Counter Flow chiller

[ggltd]

I built a CF with plans I found in BYO- copper tube and garden hose. I have a hopback with a stainless screen between the kettle and CF which also keeps stuff from plugging up the CF when run empty. The hopback I made with parts from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It cuts my brew day down a lot. My next addition will be an inline oxygenator just after the chiller into the fermenter. A CF is so much more efficient than an immersion and also reduces the risk of contamination. I have used both and have not noticed the taste difference discussed earlier.

[fastdogbrewing]

I like BadRock's idea of recirculating from the counterflow back into the BK to dump the trub. You can also run the output from your counterflow into an immersion chiller, get a little additional cooling and some really hot water at the other end .

So whirlpool through the counterflow. Hmmmm................

Charlie

Too slow. The majority of your wort will be above SMM -> DMS temps for a while. You will also loose hop aroma volitiles from late hop additions with all that heat still in there. I used to recirculate a CFC back in. It takes a LONG time to get below 140. With the JZ immersion chiller, I am below 120 in 5 minutes - and another 10 to get to ale temps (assuming a < 70 degree source). In the summertime, I have to switch to ice when I get down to 90. Still only takes a half hour with my 90+ water.

I sold the CFC over a year ago.


Mylo

I have a Chillus Convolutas that I use for all my heat exchanging needs(mash temp control and chilling). With a combination of ground water(down to 120 deg) and ice water in my HLT( down to final temp) I can crash 12 gallons in less than 20 minutes. I leave a huge amount of break material behind.

Saying an immersion chiller is more efficient is not telling the whole story. A small CFC is not going to be as fast an efficient as a huge IC. On the other hand a small IC is not going to be as fast or efficient as a monster CF like mine.

I know a lot of people who make amazing beers with CFC, and just as many who make amazing beers with IC. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

[Quin]

...[CFC] also reduces the risk of contamination...

I don't see how you can arrive at this conclusion. An IC is placed in the kettle and sanitized during the boil. Simple.

A CFC has to be cleaned and sanitized hoping and praying you got all of the gunk out. Unless you are recirculating through the CFC with hot PBW and then boiling water or wort, you are increasing your chance of contamination.

[ggltd]

I don't see how you can arrive at this conclusion. An IC is placed in the kettle and sanitized during the boil. Simple.

A CFC has to be cleaned and sanitized hoping and praying you got all of the gunk out. Unless you are recirculating through the CFC with hot PBW and then boiling water or wort, you are increasing your chance of contamination.[/quote]

Yes you are correct the IC is sanitized when first immersed. In my case I had water leaks from the IC that dripped into the wart which was bad. But my real thought on this was how long my brew kettle was open to the air and how long it took to chill down 5 gals. With my new CF I run hot wart through it before starting the chill. I then can chill down 5 gals pretty quick. Then I run sans through it and rinse real good after. I guess it’s all what your use to. I haven’t had a problem yet. It just seems to me that my old IC wasn't as efficient as my new CF.

[ajdelange]

Certainly the main disadvantage of CF chillers is getting them adequately clean (or dealing with the consequences if you don't). I suppose the up side is that hot wort in the kettle enters the thing and once it goes down that pipe that's the last time it is in contact with air or light until it is in your glass if you do things right (assumes a closed, stainelss fermenter). Properly sized, designed (fins) and supplied with cold water they can certainly chill quickly enough. I fell out of love with the immersion type when a cooling water hose slipped off one in the kettle while I was blightly off doing something else.

[Herms]

I have always used a CFC, purchased for around $110. It is mounted in my basement right above my brew table. The wort comes from my garage into the basement, thru the chiller then into a carboy.

I sanitize it by running 5 gallons of boiling water thru it, right before I need to chill the wort. Every couple batches I will recirculate PBW thru it with a pump. I have never had an infected batch in over 5 years.

Last fall I pulled my chiller out of the basement and setup a Jamil whirlpool chiller with my CF and a pump. I used it 3 times and gave up on it. To get 10 gallons down to 70 degrees took 45 minutes. Plus you really need to let it set for a while to let the cold break settle out. It is a good possibility that my pump was not strong enough to create a good enough whirlpool given the added resistance of the CF. I gave up on it after 3 brews, it was adding an hour to my brewday.

When I brew a lighter lager, I run the wort thru the CF as fast as possible, not worrying to much about the final temp (70-80 degrees). I let the cold break settle out for 30 minutes and with a racking cane and CO2 I rack the wort to another carboy and leave the cold break behind. I then stick it in the fridge and pitch in the morning. Seems to work fine and is faster than my whirlpool setup.

One thing about the immersion chillers and the whirlpool CF setup is that I cannot handle cold wort in my garage in the open air. Even though you try your best to keep it covered it just seems bad. With the CF you go from boiling to cold in seconds, and immediately into the carboy.

Mark

[fatfudd]

I made my counter flow cooler based on an example I found here-
http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/ ... t_chiller/

It works great in a siphon mode and will cool a 5 gallon batch to 68 degrees in about 5 minutes.

My son along with a herd of friends who just got their engineering degrees and are expert brewers
researched the issue of cleaning the cooler and came up with a fairly simple approach. Using this pump-
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... umber=9576
you can run HOT water and PBW thru the tubing for any number of minutes at a very high velocity. If you are concerned
about crud in the line cut small sections of rags and run them thru to catch any junk hanging in the line. Insert the rags between the outflow of the pump
and the inflow line of the cooler. That being said I have found that it really isn't necessary. Also you can use a power supply from an old computer to run the pump or an old car battery.

One other point with this pump, since it is self priming, when you do get a clog in your wort transfer, you can put it on the cold side of the cooler
and suck the wort thru. Only problem is that the wort won't get very cool at the velocity of the pump. You'll need to turn it on and off, cooling the wort a little at a time.

My son and his friends have been using this pump on the hot side of the pot to run the wort from the tank to the cooler for more than a year and have had no problems. I can't recommend that but it doesn't seem to have hurt them or the pump. They have a very long counter flow cooler and only do 10 gallon batches. Since they go to school in Oregon and have access to various hops for nothing and can get lots of "donations" for their beer they make ale varieties on a quantity basis that only real micro brews would out do, like 10 gallons every other week or less. They have a pressurized bar with 3 taps if that gives you some idea.

Hope this helps?

[nitrotron]

I just stumbled upon this thread.

I was thinking about recirculating my CFC back into my brew kettle. It seems this takes a long time. I think I read one post said 45 minutes. I'm trying to understand why it would take longer to cool the wort when recirculating vs straight to the fermentor. I'm trying to understand the physics behind the difference.

For example, say it takes 10 minutes to go straight from boil BK->CFC->fermentor @ 70F. Wouldn't it take 10 minutes to BK->CFC->BK @ 70F? You're chilling the same volume.