Immersion or Counterflow Chillers to Cool Beer!? | Xchillerator Wort Chiller
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- Which is better for cooling down wort - an immersion or a counterflow chiller? Well we've been using Xchillerators Brutus chiller for the last year and used both types for much longer so here's what we've learned....
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The slower the water, the better immersion chillers work. Just a dribble is best and I can get mine down to 30 degrees C in 10 minutes and only use 5 buckets of water. If you plan ahead, straight in the washing machine for a hot clothes wash :) Also, if you take out the top basket in the dishwasher, the coils clean up easy.
the hydra worlks really well with 5-10 gallon batches, but for the 10 gallon batches, i recommend using Ice water to cycle through.
Good advice. There’s a time and place for both types of chillers. I personally recommend anyone brewing at the home brew level use an immersion chiller since they tend to be 10 gal batches or less and save the counterflow chillers for the larger batches typically made by commercial brewers.
The vendor lists the big exchillerator for 370 with fittings but without pumps
Jaded user in 15g HERMS kettles here 🤘🏼👍
An immersion chiller will be way more efficient if you:
1. Circulate wort
2. Prechill water
An immersion chiller has you opening the lid unless plumb it in the side.
here's an idea: run the water exhaust from the counterflow into the immersion chiller, then have the water go to fill your HLT for the next batch and/or cleaning. That water still has some thermal capacity even after use in the counterflow chiller, might as well use it (especially if you're using a HERMS-type system to help get to boil (and another coil in the tun for mashing).
As far as cleaning a counterflow chiller, it's easier if you don't use the coiled ones. You can make a small one with straight runs (like a "Jaded", but cheaper built)for less than buying a decent coil CF chiller with materials from your local hardware. I'd hate to see the price tag on a chiller for our 3bbl system, but we put one together for a few hundred and it mounts flat to the wall (10x 9' runs of convoluted (dented with cable crimps) 3/4" copper pipe inside 1.5" PVC, water gets refreshed halfway through it) . Cleaning is as simple as letting everything drain, unhooking the tubing, giving the core tubing a rinse, and pulling a brush through the copper core tube (like a "bore snake") Leave it all open to dry (key is building it so everything is sloped to run liquid out). Exhaust water is routed to our HLT, since we brew 2 batches a week, back to back on the same day (or for cleaning)). Biggest thing with using normal PVC is that you need to have the water running before you put wort through it, or it could weaken it where the copper touches the PVC at the ends.
One chills fast and adds 30 minutes of extra cleaning, one chills less fast but sprays clean enough with the hose in a few seconds. Can’t go wrong with either choice for homebrew.
Thanks for doing this very cool.
I no chill ahhh!
😜
Would 0 minute additions really be affected if I’m running a double counter flow chiller setup and can get roughly 6 gallons cooled in about 8 minutes?
I pre chill a 25’ immersion in an ice chest with ice and cold water into a 10 gallon kettle with 50’ chiller, it usually takes about 30 minutes from boil temperature down to 67f. Of course if I do a 150f hop addition and hold it there for 15 minutes your looking at 45 minutes to get to the correct pitch temperature and the clean up is super basic. Cheers!
yeah, Texas in the summer the water comes out of the tap 80f+..... I had to put a 25' prechiller in a heavily iced bucket and keep it refreshed. Decided to wait for the weather to cool off instead of trying to fight nature. If I was recirculating it wouldn't feel like such a waste
How do these compare to a plate chiller? Is it more or less the same as a counterflow? Is there any advantage to a plate chiller?
Plate chillers are more efficient/chill faster, but are more difficult to clean because of the plate design.
Kinda surprised that you make no mention of plate chillers. Under $100 for a pretty decent one. They can potentially be more problematic if the wort going into them isn't properly filtered, but I haven't had that problem yet. Other things to consider:
1. You can use a pump for the chilling process. I do 6 gallon batches with a plate chiller and a pump to recirc. I can get the whole batch down to 185 in about 3 minutes and 175 in about 5 or 6 minutes. This gives me the best of both worlds: the efficiency of counterflow and the temp control of immersion. The water from the chiller goes to water my back yard.
2. Cleaning and sanitization doesn't need to be that hard. I do a CIP with PBW every so often, but I mostly use hose water pressure to clear out the lines after every brew day. At the start of every brew day, I heat up a couple of gallons of water in the brew kettle at the same time I'm heating up the mash water in my hot liquor tank. Then I use the pump to recirc the boiling water in the system before I start brewing.
3. Probably worth mentioning that you can't just dump an immersion chiller in your wort and call it a day. Chilling happens due to contact with the wort, so it's in your best interest to stir the wort so that the warmest wort stays in contact with the chiller.
Hello, what is your cleaning procedure for an exchillerator?
How odd to have a discussion about these two types of cooling methods and not discuss wort quality.
You should have mentioned how long before end of boil you subject, or run boiling wort thru them.
You can also recirculate wort back into the kettle for a moment if you want the "cool it down immediately" effect.
No comparison in terms of heat transfer efficiency.