baltobrewer wrote:I think the CFC is a nice option because it serves to raise as well as lower temps. It's a heat exchanger, right?
Post some pics!
Question for those smarter/or with more brewing experience than me.
Could you route the wort through the chiller and back to the kettle to whirlpool at the same time? Then you could use the single heat exchanger and still get the benefit of the cold break and trub forming the cone in the kettle.
The issue I see (if it is one) would be that the cooled wort would be warmed again until the whole batch is down to temps.
Thoughts?
Edit:
Went back and more carefully read Jay's write up. This is exactly what he does.
When I turn on the chill water from the washer hookup on the left, it goes straight thru to the CFC bypass and out the right return arm, where it goes down the drain I have on the washer hookup. The wort continues to recirc into the kettle as it chills. The cold break, and there’s LOTS of it, gets caught by the hops. This avoids one of the downfalls of CFC’s – cold break in the fermenter. After a few minutes of recirc, and when my wort return has been stabilized at my pitching temp, I switch hoses and pump to the fermenter. I run the wort through an inline O2 stone and into the fermenter.
