biertourist
Well-Known Member
I just got my new counterflow chiller and have finished attaching all of my camlocks and I'm getting ready to test it out for the first time, but I'm really having a hard time planning where exactly to mount it.
The counterflow chiller will be used both for HERMS mashing and then after the end of the boil for chilling which complicates things a bit...
No gravity use anywhere all pumps all the time (or tons of cold water pressure when chilling).
Questions:
Horizontal or Vertical?
I'm 90% sure that it should be mounted with the coils horizontal but the "stack" vertical as shown in the following picture:
but I'm looking for the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from someone else confirming.
My reasoning is that this should help gravity drain the last bit of liquid out of the chiller and should help the air get flushed out when wort starts to flow.
This also seems to me to mean that the "wort out" part of the chiller should be at the bottom and not the top to enable gravity draining. Yes?
Placement horizontally within the stand?
Here's my brewery stand arrangement (ignore the old kettle all the way to the right it's gone): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152897379926929&l=47a57aa487 The HLT is on the right, MLT in the middle and whirlpool boil kettle on the left. My pump inlets are on the left side of each pump and the outlets on the right.
Again, I'm going to be first using it as the HEX for HERMS mashing so it will be hooked up to the HLT and HLT pump and the MLT and left most pump while mashing. Then at the end of the boil I will be recirculating the wort through the counterflow chiller and back into the kettle -first to santize from the prior bacteria laden mash wort and then to recirculation chill back into the kettle until I get the whole volume down to 140F -then I'll let the whirlpool in the kettle settle for a 10 min and then chill straight into my fermenter.
The plumbing with 100% silicone tubing and camlocks is pretty brain melting but I'll make another post on trying to simplify my plumbing with possibly some permanent hard plumbing later.
-Obviously horizontal placement within the stand is a far lesser concern than horizontal placement.
Vertical Placement? This is where I need the most help.
Today I have the bottom shelf on my stainless table / stand almost completely on the ground to make the whole stand more stable.
I'm really not sure vertically where I should put my pumps and chiller to make the whole thing the easiest to drain, clean/maintain and get the wort out.
I'm going to drop straight from the kettle into the "wort in" side of pump #1 on the left, then the "wort out" of the pump goes where??
-If I place the counter flow chiller up ABOVE the pump but below the kettle output, I have the benefit that I can gravity flow from the CFC's output into my fermenter, but then all the liquid in the line coming out of the pump and going to the chiller can't drain...
OR I could instead remount my pumps / move my bottom shelf up much higher and closer to the kettles-this would make the stand less sturdy and more wobbly, BUT then I'd have a small drop from the kettle to the pump input and then I could place the CFC lower than the pump so that wort would drain from the pump output into the CFC. The problem then would be that I'd have to rely upon the pump to pump from the CFC "wort out" into my fermenter neck and I'd have the same problem again downstream...
I almost think ensuring that the CFC can gravity drain into the fermenter is more important than ensuring that the wort-out of the pump can drain into the CFC...
Bonus Questions:
As I'm using the CFC for HERMS I need to actually drain all the water out of the CFC after brewing or store starsan water in it, don't I?
Thanks in advance,
Adam
The counterflow chiller will be used both for HERMS mashing and then after the end of the boil for chilling which complicates things a bit...
No gravity use anywhere all pumps all the time (or tons of cold water pressure when chilling).
Questions:
Horizontal or Vertical?
I'm 90% sure that it should be mounted with the coils horizontal but the "stack" vertical as shown in the following picture:
My reasoning is that this should help gravity drain the last bit of liquid out of the chiller and should help the air get flushed out when wort starts to flow.
This also seems to me to mean that the "wort out" part of the chiller should be at the bottom and not the top to enable gravity draining. Yes?
Placement horizontally within the stand?
Here's my brewery stand arrangement (ignore the old kettle all the way to the right it's gone): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152897379926929&l=47a57aa487 The HLT is on the right, MLT in the middle and whirlpool boil kettle on the left. My pump inlets are on the left side of each pump and the outlets on the right.
Again, I'm going to be first using it as the HEX for HERMS mashing so it will be hooked up to the HLT and HLT pump and the MLT and left most pump while mashing. Then at the end of the boil I will be recirculating the wort through the counterflow chiller and back into the kettle -first to santize from the prior bacteria laden mash wort and then to recirculation chill back into the kettle until I get the whole volume down to 140F -then I'll let the whirlpool in the kettle settle for a 10 min and then chill straight into my fermenter.
The plumbing with 100% silicone tubing and camlocks is pretty brain melting but I'll make another post on trying to simplify my plumbing with possibly some permanent hard plumbing later.
-Obviously horizontal placement within the stand is a far lesser concern than horizontal placement.
Vertical Placement? This is where I need the most help.
Today I have the bottom shelf on my stainless table / stand almost completely on the ground to make the whole stand more stable.
I'm really not sure vertically where I should put my pumps and chiller to make the whole thing the easiest to drain, clean/maintain and get the wort out.
I'm going to drop straight from the kettle into the "wort in" side of pump #1 on the left, then the "wort out" of the pump goes where??
-If I place the counter flow chiller up ABOVE the pump but below the kettle output, I have the benefit that I can gravity flow from the CFC's output into my fermenter, but then all the liquid in the line coming out of the pump and going to the chiller can't drain...
OR I could instead remount my pumps / move my bottom shelf up much higher and closer to the kettles-this would make the stand less sturdy and more wobbly, BUT then I'd have a small drop from the kettle to the pump input and then I could place the CFC lower than the pump so that wort would drain from the pump output into the CFC. The problem then would be that I'd have to rely upon the pump to pump from the CFC "wort out" into my fermenter neck and I'd have the same problem again downstream...
I almost think ensuring that the CFC can gravity drain into the fermenter is more important than ensuring that the wort-out of the pump can drain into the CFC...
Bonus Questions:
As I'm using the CFC for HERMS I need to actually drain all the water out of the CFC after brewing or store starsan water in it, don't I?
Thanks in advance,
Adam
