Maybe a bad idea about a wort chiller

[Cdburkhart]

So, finally after a few years of making beer (and getting a house to store more equipment), I moved up to a 22 qt brew pot and I have been thinking of ways of how to cool my wort.

As it stands, I have been using a 12 qt pot and just been using an ice bath and then adding very cold water to my primary. It works, but I want a better way. I borrowed my buddy's immersion chiller and it worked great...but was kind of pain to clean/sanitize.

So I am thinking to myself, what if you wrapped the chiller on the outside of the pot. I realize you would some surface area, but is this viable?

 

[Pratzie]

So, finally after a few years of making beer (and getting a house to store more equipment), I moved up to a 22 qt brew pot and I have been thinking of ways of how to cool my wort.

As it stands, I have been using a 12 qt pot and just been using an ice bath and then adding very cold water to my primary. It works, but I want a better way. I borrowed my buddy's immersion chiller and it worked great...but was kind of pain to clean/sanitize.

So I am thinking to myself, what if you wrapped the chiller on the outside of the pot. I realize you would some surface area, but is this viable?

not worth it... Ur going to have VERY minimal surface area contact with the outside of the kettle which in turn is only gonna chill down a VERY small part of the metal of the kettle.

The main benefit of the immersion chiller is the direct contact of the coils to the wort.

Secondly what was the pain about cleaning it? As long as u clean it once good the first time and then just hose it down real good with water after u use it, it shouldn't be that hard at all.

U did put it in the boil kettle for the last 15-20 minutes of the boil right? There isn't a need to sanitize the chiller prior to adding it to the boil since its still boiling and that will kill everything on it anyway.

 

[billl]

You wouldn't lose some area, you would lose virtually all of the surface area. You may as well just dunk it in an ice bath.

Honestly though, a chiller is pretty easy. Clean like anything else and just toss it in the brew with 10 minutes left to go to sanitize it.

 

[Cdburkhart]

Check: Bad idea

 

[packet]

It works for fermentation vessels for a couple of reasons. 1) You're not dropping the temperature 100+ degrees F in a conical. 2) the cooling jacket is insulated. You'll get much more effective cooling with an immersion chiller. They're easy to clean anyways.

 

[lumpher]

immersion chiller: hose it down after.....hose it down before.....throw it in in the last 15 minutes of the boil... pretty easy

 

[BigFloyd]

immersion chiller: hose it down after.....hose it down before.....throw it in in the last 15 minutes of the boil... pretty easy

+1. I believe this is what most of us do to clean/sanitize an immersion chiller. It works just fine.