big dissapointment with whirlpool chiller

[bub]

you can use more copper and do a double coil which might help... but the key is keeping the delta at it's maximum (temperature differential) at the coil (stiring/whirlpool).
so...
A COLDER is better
B More movement is better (to a point)
BUB

[Push Eject]

10 gallons under DMS production level temp in 3 - 6 minutes and at pitching temp in 30 minutes seems okay to me.

How fast are you trying to go? I wonder if my results are not typical.

Push Eject

[DannyW]

this is a little bit of a tangent, but once you break the 15 gallon or so mark it's probably time for a plate chiller, correct? it seems like 13-14 gallons will really push this setup to its limit.

Why? As long as you have proper sized pumps and a long enough chiller, I don't see a theoretical upper limit for the design.

It's probably less efficient with water than a counterflow (either plate or tube style), but I'd guess up to a barrel or two it wouldn't make a difference.

[slanted & enchanted]

it seems like my 50 feet of copper is struggling with 14 gallons. if you jump up to, say, 50 gallons you're talking quite a bit of copper to maintain that ratio. i'm not saying it wouldn't work theoretically, but in reality it would beat the living crap out of your billfold.

does anyone use a plate chiller around here? the amount of wort shouldn't affect the chilling rate because the same amount of wort is contacting the chiller no matter the batch size. it's just a function of the pumping rate, correct? and you could easily recirc. the chilling water just as you would with an immersion.

my brewing pals and i have big dreams. what do you use to chill if you have a 2 barrel system?

[DannyW]

One of our brew club guys actually has a 60 gallon system (just shy of 2 barrels) and he has been using a therminator and pitching warm (our ground water is 74F). He recently hooked up 2 therminators in series and got great results with that.

Here is a page with pictures trying it out on a small batch.

I also wonder how the planispiral chillers would do on large batches. Gonna build one one of these days...

[Mr. Big]

Alright, I have some ideas on how to expedite your chilling and whirlpool. Continue with your immersion chiller, and use the water as you are currently. You are using a pump to create a whirlpool. From the bottom of your boilpot, go to your pump, and then into a copper coil immersed in a bucket of ice water, and then back into the boil pot to create your whirlpool. I also use that second copper coil in my HERMS system. It's a 25' 3/8 coil. I am knocking down temps from boil to under 80 in under 10 minutes (10 gallon batches. I live in Mobile, Alabama, and I have the water temp issue you have.

[slanted & enchanted]

thanks guys for the input. we did a double batch this weekend, about 28 gallons total (we're getting ready for a big party). the first batch i tried to use the whirlpool chilling technique but we had some sort of strange pump issue and the whirlpool didn't happen. and then i recongfigured my igloo cooler setup (i tried to pull the water up out of the top instead of out of the spout in the bottom, for a number of reasons). anyway, the pump isn't self priming and couldn't handle the pressure.

so, after those roadblocks, on the second batch, i switched the hose setup back and it seemed to work pretty well. i used about 2 quarts of water in the bottom of the cooler with the rest being large ice blocks. i also used some salt, but i just threw it in, i didn't measure it. in 15 minutes the hose water took us to 120. i then switched to the ice water and in another 15 we got to 72. i was prety impressed being that the hose barely gets us under 90. i planned on charting the temps but i actually had to leave and let my buddies finish up because i had some family stuff to do. but with some slight adjustments i think this method is a winner. and with fall finally arriving it's only going to get better with the drop in ground water temps.

in short, have faith in the pope.

[slanted & enchanted]

not to beat a dead horse here, but i brewed a small 5 gallon batch yesterday and tried out the whirpool with some small adjustments. i had some problems (why doesn't it ever go as planned?) but i was finally impressed.

i got the temp down to 120 in 7 minutes with straight hose water. my whirpool was very weak though, for some reason the march pump was acting up. then i switched to the ice bath recirc, but i had some pump problems with that. took me about 5 minutes to fix it. after that i saw a drop to 80 in 10 minutes, then a drop to 60 in anothr 10. i let it go for a final 10 minutes and it leveled out at 55.

this time i kept about a quart of water in the bottom of my ice bath and the rest was filled with ice blocks. the recirculated water was always cold, and at the end the hoses were very cold to the touch and had a ton of condensation on them. i also used a good cup of salt in the water.

transferring sucked though. i tried to use a choreboy to cut back on trub but it just got jammed up. so the whole whirlpool was pretty useless. i'll skip the scrubby next time.

so i guess if my equipment ever works correctly i'll get that down to pitching temp in no time. that is a big if though.