How well will a 20ft wort cooler work?

[Wallygator]

The title says most of it. I know people make immersion chillers out of 50' of 3/8" tubing. If I were to use 20' instead of 50', how well would it work? Also if I were to go to 20" of 1/2" or 5/8" instead of 3/8" copper tubing?

I plan on building one soon, but was looking at prices for 50' and 20'. The ones they have at the LHBS don't look like they are 50'. They look about half as long as the DIY 50 footer.
like this

thanks

 

[Orangevango]

You will want to shoot yourself halfway through the first chilling. On the upside, when you decide to buy the 50' chiller, you will have a good prechiller already.

 

[The Pol]

Just buy a $13 HDPE fermentor and transfer the wort to it hot. Let it cool over 24 hours, then pitch the yeast. Forget the chiller.

 

[double_e5]

I think most chillers are either 25' or 50' because that's the lengths the tubing is readily available in. I think a 20' would be fine for a 5 gallon batch.

I wouldn't go any larger than 1/2" though. You start getting larger than that and you might as well get 50' of 3/8" because of the price. I've also heard when the diameter starts getting bigger than 1/2" the chiller starts to become less efficient because of surface area, flow rate, yada yada. I wouldn't be able to tell you why because anything dealing with physics is way over my head.

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

I just made a 20' 1/2 incher that crashes from 200 to 70 in less than 5 without prechillin. Lowes for 20 bucks.

 

[Bobby_M]

Tap water temp is by far the most important factor so any time to chill quotes are incomplete without talking about the tap temp.

 

[The Pol]

Tap water temp is by far the most important factor so any time to chill quotes are incomplete without talking about the tap temp.

Bingo, tap water at 50F in a 20' chiller will be better than 70F tap water through a 50' chiller. Too many variables to generalize.

 

[david_42]

Getting back to the OP.

20' will work, it just takes a little longer. Mine is 25' of 3/8ths and the performance is adequate.
Larger tubing will cool a little faster, but use more water.

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

my tapwater is 54 by the way. I doubt if anyone is getting much warmer north of me unless you have some unusual situation

 

[Malticulous]

Currently my tap watter is 60F and my 20 ft chiller works fine for me with ten gallon batches. It has been getting it to 100 in under 30 minutes. Soon my tap watter is going to be 70f again.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Just buy a $13 HDPE fermentor and transfer the wort to it hot. Let it cool over 24 hours, then pitch the yeast. Forget the chiller.

AS I've said before I am drooling and leaving my wife over this no chill thing. Where do you get the HDPE Fermenter for $13? I saw it mentioned in the 20' Chiller thread. And do they have a 13-15G Version? I'd love to just drain a 10G batch and not screw with chilling. And just to be sure, you don't even cool it a little? just turn flame off, let it sit a few minutes? then transfer? Or remove flame and drain?

 

[samc]

I just made a 20' 1/2 incher that crashes from 200 to 70 in less than 5 without prechillin. Lowes for 20 bucks.

Immersion chiller? Sounds impossible from everything I have done and read on these boards.

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

AS I've said before I am drooling and leaving my wife over this no chill thing. Where do you get the HDPE Fermenter for $13? I saw it mentioned in the 20' Chiller thread. And do they have a 13-15G Version? I'd love to just drain a 10G batch and not screw with chilling. And just to be sure, you don't even cool it a little? just turn flame off, let it sit a few minutes? then transfer? Or remove flame and drain?

You get these at US Plastics

I think that some people have used this 15 gal one, but double check this.

I've been closely following the Pol on this one, and yep. Flame out ( or electric off in his case) and into the cooler. He keeps off about 1/2 gal (I think) for his Real Wort Starter to hydrate/yeast starter.

 

[Wallygator]

Just buy a $13 HDPE fermentor and transfer the wort to it hot. Let it cool over 24 hours, then pitch the yeast. Forget the chiller.

What about chill haze? Or do you use other ways of clearing? Would other plastics work, like polypropylene, or does it have to be HDPE.

Also what is a decent time to chill the wort to get a decent cold break, or does it matter.


thanks for all the replies so far.

 

[IrregularPulse]

What about chill haze? Or do you use other ways of clearing? Would other plastics work, like polypropylene, or does it have to be HDPE.

Also what is a decent time to chill the wort to get a decent cold break, or does it matter.


thanks for all the replies so far.

Pols method wouldn't give you Cold Break. Finings would be used for clearing. Chill Hayze (from my understanding) is not from coldbreak, it's from a good Hot break. Could be wrong. But I think it's from the proteins seperating in the hot break that prevents the chill hayze.

I could be 100% wrong

 

[nicknunns]

I used a 20' chiller with a drill pump to recirculate ice water. Worked great. Boil -> pitch in less than ten minutes.

 

[Hilbert]

i made mine out of 20' tube and it works fine. i run the extra vinyl tubing through an ice bath before it hits the copper and it takes the tap water temp down real low. i can cool 5 gals in about 10 - 15 mins.

 

[Brew_Weasel]

You get these at US Plastics

I think that some people have used this 15 gal one, but double check this.

I've been closely following the Pol on this one, and yep. Flame out ( or electric off in his case) and into the cooler. He keeps off about 1/2 gal (I think) for his Real Wort Starter to hydrate/yeast starter.

I'm going to have to question the use of the tank you posted. Pouring 212° degree wort into Polyethylene with a maximum operating temperature of 140-150°F sounds like asking for all sorts of trouble to me, especially since you are doing nothing to cool it. If you were dumping a small volume in and then adding cooled water to crash it, I might say otherwise. Polypropylene can handle boiling liquids and if you can find a suitable vessel anywhere near the price of the Polyethylene ones, PM me. My bet is no.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Any more information on this? Besides the Pol actually doing it in with no reported issues?

 

[bendavanza]

search for Australian no chill there have been threads and articles written. I still plan to chill...

 

[The Pol]

Sorry, I have been ignoring this thread, didnt know it got so OT.

Sorry to the OP.

I have an article coming up on my process and the outcome on the website listed in my SIG. A couple things:

#1. HDPE ONLY!!! It is food grade and will handle boiling temps. Use anything else and you will seriously regret it.

#2. Transfer is just after "current off" or "flame out"... whirlpool and let sit a few minutes. Temp. at transfer is around 190F.

#3. Chill haze... I have that in beers that are chilled, for a time. Time and temp. I presume will alleviate any issue. I do have to say that the beer seemed no more cloudy after 3 days in the keg than normal.

#4. 24 hours should suffice to chill the beer naturally (see the article for more on this)

I will have a full rundown in the article coming up... I need to do some final tweaks on the article and get the final details added. I have been tasting this beer as the process has gone along, and there is really nothing different to note.

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

Immersion chiller? Sounds impossible from everything I have done and read on these boards.

Clarification: 20' copper tubing (1/2" ID) and tapwater at 54deg. Takes about 5 min to get below 100. I use 3/4 ID poly tubing to feed it @ 60psi off of a pump setup. The typical pressure for city water is 30-40. The increased water pressure makes all the diffrence. The water volume is the key, not the tube size, size matters(as all women will tell you) buy in heat exchange using copper the transfer rate is high and the water volume is the key. But i'm no scientist.