Immersion chiller flow rate

[thejerm]

so this is a question for the those who like nerdy questions, myself being partially nerdy, i'm curious. Does the flow rate of water through the immersion chiller cool the wort faster? SO one were to crank the valve all the way open, water blasting out of the hose, will that cool it faster? Or does that in fact not allow the copper to absorb the heat as quickly?

just curious, i'll give you my observation later

jerm

[DannyW]

Delta-T is most important. Differential between the two media. Run that hose fast and you will chill faster but use more water. Run the hose slower and you will chill more slowly but use less water.

turbulence makes a difference too. Stir the wort (or otherwise keep it moving) and things go much faster. What about the hose water though? Better to run it full speed (which seems to flow smoothly) or to partially close the inlet ball valve to introduce some turbulence?

[Mylo]

I run mine a little faster in the beginning than I do at the end. I collect the first 5 gallons (usually 150*+) into my mash tun and use it for the wash cycle.


Mylo

[thejerm]

Well thats what i've been using to gauge my water comsumption, i fill my washing machine. i use to crank the valve all the way open and we would have to pull the hose out of it so it wouldn't over flow, wort would go from 212 to 80 in 15-20 min. yesterday i ran the water with more control constantly making sure that the water was staying warm and had it chilled in 20min or less and had only fill the washer half way. we stirred it quite a bit this time which is somthing i don't usually do, due to the lack of room. the wort chiller i made has a center coil so i never worried to much about stirring it.

anyway it works for me not sure how or why, vaguely remember justin, on one of the brewcasts, saying that it took him over 30 mins to chill his wort and i don't know how i could take that long.

[Charlie]

Flow rate depends on the flow path too. The Therminator, which has a fairly short flow path, needs 5gpm. My countercurrent chiller has a long flow path and gets the same results with 2.5 gpm. _*BUT*_, the Therminator is quite a bit lighter, more compact, and easier to clean than my design.

I run mine a little faster in the beginning than I do at the end. I collect the first 5 gallons (usually 150*+) into my mash tun and use it for the wash cycle.

Now that's interesting! I been noticing how my spent grain bleeds mucho sweet stuff after the sparge, and wondering how to recover all that malty goodness. Please tell me more.

Charlie

[Mylo]

I run mine a little faster in the beginning than I do at the end. I collect the first 5 gallons (usually 150*+) into my mash tun and use it for the wash cycle.

Now that's interesting! I been noticing how my spent grain bleeds mucho sweet stuff after the sparge, and wondering how to recover all that malty goodness. Please tell me more.

Charlie

It's not what you think. I'm not sparging anything additionally (especially with hose water). I am just collecting the hot water from the heat exchanger to use with PBW in my cleaning regimen - instead of firing up the burner again.

I usually make extra sparge water (I hate running out, and it's always good to have some top off water if my evap rate gets out of hand). I only stop my sparge for two reasons - 1) I have collected the right amount of points in my kettle, or 2) my pH is getting dangerously high. I try to acidify the sparge water slightly for lighter beers.

If you are leaving that much sugar in your MT, then you are using a much lower efficiency in your recipe than you actually get. You can always just continue to sparge into another container (provided that you pH remains in the safe range), and pressure can it for starters.


Mylo

[bcmaui]

I've seen mention of inserting a copper wire inside the copper tubing. This creates some turbulence inside this pipe and mixes up the cold water going through. Have not tried this yet. The JZ recirc pump makes sense as being the first thing to try by creating turbulence in wort itself to speed up the cooling.

I feel the temp of the outgoing water. Like Mylo, I've been running it a bit faster the first 5 minutes or so when there is rapid cooling from boil down to 100F, and then slow down the rate after that when the cooper pipe with water coming out starts to get cool.

I also like the idea of capturing the intial hot water coming out and mixing up a PWD batch, or just using it for cleaning. Except for the initial blast of hot water, I use the waste to water the garden. I picked up three 20 gallon plastic tubs at Lowes yesterday ($9 each) and I am rigging up a keg and carboy washing station with them.

[Charlie]

It's not what you think. I'm not sparging anything additionally (especially with hose water). I am just collecting the hot water from the heat exchanger to use with PBW in my cleaning regimen - instead of firing up the burner again.

I usually make extra sparge water (I hate running out, and it's always good to have some top off water if my evap rate gets out of hand). I only stop my sparge for two reasons - 1) I have collected the right amount of points in my kettle, or 2) my pH is getting dangerously high. I try to acidify the sparge water slightly for lighter beers.

If you are leaving that much sugar in your MT, then you are using a much lower efficiency in your recipe than you actually get. You can always just continue to sparge into another container (provided that you pH remains in the safe range), and pressure can it for starters.

Gotcha!

I do much the same, sparge until I hit my boil volume, and the SG is pretty low by that time (I'd have to check the log book for actual numbers). I routinely hit 75% efficiency, so what I think is happening is that as the grain sits there and cools it drips some fairly concentrated sugars with the absorbed water. Or the drippings are evaporating and concentrating what sugar there is in them. There may not be a lot of it or a practical way to get it out, but I've noticed it on a couple of occasions and wondered about it.

Do you have a pic of your mash/lauter rig?

Charlie