Proper speed for wort chiller?

[Andyoesq]

I used a snow bath in the sink all winter to chill wort, and then ice. I just started using a cooper immersion wort chiller. I have cold unlimited well water. Should I run it at as high a pressure I can, to push as much cold water through it as I can, or should I run it slower to give the cold water more time to exchange heat as it works it's way through the copper coil.

 

[Hammy71]

Depends on the length, diameter. Mine is 50' of 3/8" copper. Even at full blast, the water comes out scalding. I'd go with full tilt first and see what happens.

 

[masskrug]

Blow it through!

 

[NewJersey]

I wondered this too last brew. Any of our resident science minded members wanna shed some light on this???

 

[hezagenius]

I would suspect the true mathematical answer would be to have it start fast and then slow down at some non-linear rate to maximize heat exchange. But lots of variables would have to be factored in. Just go full blast and save the exit water for plants.

Or get a pump and recirculate the water after you drop the temp some...

 

[govner1]

Run the cold as fast as you can & slow down the flow of the wort to get the most efficient chilling.
Having a pump and whirlpool/recirc per hesagenius would be the ideal. Also a CFC.

 

[Andyoesq]

I wondered this too last brew. Any of our resident science minded members wanna shed some light on this???

I'm in Chester, go Jersey!!!!

 

[TeamAshBrewing]

I go full blast the entire time and I pay for water. For free well water, I would definitely go full blast for the entire time, it will just end up back in your well in a short time anyways. Although as hezagenius said, there is probably a curve that someone could figure out to maximize the cooling temp: water use ratio. For either the water or budget conscious, I would assume you would go full blast at first to get as much water thru the coil since is hot to begin with. Then taper the flow as it cools down. I also assume that if the water is cooler coming out than your wort temp, you could probably turn it down a litt.e

 

[Singletrack]

First, it is hard to imagine having plentiful cold water. Good for you! Realize you are lucky.

For fastest cooling, let her rip. For water conservation, slow it down until the discharge water is as close to the wort temp as possible.

For additional water conservation, recirc ice water once you hit about 100 F.

Use the hot water for cleaning. Save water for plants. Or just waste it if water is so plentiful. (Shudder)

 

[brick_haus]

Run it full blast and pipe the runoff to us poor folks in dusty So. California.

 

[judsonp]

I wondered this too last brew. Any of our resident science minded members wanna shed some light on this???

For maximizing cooling speed, run water through there as fast as possible.

What you want is for the heat exchanger to always be as cold as possible. Heat transfer rate is proportional to the temperature difference between the cold and hot sides. Consider the two extremes. If you have zero water flow, the water will heat up to the wort temperature and no cooling will happen. If you have very fast (nearly-"infinite") water flow, it's carried away so quickly that the whole chiller is the temperature of the water out of the tap. The latter is certainly better, so faster water flow is better.

If you want to maximize something else -- like water efficiency -- it's trickier.

 

[Bobby_M]

Run it fast, but to reduce waste always keep the wort stirring well or you can physically jostle the chiller around to break up the stratified layers.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Wide open for quickest chilling. Wort in motion for keeping the coils in touch with the hot wort. Catch waste water in a bucket or mash tun or what have you for use in cleaning. You can slow it some but it will make it take longer to chill.

 

[NewJersey]

I should have added info on my setup. I have a 25 ft 3/8" copper chiller that feeds into a 50 ft 3/8" ss chiller in the wort. After a few minutes of straight tap i put the copper pre chiller in a bucket of ice water. I another bag of ice two more times whilw removing a lil water.
Ive been doing it at a medium water pressure so far. In my mimd i wanted to balance it to give the tap water time to be chilled by the ice and still run through the wort quick enough

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Run it fast, but to reduce waste always keep the wort stirring well or you can physically jostle the chiller around to break up the stratified layers.

This +1000

Run it as fast as you can, but constantly stir the wort to ensure good mixing. It will *dramatically* reduce your chill time.