Thank you for the informative video. I watched other plate chiller videos but yours was the easiest to follow. I bought a Blichmann plate chiller and March pump several months ago but I haven't used them in my brewing setup yet. Now I know how to proceed!
I've tried the counter flow and plate chiller. I'm sold on immersion. I have a garbage can full of ice'd water, with a sump pump at the bottom pumping the ice'd water through the immersion chiller. best time was 7 min. down to 60 degrees. Only one cheap pump (40$) not 100 and some for the march pump. Don't have to worry about sanitation in the lines and in the pump, blocked plate chiller, wort dripping everywhere from disconnection the hoses. Chill rinse clean done. Pumps quick disconnects are fun look cool and fancy but I feel are impractical. I'd battle time and simplicity immersion against and other chiller. Nice vid though guy :)
I think you are correct. Plate chiller seems like a bit more steps in cleaning etc. Your way is great. Im gonna try that on my next brew day. I do ice baths which are great but adding the pump to the bottom with the immertion wort chiller will help speed up the process for sure. Thanks for the input.
Got a 100 foot well, but prolly 15 gallons in tanks between thr pressure tank an acid neutralizer. Ill probably plan to use the outlet before the neutralizer during the summer an after in the winter. Ground warer temp never above 55 all year, but 15 gallons of currently 40 degree water will be awesome in the winter i think.
In short, no. An immersion chiller has cooling water which runs through your coil (usually copper) while it rests in you brew pot surrounded by your wort while you gently stir the wort around the coil creating a much smaller cooling surface area (depending on your coil size of course). With a plate chiller you are running your wort through the chiller creating a smaller surface but this gives you almost 100% contact with the cooling surface therefore you cool a lot faster. Hope this helps.
When you throttle back the flow of the wort and not the cooling water you slow the flow of your wort through the chiller giving it more contact time with the chiller so you get a better chill. If you open it fully then your wort will move through fast and therefore has less contact time with the chiller resulting in a warmer wort. Hope this answers your question.
While I agree the warm water can be an issue, one fix is to submerge you incoming waterline in an ice bath. I did this during our summer last year and find out it makes a big difference.
Unfortunately, here in the south, the water coming out of the tap in the summer can be as high as in the 90's. A better method here is to use 2 immersion chillers in tandem. After you get your wort down as low as you can with one immersion chiller in the wort, add another immersion chiller ahead of the one in the wort and place it in a bucket of ice water. You go from the tap to the immersion chiller in a bucket of ice to the immersion chiller in the wort.
pauld315 I tried doing that, but the water coming out of the immersion chiller came out at around 75F, not enought to cool my wort to 68F. My tap water is at 90F. Any ideas?
I am going to put two plate chillers in tandem. The first plate chiller will get my water to 85 or so using tap water. The second will have ice water pumping through it to get the last mile. It should be single pass as cold as I wanna go adjusted by outflow speed of the wort. Im thinking 8 minutes on 10 gallons or less.
Is that how it’s spelled? I’ve stopped it several times trying to get this same thermometer. Idk where to look. I would think amazon would’ve started selling them again by now?
I have seen that triple burner online, how does it hold up for the home brewer? Can it hold all three kegs with liquid? As well as is it long enough in order to hold all three?
Are you reducing the contact the wort is making with the chilled plates by throttling back the flow of the wort into the chiller? Wouldn't you get a better chill with more contact?
Great video. I have two questions. Any reason you couldn't collect the chilled wort directly into your carboy rather than using a collection bucket? If the wort is not cool enough could you just poor in back into the boiling pot and run it through again? (i don't have a pump)
+Dayton Dave Thanks for the question, yes you could collect it directly into your carboy. I brew 10 gallons and carry it to my basement where I ferment everything. Plus pouring it over a mesh screen also helps with the aeration of the wort as well. Thanks.
+JOHN welsh Hi John, I whirlpool my wort pretty well so I do not have to worry much about true or hops entering the chiller. Of course this does not prevent everything from entering, so when I am finished chilling I hook the chiller up to my march pump and run the remaining hot water from my liquor tank through it. This washes out any bits that make their way into the chiller. Next i run Star San through it and it is ready to store till the next time. DO NOT wait long to do this or you will have issues as the wort and particles dry up and get stuck inside the chiller. If this happens you will have to run PBW through it to make sure it is clean.
Hi Franco, The number of plates should be enough for a 5 gallon batch. It is not so much the volume of the batch but the flow rate over the plates. If it is coming out to hot then just slow your flow.
Thank you for the informative video. I watched other plate chiller videos but yours was the easiest to follow. I bought a Blichmann plate chiller and March pump several months ago but I haven't used them in my brewing setup yet. Now I know how to proceed!
