Do I need a counterflow chiller?

[aqualung23]

I know this topic has been beaten to death on here, and I'm aware of the pros and cons of different methods of chilling.

However, unlike most home brewers, who are likey using a municipal water supply, my water comes from a mountain spring fed well, and runs under 60° F even in summer (right now it is coming out of the tap at 43.5°). With my cold water temps, do I even need to worry about investing in a counterflow chiller?

Thanks in advance!

 

[LandoLincoln]

Yes. Because all of the cool kids have counterflow chillers.

 

[broadbill]

Yes. Because all of the cool kids have counterflow chillers.

There you have it....I think we are done here.

 

[JimRausch]

If you are happy with your current chilling method, then don't let anyone talk you into changing. If you are not happy, then change.
Like you, I have a nice cold water well. 2+ years into this obsession, I still use a swamp cooler full of water plus ice (or snow) to chill. Works for me.

 

[chezhed]

So how are you chilling? An immersion chiller running that nice cold water through it?

You don't "need" a counterflow chiller...it just speeds up the process....as in my case....without one, I'd have to chill in refrigerators for a couple days to get to pitch temps 9 months out of the year..... I have to use one with ice water

It becomes a matter of time...and exposure to ambient bad things.

 

[aqualung23]

I just did my first all grain batch this weekend. I don't have a chiller at all and just stuck my kettle in the 3 feet of snow outside. Obviously I'll have to get some type of chiller for when it gets warm, and I'm going to build either a DIY immersion chiller (easier to build, cheaper, easy to clean, but slower), or a copper tube/wire inside hose counterflow chiller.

 

[Hello]

If your ground water is 60F in the summer, I wouldn't even bother with a CFC. I would stick with an IC myself. I am using an IC but I haven't had it to use in the summer yet. My thought was if worse came to worse, I would get another and use it as a pre-chiller.

 

[aqualung23]

Thanks guys. I'm thinking if I put my kettle in the sink and fill it with cold water, then run an IC, I'll probably be able to cool a 5 gallon batch in less than 15 minutes.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

No. I have a homemade IC, 50 ft 3/8 inch copper, however the top 1/3 or so sticks out the top of a typical 5 gallon batch. I can drop from boiling to 70 in 7 minutes with cold tap water. I don't bother putting the pot in an ice water bath or using a pre chiller, I am sure either one of these would probably help but 7 min is good enough for me.

 

[aqualung23]

No. I have a homemade IC, 50 ft 3/8 inch copper, however the top 1/3 or so sticks out the top of a typical 5 gallon batch. I can drop from boiling to 70 in 7 minutes with cold tap water. I don't bother putting the pot in an ice water bath or using a pre chiller, I am sure either one of these would probably help but 7 min is good enough for me.

Yeah I would say so! That's quicker than most people with a CF chiller based on the fact that they have to use a slow flow rate of wort to achieve the target temp. You just sold me on buying the materials for a 50 foot IC. Thanks!

 

[Safa]

Agree, I use a 50ft IC. Saturday my groundwater was at 48 and I chilled 5g to 65 in just under 6 minutes. In summer it's slower (significantly) but still under 15m.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[rwschwartz]

No. I have a homemade IC, 50 ft 3/8 inch copper, however the top 1/3 or so sticks out the top of a typical 5 gallon batch. I can drop from boiling to 70 in 7 minutes with cold tap water. I don't bother putting the pot in an ice water bath or using a pre chiller, I am sure either one of these would probably help but 7 min is good enough for me.

Same here. I have a home-made IC that has almost as much sticking out of the kettle as in. My wort cools super quickly. I don't know what it will do in the summer though.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[max384]

If I weren't lazy and comfortable at my computer right now, I'd check my cold tap water temp. It takes me about 20 minutes to cool my wort from boiling to 60 with my 50ft copper immersion chiller. Hearing these other figures, I wonder if my tap water isn't very cold? It feels it to the touch. This being said, I'm fine with 20 minutes. I'm usually using this time to clean and put things away, so it's not wasted time at all.

 

[tommyguner03]

i have a plate chiller at times it works great and others it gets clogged up.. lately i have been just doing the "no chill method" and putting my pot in a deep sink full of cold water. when i reach 145f i transfer to primary bucket and let cool to pitching temps. this takes about 3hrs? i have done this on about 5 batches and all have turned out great with no infection.

