anyone using dual plate chillers ?

[Toecutter]

I have been using a 40 plate AHBS plate chiller for the past couple of years. About the best I can get it to chill down to is 85 DG. I brewed yesterday, and typically I recirculate back to the keggle after a pass through the chiller. I do this until the keggle thermometer reads 95-105 then one last pass through the chiller to the fermenter. I brew 10 gallon batches. The whole process takes 20-25 minutes

Wondering if running a 2nd chiller in series would get the temp closer to 65 dg. Guess a lot depends on the temp of the tap water.

 

[jpalarchio]

I've seen a couple setups posted here that were using two chillers. Be sure to split the water before the chillers so that it runs in parallel as opposed to running the water line in series.

 

[cfrazier77]

What is your incoming water temp? In the summer mine is 80 and my counterflow does not chill it by itself. I put a immersion chiller in a cooler with 40 pounds of ice. The water flow goes from the spigot to the IC chiller to the counterflow. With this I am able to chill 12 gallon batches down enough to pitch yeast.

 

[mattd2]

I have been using a 40 plate AHBS plate chiller for the past couple of years. About the best I can get it to chill down to is 85 DG. I brewed yesterday, and typically I recirculate back to the keggle after a pass through the chiller. I do this until the keggle thermometer reads 95-105 then one last pass through the chiller to the fermenter. I brew 10 gallon batches. The whole process takes 20-25 minutes

Wondering if running a 2nd chiller in series would get the temp closer to 65 dg. Guess a lot depends on the temp of the tap water.

It pretty much all depends on the temp of the tap water. Generally you would expect to get down to ~5°F above the cooling water temperature. It's the sad truth about thermodynamics!

 

[brian320fo]

I'm just finishing upgrading my brewery to handle lagers better. To do this I bought a second plate chiller and attached it in series to my first. The wort comes through the pump on the right side, flows counter-clockwise through both chillers then up to my fermenter. I don't recirculate the wort back into the kettle. The cooling water for the first chiller comes directly from the tap (about 67* year round, well water with storage tank in basement). The cooling water for the second chiller comes through my beer transfer pump (self priming, not pictured). It sucks water out of a 13 gallon bucket sitting in a freezer with a Ranco temp controller on it. The water is right at 33*F. Running the wort through the system with all valves full open chills 6 gallons in about 5 minutes down to 45*F. To control water flow rate for the first chiller I can use the spigot valve but I find I can just set it and forget it, to control the flow rate for the second chiller I use the dimmer slider on the switch that turns the pump on and off. Yesterday was the first time I used this new setup and the speed at which cooling happened caught me by surprise. I didn't have time to finish getting my yeast ready....