should I buy one 50x1/2 in chiller to two 50x3/8???

[ZamaMan]

Hey guys I was looking at some chillers. Was debating on getting a 50ft 1/2" IC for 109 or two 50ft 3/8 in ones for 60 each and making one a pre chiller.
Obviously the 1/2 in has 25% more surface space so I figure 25% mjore cooling but would having a pre chiller in a bucket of ice water cool faster?
I live in Sacramento California so doubt the water is super cold from main. Also most batches will be 5 gal with the occasional 10 gal

 

[Nateo]

I thought about using a prechiller at one point, but after doing a lot of research decided against it. The prechillers didn't seem to offer a whole lot of additional cooling capacity for the extra hassle.

Surface area isn't the only variable with chilling, volume and flow rate are important too. Lets say you had a 100' chiller. Cold water enters the copper and heats up to equalize with the temperature of the wort. Once the water is as hot as the wort, no more cooling happens. I'd say for most sizes of copper this happens in as little as 10' if the wort is boiling, but as the temp drops, the coil needs to be longer for the temp to equalize.

So the limiting factor for chilling is the heat gradient. The bigger the difference between two temperatures, the faster they'll equalize toward each other. I have a 25' 3/8" chiller, and I can get 10 gallons from boiling to 100* in half an hour. It takes me another half hour to get down to 80* because my ground water is 75* this time of year.

So, a fat, short chiller would be better for cooling down very large temp differences, while a long, thinner chiller would work better for cooling once it's closer to pitching temp.

I've also seen people use an immersion chiller to go from boiling to 100, then run the wort through another immersion chiller which is in an ice bucket, and the wort comes out at pitching temp on the other end. This is the idea behind a counterflow chiller.

 

[Bobby_M]

Get ONE 3/8" x 50 chiller and a submersible pump from Harbor Freight to drop into a bin of icewater. Cheaper and more effective than a prechiller combo.

 

[AnOldUR]

Get ONE 3/8" x 50 chiller and a submersible pump from Harbor Freight to drop into a bin of icewater.

Agree. This sounds like my set-up with a 5 gallon Homer bucket and a Home Depot pond pump. Although I don't add ice until the temperature is below 100 degrees.

 

[isurf]

I use a 50' x 1/2" IC from boil to about 120f. I have 25'x1/2" pre-chilla in a ice bath going from about 120 to pitch. Fast easy, I have access to a ice machine so that helps. Our summer time h20 temp runs around 80+ on a cool day.

 

[ZamaMan]

Get ONE 3/8" x 50 chiller and a submersible pump from Harbor Freight to drop into a bin of icewater. Cheaper and more effective than a prechiller combo.

That sounds like a good idea. I'm assuming I'd need something realitively weak right? Which pump would you recommend? What would I need to buy to hook it up to the female side to a hose fitting?

 

[AnOldUR]

I'm assuming I'd need something realitively weak right? Which pump would you recommend? What would I need to buy to hook it up to the female side to a hose fitting?

From my experience you don't want too weak of a pump. I first bought something off eBay that was really cheap, but wouldn't move water thru the IC quickly enough so it took a long time to chill. The pump that I later bought from Home Depot is a Beckett Fountain Pump, 7061310. It pumps 180 gph@6'. This one gets the job done, but if anything, I'd go even bigger. I didn't get fancy with the connections. Just the heavy braided tubing that Home Depot sells with hose clamps directly over the 3/8" copper tubing and barbed fitting on the pump. Could go with disconnects, but been using this set-up for a few years and it does what it's suppose to do and it all stores in the 5 gallon bucket when not being used.


edit:
My Beckett Pump is actually 350 gph. Didn't realize that they use the 1' number for rating.

 

[Bobby_M]

If you have a bulkhead already installed in a cooler (mashtun), you can fill the cooler with icewater and run the output right into this cheap drill pump. http://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-duty-drill-powered-pump-98384.html


If you just want to run a bin, drop in this 1/6th horsepower pump http://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-half-hp-clear-water-pump-with-float-94648.html

The latter is a nice all around utility pump you can use for other things but make sure you put some hearty connections on the IC input. I wouldn't just clamp some tubing onto the copper. At least use garden hose thread to compression or solder on a threaded adapter because the backpressure will start at the copper. You also might try a garden hose female to 3/8" hose barb to put some restriction at the pump output.

 

[Atl300zx]

I use a 400 gph aquarium pump