:38:28 PM
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Considering how long it is taking for the brew pot to chill, even sitting in the snow bank, it is taking forever!
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Ah that's too bad! I've heard that a snow bank will melt around the pot, then a layer of air will develop and insulate the pot, making the process slower.
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I brewed a 5 gallon blonde today. With my whirlpool immersion chiller, it took about 8 minutes to go from 100ºC to 18ºC. Can't beat it, and they're pretty easy to make.
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What diameter and length? My 25' 1/4" IC takes a half hour
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I have a 50' 3/8" ID chiller. I'm on a well, and my ground water is about 6ºC, so that helps. Also, I recirculate the wort the whole time...again, that helps.
You could try gently moving the chiller around so you don't get temperature stratification.
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You can also use a sanitised spoon to move the wort around the chiller. I use a pump to whirlpool the wort around the chiller. Works great!
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I'm still a pretty big fan of the plate chiller I got ages ago. I like the pump too but I think I'm going to have to get a bigger one. Probably a chugger. I'll do that once I have my brewshed and brewing stand set up :).
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Question regarding the whirlpool chiller. Is there any benefit to using more than 50 feet of 3/8 ID coil, or do you think anything more is overkill? What about if your doing 20 or 30 gallons at a time?
Do you think a chugger could whirlpool 20 or 30 gallons of beer? I know you don't get a real strong whirlpool going with the coil in there, but would it still get the job done with this larger volume?
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The Law of Diminishing Returns is going to come in to play at some point. My guess is that you'd want to keep the ID of the coil small. 3/8" vs 1/2 ". Maybe 1/4 is better because more of the cold water comes in contact with the surface of the tubing? To chill as fast as possible, you need to move the coldest possible water through the chiller as fast as possible. You'll get the best thermal transfer that way.
To save on water, I'd suggest using 50' 3/8"ID while whirlpooling until you get down to around 120ºF and then using a CFC to finish the job. You'll keep the aroma from your late hop addition, but it won't take you 100 gallons of water to chill.
I think the chugger should be able to whirlpool well enough for 30 gallons. You just need the wort to be moving around in there to avoid temperature stratification.
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Only took about 4hrs to cool down. Kept surrounding the pot with snow, still took awhile though.
All put away in the fermentor, now just a waiting game!
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I'm a big fan of counter flow \ plate chillers. They are compact and easy to use. Counter flow chillers are easy to build yourself with parts from any hardware store, plate chillers are a little pricey, but not that bad. Both work on the same principal.
I'm likely going to upgrade my home made CFC sometime this summer so I'll post it in the classifieds when it's up for sale.
by the way, it cools 20gal of boiling wort to pitching temp in about 30 minutes.
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I watched a YT video the other day on a plate chiller. Took water from boiling to about 25C in about 10min. I would have to go back and look, but it was some company in the US that makes diesel parts. But they also make these plate chillers, 30 plate chiller for about $80.
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Dudadiesel. Do some research before you buy. The size of the plates is more important than the number of plates...
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Yeah I've looked at dudadiesel chillers, he has different grade chillers on his site, low, medium to high quality. I've really been thinking about getting one of the 40 plate chillers that hopdawgs is carrying and pretty sure they are duddielsels. Probably wait till I get my chugger though.
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I have one of the long, 40 plate DD chillers. It works fantastic. I can take 11 gallons of wort from 200°F to 60°F, into carboys in about 10-15 minutes (using a chugger).
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Nice, where did you pick yours up from Jeff? hopdawgs is the short version.
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Considering how long it is taking for the brew pot to chill, even sitting in the snow bank, it is taking forever!
More important than saving time, chilling quickly is better for the end quality your product. When you flameout, DMS production continues - apparently until you hit 140F.
DMS (dimethyl sulfide), contributes cooked-corn aromas to beer. Not to mention the risk of contamination is higher when leaving the kettle to chill for hours - even with the cover on.
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Check this out: http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php
Pliny's right. It's far more important to get all wort below 140F as quickly as possible. If it takes 30 minutes to chill 20 gallons of beer, as fakr says, then a good part of your wort is sitting at a high temp waiting to be chilled and producing DMS. And, the aroma from the last hop addition degrades.
The video below shows a test where I bring 5 gallons of water from boiling to 120F in 3:25. That's what you should aim for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E_6wEn4yWc
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Nice, where did you pick yours up from Jeff? hopdawgs is the short version.
Brewhardware.com about a year and a half ago.
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Thanks for sharing the article Chris... did you build yourself? I assume Fhilo hooked you up at Eddy, what was the cost? And I beleive you said you were using the brew pump from OBK?
