Counter flow chiller

[quixoticgeek]

I have been using a pair of Stainless steel immersion chillers to chill my beer, but they take bloomin' ages and far too much water to perform the task.

I see lots of counter flow chillers from the likes of the Malt Miller, but they seem to measure their capacity in KW. How do I work out which one to go for?

In theory my max brew length is 8 gallons (36L), I have a tap in the kitchen that is on the mains that I can use to drive it.

What's the maths I need to do?

Cheers

Julia

[ciderhead]

Before you go spending your money, 2 chillers should be loads to cool down 36L, do you stir occasionally whilst cooling, what's the flow and temp out of your tap as if its not enough you are just going to have the same problem with a counterflow, I'm not at fan of them but a plate chiller may be your answer?

[john luc]

To add to Ciderhead the temp of your water coming from the tap is important. Put a valve on the outlet pipe of your chiller to slow the flow of water coming through it and stir the wort as it is cooling as this releases heat. Learned that in school science years ago when we did an experiment with 2 beakers of hot water,sat them into cold water with thermometers and stirred one and not the other. Never thought then that the teacher was prepping me to brew. Amazing teacher knew me before I knew meself

[Grumpydev]

I use a recirculating whirlpool arm thing with my immersion chiller, makes quite a big difference to the cooling rate, and saves me stirring by hand

[Jocky]

I have been using a pair of Stainless steel immersion chillers to chill my beer, but they take bloomin' ages and far too much water to perform the task.

I see lots of counter flow chillers from the likes of the Malt Miller, but they seem to measure their capacity in KW. How do I work out which one to go for?

In theory my max brew length is 8 gallons (36L), I have a tap in the kitchen that is on the mains that I can use to drive it.

What's the maths I need to do?

As others have already said, you should probably try whirlpooling your wort while you have your immersion chillers in (initially just by hand, and it only needs to be slow) - it'll massively speed up cooling. You can always automate this later with a pump.

If that doesn't work for you - the real math to do around the CFC is what is the biggest one you are willing to pay for. All the rest comes down to:
1. How quickly you flow your wort
2. How quickly your flow your cooling water
3. The temperature of your cooling water.

[Dads_Ale]

I use a homemade counter flow chiller that will go from just off the boil to 25c in one pass. It uses 8mm copper tube an hose pipe and a few fittings. Drop in temp is dependant on temp of mains water. Takes about 20 mins to drop 30litres.
If I built one again I would use 5m length for better efficiency.

[Fil]

my diy cfc uses straight tubes and cut down the length of time it takes to chill and no doubt saves on water too.. plate chillers can fall foul of hop debris and perhaps break material, only the really expensive ones can be dismantled for cleaning.

[quixoticgeek]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I have however realised that I have made a mistake in my original wording. I meant plate chiller, like this one:

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=343

Does this change the answers?

Cheers

J

[john luc]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I have however realised that I have made a mistake in my original wording. I meant plate chiller, like this one:

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=343

Does this change the answers?

Cheers

J

Does this mean we all have to go back and re write our posts . It would be great if we could do that in life

[Jocky]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I have however realised that I have made a mistake in my original wording. I meant plate chiller, like this one:

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=343

Does this change the answers?

No, it doesn't change the answers. I'd still first try whirlpooling/stirring your wort while chilling with your existing immersion chillers. Plate chillers/counter flow chillers are great, but you need to be massively anal about cleaning them before and immediately after use (and a pump makes this easier).