Counter flow chiller

Chris Craig · February 12, 2012, 06:49:06 PM

It's time to build one of these. Can somebody direct me to a good set of plans? I really would prefer not to solder.

Chris Craig · February 12, 2012, 06:52:56 PM

In fact, if somebody is willing to give me a hand making one of these, that would be ideal!

JohnQ · February 12, 2012, 06:55:53 PM

1. http://nbcba.org/forum/index.php?topic=259.0

2. Get over the soldering, you'll need to do it, lots of help if you need it within the group, bring the parts to a meeting, it can be done...just give us notice.

3. I'd highly recommend doing it with the copper wire soldered to the outside of the inner core pipe (you'll understand when you follow the link from the page). I did, and I need to run mind so slowly when chilling that it's silly, or else my wort gets over chilled...In fact, I'm going to experiment with recirculating the chilled back into the boil pot with chiller flat out in the new system to see if it can get the whole wort down super fast.

JQ

JohnQ · February 12, 2012, 07:17:08 PM

Is there even a fitting that could possibly replace the reducers? It was hard enough finding the right ones of them (Home Depot, top shelf, left side IIRC)...and like I said...lots of help in the club!

JQ

Jake · February 12, 2012, 07:41:04 PM

Hmmmm I've never seen one of these in action and not exactly sure how they work. Do you think it's worth making the change? I have an immersion chiller that I believe is 50 feet 3/8 copper. Is it worth the change in your opinions?

JohnQ · February 12, 2012, 08:03:53 PM

Jake,
Check out the thread posted at the top, I posted some results, you can compare your chill times to what I got and it will give you a good idea.

I seriously have to almost shut off my cold water (55 deg) when running through or it over-chills the wort, amazing.

The downside to them is that the wort runs through the middle, so if you have a bunch of material running through, it *could* get plugged or trapped in there. Never had it happen to mine, and I always start by filling the line with boiling water from my HLT and let it set for a few minutes to ensure what, if anything, might be left in there from the last chilling is at least not going to infect anything. I then finish off by running some hot water through again after the chilling to flush it.

Of course, with immersion, you never get wort inside it, so the proof it's clean is easier.

JQ

Thomas · February 12, 2012, 10:19:43 PM

looks like im going to be building a counterflow chiller too. John, how do you connect the CFC to the BK fitting? Do you just use a length of tubing?

JohnQ · February 12, 2012, 10:34:37 PM

Quote from: "Thomas"looks like im going to be building a counterflow chiller too. John, how do you connect the CFC to the BK fitting? Do you just use a length of tubing?

I use these fittings...
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_40_131_482

On a length of this...

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_40_128_380&products_id=10014

JQ

fakr · February 13, 2012, 08:45:38 AM

The whole build took me and a buddy a total of 40 minutes, and that was learning how to do it for the first time, and a couple of beer breaks. it's really not hard.

It's too bad we couldn't source 100' rolls of soft copper and make a day of assemply line counter flow chiller making. Would be very cost effective and would be a great time.

Jake, my counter flow is made with 25' of copper and is too efficient. Wort goes in at over 90C and comes out at 13-14C. I have to shut the water off for the last bit of the wort so I get up to pitching temp.

brew · February 13, 2012, 08:58:29 AM

Yeah, I had to warm up my wort last batch as well...

The fittings John has are the nicest by far. I used the PVC connectors, garden host -> quick connect from Kent's (called tec tight like this one but mine are PVC http://www.kent.ca/kbs/en/product.jsp?prdId=7009053&skuId=7009053&catalogId=1999). They slide on / off a piece of regular 1/2" copper. They are in most every store's plumbing section now a days...

Chris Craig · February 13, 2012, 09:40:37 AM

I've read in a few places that I need to buy hose rated for hot water use. I can't see why this is necessary. It'll be cold water running through the hose, not hot water. Even with the heat transfer, I can't see the water output being so hot that it would damage the hose.

Any thoughts before I spend $40 on hot water-rated hose?

Thomas · February 13, 2012, 09:45:53 AM

You need hot water rated hose for the hot wort coming out of the BK into the CFC. 100C acidic wort will degrade non-food grade plastics, and you dont want that in your beer. However, andy food grade hose should be fine for the cold wort coming out the other end.

Chris Craig · February 13, 2012, 09:55:30 AM

Quote from: "Thomas"You need hot water rated hose for the hot wort coming out of the BK into the CFC. 100C acidic wort will degrade non-food grade plastics, and you dont want that in your beer. However, andy food grade hose should be fine for the cold wort coming out the other end.

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing Thomas. I'm talking about the garden hose "sleeve" around the copper tubing. I think you're talking about the plastic tubing that goes into the brew kettle to siphon the hot wort.

It's a good point though, and I hadn't considered it. I guess I won't be able to use my auto-siphon to start draining the kettle. Since I don't have a valve at the bottom of my kettle, what would the best process be to get the wort to start flowing into the CFC?

JohnQ · February 13, 2012, 10:32:10 AM

Here's a picture of what mine looks like...
I've modified the outlets so that the water in and out both point to the sink on the left, the cooled wort also points that way, and the hot wort in is pointed at the kettle on the right.

SS quick connects for the wort and brass soldered connections for the water.

On the fast cooling front, I think that if the system is overcooling to the point where we have to shut water down and eventually off to not over chill, I'm definitely going to try recirculating the cold wort back into the kettle and keeping the water flow up, that means not all of the wort will go through the chiller, since my 60 degree wort will chill down a bunch of hot wort that's still in the kettle, monitor the kettle temp till it hits pitching temp, then drain without the chiller. It will be easy once the March pump shows up.

JQ

fakr · February 13, 2012, 11:16:17 AM

I brew in my detatched garage, and in order to hook up my CFC, I need to run about 30+ feet of garden hose from my house to the garage, then another 20+ feet to drain into my back yard. Because of the cold winder months I'm now just going to fill up my sparge tun with cold water and use a cheapo princess auto impeller pump to recirculate the water that runs through the CFC. I'll do this on my next brew day. Should help cut down the water bill and the growing skating rink out back.

Even if I have to dump the sparge tun once or twice, that's way less water than a continual flow from the tap....not to mention the damn thing freezes up in minutes if water isn't flowing.