i just upgraded my DIY 25' copper chiller to a 50' one. I'm still having issues with it taking a while (45 minutes or so) to chill my wort down to pitch temp, though i know part of this is because of the summer heat. I was thinking about making my old chiller into a pre-chiller that i can put in a tub of ice water, but wanted to see how effective these were.
How effective are pre-wort chillers?
- Thread starter domdom
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That's exactly what I did when I built a better chiller. I use the old one as a prechiller. I connect the hose to the prechiller, then about 6' of hose from the prechiller to the chiller. I chill as I normally would, then when the wort temp looks like it's not going any further, I drop the prechiller into a tub filled with ice water.
Last summer I was able to chill 5 gallons of wort to lager pitching temps (48F), using 65F tap water. It added about 10-15 more minutes to the chill process.
Last summer I was able to chill 5 gallons of wort to lager pitching temps (48F), using 65F tap water. It added about 10-15 more minutes to the chill process.
What has worked awesome for me is using my chiller with tap water to get the wort close to the tap water temp, then switching over to a pond pump submerged in a cooler of ice water. Knocks it down to pitching temp in no time.
This, I never understood using a prechiller, you are using ice to cool hot water in the prechiller, pump ice water to your IC, simple!
Of course your old IC never gets used again.
Summer in Texas, groundwater is ~80F
Pre-chiller works reasonably well for me.
Prechiller
Plate chiller
Wort-Side
Collecting very hot waste water for cleaning
~10 mins for a 5.5 gallon batch, 212F to ~75F
Pre-chiller works reasonably well for me.
Prechiller
Plate chiller
Wort-Side
Collecting very hot waste water for cleaning
~10 mins for a 5.5 gallon batch, 212F to ~75F
I started with 25' 3/8" chiller and then got a 50' 3/8" chiller. The 25' in ice feeding the 50' brought 5 gallon batches down very quickly. (It is very important to shake around the pre chiller in ice pretty often)
Chilling 10 gallon batches with this setup was not so good.
I just recently bought a plate chiller and my 50' in ice feeding it. I did a test with boiling water and gravity feeding and was able to bring the "wort" down to 62 in one pass after messing with the wort flow. (With very hot summer water)
Unfortunately I also just had to buy a SS chugger pump as I am never trying to lift 12 gallons of boiling water in a keggles EVER again.
Basically wort prechillers are the JAM!
Chilling 10 gallon batches with this setup was not so good.
I just recently bought a plate chiller and my 50' in ice feeding it. I did a test with boiling water and gravity feeding and was able to bring the "wort" down to 62 in one pass after messing with the wort flow. (With very hot summer water)
Unfortunately I also just had to buy a SS chugger pump as I am never trying to lift 12 gallons of boiling water in a keggles EVER again.
Basically wort prechillers are the JAM!
OP
OP
domdom
Well-Known Member
i've been stirring around the wort chiller on occasion, as i've heard stirring helps since heat rises. i'll try a spoon next time. i'll check the temp of my water after running it for a while. i'm brewing outside so i'm not sure what temp the faucet water gets. i tried just coiling up some of the tubing in ice water but it didn't seem too help in an extremely noticable way.
OP
OP
domdom
Well-Known Member
the other thing i've been doing is getting the wort into a sterile fermenter, putting it in cold water for about an hour, then pitching the yeast. not sure how much of an infection control issue this would. how long do you recommend to wait until pitching?
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