 

[jammin]

One pro to the CFC, it works great in tandem with a hopback.
I pump my wort out of the boil kettle into my hop rocket. It immediately gets chilled to pitch temps, thus preserving volatile, aromatic compounds.

 

[Hamaki]

When I started I had no chiller. Ice water bath took 45 - 60 minutes. I made a 50' 3/8" IC and cut this down to 15 - 20 min. Then I switched from propane to an electric BK and the IC was not working very well for me because the element is in the way so I made a CFC. It's slow, 20 - 30 minutes and often clogs with cold break. If I had a decent pump it would not be much of a problem. I have a $20 ebay pump and it's slightly better than gravity flow.

 

[aqualung23]

If I weren't lazy and comfortable at my computer right now, I'd check my cold tap water temp. It takes me about 20 minutes to cool my wort from boiling to 60 with my 50ft copper immersion chiller. Hearing these other figures, I wonder if my tap water isn't very cold? It feels it to the touch. This being said, I'm fine with 20 minutes. I'm usually using this time to clean and put things away, so it's not wasted time at all.

Yeah in the winter my tap water will actually make your hands numb.

 

[RM-MN]

I poured boiling wort into my bucket fermenter and pitched the yeast about 36 hours later. The beer came out good and was clear. I don't need no counterflow chiller.

 

[aqualung23]

I poured boiling wort into my bucket fermenter and pitched the yeast about 36 hours later. The beer came out good and was clear. I don't need no counterflow chiller.

I like to hear stuff like that. It's easy to psych yourself out with the minutia of detail in this hobby, but really the best philosophy seems to be, "relax, don't worry. Have a homebrew!"

 

[LandoLincoln]

Yeah I would say so! That's quicker than most people with a CF chiller based on the fact that they have to use a slow flow rate of wort to achieve the target temp. You just sold me on buying the materials for a 50 foot IC. Thanks!

Well, that's not true. In the summertime (Chicago area), I run both the water and wort at full blast through my CFC. In the wintertime, I have to throttle the water way down so I don't over-chill the wort. I chill the wort down to pitching temps in a single pass.

 

[Buckeye_Brad]

With my immersion chiller, I simply coil the slack of the incoming hose in a small pot filled with ice-water. This pre-chills my tap water enough to chill the wort just fine.

In fact, the first time I tried this, I didn't monitor my wort temp closely, and it overshot down to 60 in under 20 minutes.

 

[lowelldw]

I made a 20 foot IC and used it yesterday for the first time and got a 3+ gallon boil down to 70 degrees in under 10 minutes...my tap water is about 55 degrees.

 

[chezhed]

i have a plate chiller at times it works great and others it gets clogged up..

Mine doesn't clog at all....but I put all hops in bags, whirlpool like hell and let it settle...typically 15 minutes at least. And the kettle is on a slight tilt to the valve so the hop bags tend to fall right around the pickup (90 elbow that is about 6 mm from bottom). The break also gets "trapped" by the bags so my wort into fermenter is pretty clear.

I use an ice bath pumped through the plate chiller. During the "winter" I have to pump my wort through the chiller to keep it from cooling too much but the other 9 months I have to let it gravity flow to chill to 20C.

But my average temperature outside is above 80.....my ground water is never cold

 

[tommyguner03]

Mine doesn't clog at all....but I put all hops in bags, whirlpool like hell and let it settle...typically 15 minutes at least. And the kettle is on a slight tilt to the valve so the hop bags tend to fall right around the pickup (90 elbow that is about 6 mm from bottom). The break also gets "trapped" by the bags so my wort into fermenter is pretty clear.

I use an ice bath pumped through the plate chiller. During the "winter" I have to pump my wort through the chiller to keep it from cooling too much but the other 9 months I have to let it gravity flow to chill to 20C.

But my average temperature outside is above 80.....my ground water is never cold

i actually do the same i have my hops in bags. since its winter here in the midwest which has been a cold one. i am brewing inside and need to get a sink connecter (if they have one) for my plate chiller. and for my ground water i am on well water and last time i brewed outside was start of winter and my hose froze up on me.
BREW ON!

 

[aqualung23]

Oh I also forgot to mention that my current brew kettle has no valve on it, obviously another reason to go with the IC.