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Fhilo did hook me up. It's 50' of 1/2" ACR copper. I got the elbows, garden hose fittings from him too. I think it was about $55-60 for the materials. I built one for me, and one for my brother-in-law at the same time. It took an hour for the 2 of them.
I was using a pump like the one from OBK, but I've since upgraded to a Chugger that I bought from Hopdawgs.ca. It's a much better pump. I still have that old pump, but I haven't decided if I'm going to use it for anything or not.
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I do have an immersion chiller, but it's a fair bit smaller. I might try using a pump to get a whirlpool flowing and see how that helps. Currently I have to manually stir it every 2-3 mins.
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Good plan.
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OBK said on Facebook that they were having a sale for one hour only tonight, on their plate chiller, starting around 9:30 our time I think
http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/Counterflow_Wort_Chiller_Homebrew_p/counterflow-chiller.htm
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Nice! You getting one?
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I'll split shipping with you @Two Wheeler (http://nbcba.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2007) if you want...
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I'd third the shipping with you.
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You want the chiller @Al-Loves-Wine (http://nbcba.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1173) ?
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Yup!
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Ok. I'm placing the order now.
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Awesome, let me know what I will owe ya, and I will pay you tomorrow. Thanks Chris!
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Yeah I'm in @Chris Craig (http://nbcba.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1174) .
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I keep running into trouble trying to check out. One of you guys should try. I didn't want the chiller, so don't worry about my part of the order.
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Actually I'm out too. Mine is fine for now and I'd have to buy a pump. Thanks though
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Well I guess I have an extra chiller for sale now, if anybody wants it.
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Sorry al. I'll pay up. It will get used
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@Two Wheeler (http://nbcba.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2007), I have an extra pump. $50 with the ball valves and enclosure if you want it.
If not, then @Al-Loves-Wine (http://nbcba.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1173), I'll take the chiller.
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Deal! Win win win.
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I'll bring the pump with me tomorrow if you're going to be there. It's going to need a good cleaning (Ask @Roger (http://nbcba.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1911)), but at least you can disassemble it.
You'll need to get a couple of fittings for it (cam locks or hose barbs) and some silicone tubing. We can talk about it tomorrow.
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I'm a dirty, dirty liar. I have the pump, switch box, and 12v adapter, but no fittings. They were just cheap brass ones anyway.
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Ha ha. We'll figure it out tomorrow. I'm going to try and get up there as early as I can, likely be 1 or 2 though
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Sweet! Pretty good buy for 64 bucks. I would have probably just used both and added short fittings and connected the two somehow...lol
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Never fails, you buy something else and the other thing you were looking at comes on special.
I suppose in the end, I never saw the announcement for the special until about 2hrs later, so would have made no difference.
Anyway, got a SS wort chiller for $50 shipped to my PO box in Maine. Picking it up Monday.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41oLQEwaPmL.jpg)
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For what it's worth, I think this is better anyway. Stainless...nice :cheers:
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Yeah, just got to find myself a pump I can use from a cooler. Garden hose from the well is fine during the summer, but hard to run water when it is -20C in the winter.
Going to check and see what Princess Auto has next time I am in Moncton, circulate ice water from a cooler with it back into the cooler, at least I can then make beer in the garage over the winter.
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Maybe a pond pump?
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Maybe a pond pump?
Actually my wife said the same thing. I was thinking something like a fountain pump....but not sure if they are a submersible, or if it gets water from a pick up. Alot of pond pumps and submersible pumps are high GPH, like in the 1000+ of gallons per hour.....don't need anything that strong. Cheapest submersible I could find at PA is a 1/6 hp, and still about 740GPH, and still about $70, however can get fountain pumps from 45 to 130GPH, which I assume would be good enough just to circulate water from a cooler into the chiller and back out, for $20-$40 depending on the size.
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Even better, found this fountain/aquarium/hydroponic pump on Amazon for about $14
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71n603SW7GL._SL1500_.jpg)
Even a guy on there than commented on how he bought it to use with his wort chiller, circulating ice water from a cooler. Exactly what I had in mind, and can't beat the price!
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Ok, for all of you plate chiller folks I'm looking for advice. Outfitting the OBK plate chiller and I'm just wondering if most people will use a single pass from the BK through the chiller into the fermentor, or if you recirculate from the chiller to the BK and do a few passes?
I'm also thinking I could set up my immersion chiller to pre-chill the water before it hits the Plate Chiller.
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The best thing you can do is use the immersion chiller to drop the temp in the kettle to about 140ºF, then run it through the plate chiller. You'd be able to run the wort through the plate chiller at full speed if it starts off at 140ºF.
Remember, getting the temp of the wort below 140ºF as quickly as possible is important to reduce the DMS in your beer, and for preserving the aroma of the last hop addition.