Whirlpool immersion chiller

[chriscraig]

I've been using a CFC for a year now, and it's been working ok, but I wanted a way to chill my wort to below 120F as quickly as possible. A CFC was chilling 10 gallons of wort to pitching temps in about 20 minutes, but the wort sat in the kettle at boiling temps that whole time creating DMS and ruining the aroma hop profile.

I decided to build an immersion chiller with a whirlpool arm this weekend. It's 50' 1/2" ACR tubing. I was able to chill 10 gallons of water form 212F to 120F with 41F ground water in just over 3 minutes. From 212 to 70 too just over 13. This is a MAJOR improvement over my CFC. I tried recirculating with that, and it took 8 minutes to get down to 190F

Here's a video of the test I did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E_6wEn4yWc

 

[Hammy71]

I love my setup with whirlpool/IC. I only have 50' of 3/8" tubing, so my results are as great as yours...but it is still satisfactory. How are you getting DMS while waiting for your beer to chill with a CFC though? You leaving the lid on? I brew outside in my garage and the only time my lid is on my kettle is when it's being stored. The fear of crap randomly floating by doesn't scare me. LOL

 

[chriscraig]

I only really noticed that when brewing really light, clean beers like pilsners or blondes with little hops to cover up the DMS. The aroma hops was the primary reason for the change.