Recirculating Ice Water Chiller

[missing link]

Wouldn't freezing the water in butter tubs make it possible to remove the ice from the tub? If you had 10 or 15 tubs of ice, that would make for quite a few large ice cubes that aren't being insulated by plastic like a water bottle.

 

[Warrior]

Wouldn't freezing the water in butter tubs make it possible to remove the ice from the tub? If you had 10 or 15 tubs of ice, that would make for quite a few large ice cubes that aren't being insulated by plastic like a water bottle.

BTW used your Butter tub idea yesterday and yes better than using the small water jugs. Chilled the wort to 100 degrees first with tap water. I then used the pump in a cooler of water with 6 re-freezable ice packs. Also added 3 butter tub ice containers. The ice popped out in no time and I had 11 gals of wort chilled to 65 in 30 mins from the time of the end of the boil. The ice from the butter tubs helps cool the wort faster, better idea than the plastic bottles.

 

[kaylie]

Great idea this could save a lot of money. I'll try this soon.

 

[Bobby_M]

BTW used your Butter tub idea yesterday and yes better than using the small water jugs. Chilled the wort to 100 degrees first with tap water. I then used the pump in a cooler of water with 6 re-freezable ice packs. Also added 3 butter tub ice containers. The ice popped out in no time and I had 11 gals of wort chilled to 65 in 30 mins from the time of the end of the boil. The ice from the butter tubs helps cool the wort faster, better idea than the plastic bottles.

Isn't your tap water running under 50F these days? The icewater pump deal is great for summer tap temps but this is the cold water days for us Northeasterners.

 

[nathan]

I know my garage freezers in NC are using the heat bulbs inside them as often as the freezer parts. Hurray for dual stage digital ranco!

 

[Warrior]

Isn't your tap water running under 50F these days? The icewater pump deal is great for summer tap temps but this is the cold water days for us Northeasterners.

Yes it is but it still gives me a good way to clean out the pump system after using it for the mash tun and transfering the run off to the brew kettle. I am already using the pump for recirculating the mash and have the cooler handy from the hot sparge water. All I need to do extra is cool off the cooler, add tap water the ice packs and the tubs of ice. Still a little quicker than tap water but the real benefits are in the warmer weather. Just happened to be brewing now and wanted to try the idea.

 

[Ryno]

If you have the freezer space, you could freeze water balloons and use them in the recirculating container with the pump for the chiller. I havent tried this yet....no space in freezer. I used freeze balloons when I was a kid all the time, just dont make them too big. RYno

 

[njnear76]

I'm slightly nervous about using my hose in this cold weather since the sillcock is not frost free so I'm thinking the pump might be the way to go.

I could always use a pump to get my temperatures down in the summer.

I really should learn plumbing though and update that sillcock.

 

[android]

not sure if this'll apply to anyone else's Lowe's, but I just returned from there and got a 200 some odd fountain pump on clearance for $9. comes with a hose connector also, should be good to go right out of the box.

 

[Blackhawkbrew]

I just got a 330 gph pump. Is this too much power for my immersion chiller?

 

[camiller]

I just got a 330 gph pump. Is this too much power for my immersion chiller?

no, earlier in the thread someone had a harbor freight sump pump which is way more power so 330 is well within the specs for this project.

 

[Blackhawkbrew]

Good to know, thanks! I hope to be trying this out soon.

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

Bump for a great design.

I brew in my garage, 50+ feet away from the nearest water source. This is now very high on my list of brewing projects!

 

[Crabnut]

Great Idea. I should have seen this one much sooner. Oh well.

 

[chemman14]

I am wondering what type of submersible pump has a garden hose outlet? All of the pond pumps at home depot I have found do not come with a garden hose adapter.
This would make it much easier to switch from tap water to recirculating water.

 

[robinfresno]

the sprinkler pvc section of home depot is your best friend... teflon tape works wonders too

 

[Catt22]

I am wondering what type of submersible pump has a garden hose outlet? All of the pond pumps at home depot I have found do not come with a garden hose adapter.
This would make it much easier to switch from tap water to recirculating water.

Adapters to get from pipe thread (NPT) to garden hose thread (GHT) are commonly available at HD, Lowes or most any hardware store. All of my hose conections are GHT so I have a bunch of them on my system. U.S. Plastics sells a nylon version. I like those a lot and they are much cheaper than the brass type.

 

[gunner65]

I just bought this one

http://www.harborfreight.com/258-gph-submersible-fountain-pump-47117.html

It has attachments to 5/8 hose barb. Looks like it will fit the bill.

 

[geepmaley]

Resurrecting this. How's this pump? http://www.harborfreight.com/264-gph-submersible-fountain-pump-68395.html for IC use?

 

[geepmaley]

Secondary question. I have this rather large reservoir of water (Called a pool) that is available as a water source of water in varying degrees (warm in the summer, cooooooooooold in the winter). Its a salt water pool. Concentration of salt is <3000 ppm. Any issues running it through copper IC for primary chill vs tap water?

My idea is, submersible pump attached to the IC. return from IC into pool. When temp drops to 100 or so, move the pump to a ice/water filled bucket/cooler and proceed as outlined above.

Comments?

 

[Bigscience]

Here's my few cents. I have a 40 plate chiller and a CFC. I can get faster flow rates out of the plate chiller and to do a 1 pass chill I have to throttle the wort flow way back. I found that it was actually faster to recirculate the wort back into the kettle and then only go to the fermentor when the output is ~65. Doing this I can cool 11 gallons in about 10 minutes vs 20 with one pass. The CFC flow rate is to slow, even with a pump, to make recalculating an option.

Somebody mentioned using a bucket/keg to push tap water through an bunch of ice. I've tried this and it worked well until the ice ran out. I tried to chill from a boil however so maybe it would work from ~100F. I repurposed an old cornie and had a thermometer in line to see what the chiller water temp was coming out. Using tap water to knock most of the heat out with a recirculation first could make this viable for those who don't have a pump.

Most recently I built an ice water recirculator so I could brew in August. It's not really that hot here but our tap water was about 72F. I used a sump pump from Harbor Freight (sorry no link, I think there's a newer model). This worked out very well even though I didn't have that much ice. I just emptied the ice makers from our lunchroom freezers before I left work, maybe 10lbs. I prechilled with tap until about 120 and then got inpatient and switched to the ice and kept recalculating. All in all it took about 20 minutes to get 6 gallons to pitching temp. I learned a few things the first time and what I'll do next time is prechill to ~100F, switch to ice but run straight off. I have a thermometer off of my plate chiller and I was coming out well under 60F so no real need to run back into the kettle. (not that concerned about the break.

In the end, the pump worked well and I'll continue to use it for the warm months or lagers. Also, for those of you contemplating a fountain/pond/aquarium pump, I’m not really sure you’ll get the best results do to the low flow rates. It’s not that much more money to get a sump pump from Harbor Freight. They always have a 20% off one item coupon and they go on sale frequently. I think I was out the door for $30-$40. Oh, you also don’t need one with a float switch but pick up a foot switch while you’re there.

 

[jonohull]

Throw this into the mix. I was thinking about circulating a 50/50 anti-freeze mix thru the submerged coil in the brew pot that's connected to a 5 hp rated refrigerated air compressor dryer I have. Within its rated cfm's (air) down to 38 degrees F. Free junk in my garage so no money loss just time. Thinking outside the box.

I know this is a 6 year old post, but there is no point to using antifreeze. The water is the thing that actually keeps your engine cool. The ethylene glycol part of the mix just keeps it from freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer. Plus, I wouldn't want that poison anywhere near my beer.