I've tried the counter flow and plate chiller. I'm sold on immersion. I have a garbage can full of ice'd water, with a sump pump at the bottom pumping the ice'd water through the immersion chiller. best time was 7 min. down to 60 degrees. Only one cheap pump (40$) not 100 and some for the march pump. Don't have to worry about sanitation in the lines and in the pump, blocked plate chiller, wort dripping everywhere from disconnection the hoses. Chill rinse clean done. Pumps quick disconnects are fun look cool and fancy but I feel are impractical. I'd battle time and simplicity immersion against and other chiller. Nice vid though guy :)
I think you are correct. Plate chiller seems like a bit more steps in cleaning etc. Your way is great. Im gonna try that on my next brew day. I do ice baths which are great but adding the pump to the bottom with the immertion wort chiller will help speed up the process for sure. Thanks for the input.
Great video man this helped a lot
Got a 100 foot well, but prolly 15 gallons in tanks between thr pressure tank an acid neutralizer. Ill probably plan to use the outlet before the neutralizer during the summer an after in the winter. Ground warer temp never above 55 all year, but 15 gallons of currently 40 degree water will be awesome in the winter i think.
In short, no. An immersion chiller has cooling water which runs through your coil (usually copper) while it rests in you brew pot surrounded by your wort while you gently stir the wort around the coil creating a much smaller cooling surface area (depending on your coil size of course). With a plate chiller you are running your wort through the chiller creating a smaller surface but this gives you almost 100% contact with the cooling surface therefore you cool a lot faster. Hope this helps.
Thanks the info. I was just about to go buy copper now I'll go plate chiller
When you throttle back the flow of the wort and not the cooling water you slow the flow of your wort through the chiller giving it more contact time with the chiller so you get a better chill. If you open it fully then your wort will move through fast and therefore has less contact time with the chiller resulting in a warmer wort.
Hope this answers your question.
While I agree the warm water can be an issue, one fix is to submerge you incoming waterline in an ice bath. I did this during our summer last year and find out it makes a big difference.
Unfortunately, here in the south, the water coming out of the tap in the summer can be as high as in the 90's. A better method here is to use 2 immersion chillers in tandem. After you get your wort down as low as you can with one immersion chiller in the wort, add another immersion chiller ahead of the one in the wort and place it in a bucket of ice water. You go from the tap to the immersion chiller in a bucket of ice to the immersion chiller in the wort.
pauld315 I tried doing that, but the water coming out of the immersion chiller came out at around 75F, not enought to cool my wort to 68F. My tap water is at 90F. Any ideas?
I am going to put two plate chillers in tandem. The first plate chiller will get my water to 85 or so using tap water. The second will have ice water pumping through it to get the last mile. It should be single pass as cold as I wanna go adjusted by outflow speed of the wort. Im thinking 8 minutes on 10 gallons or less.
Happy to help, enjoy.
Please, I would love to know the outlet temperature of the cooling water.
As soon as I saw that thrumeter, I stopped the video, went to Amazon, and bought the last one!!
Is that how it’s spelled? I’ve stopped it several times trying to get this same thermometer. Idk where to look. I would think amazon would’ve started selling them again by now?
I have seen that triple burner online, how does it hold up for the home brewer? Can it hold all three kegs with liquid? As well as is it long enough in order to hold all three?
Are you reducing the contact the wort is making with the chilled plates by throttling back the flow of the wort into the chiller? Wouldn't you get a better chill with more contact?
This would probably work well for me. I'm on a well with 55 degree water in the dead of summer.
Great video. I have two questions. Any reason you couldn't collect the chilled wort directly into your carboy rather than using a collection bucket? If the wort is not cool enough could you just poor in back into the boiling pot and run it through again? (i don't have a pump)
+Dayton Dave Thanks for the question, yes you could collect it directly into your carboy. I brew 10 gallons and carry it to my basement where I ferment everything. Plus pouring it over a mesh screen also helps with the aeration of the wort as well. Thanks.
Lots of great information dude. What is the brand of that pipe thermometer? I can't find it or anything like it. Thanks in advance.
Patrick Wheeler Thanks for the comment. I used a Blickman inline thermometer.
Perfect, thanks IPAHOMEBREWER I'll update once I'm up and running!
Hi Mate where did you get that through meter thanks very much good video
+Brad Prior I purchased it online through Northernbrewer.com.
where did you get the meter?
where did u get that plate chiller? can you send me a link to it?
how are you filtering out the trub from the wort when you are using the plate chiller?
+JOHN welsh Hi John, I whirlpool my wort pretty well so I do not have to worry much about true or hops entering the chiller. Of course this does not prevent everything from entering, so when I am finished chilling I hook the chiller up to my march pump and run the remaining hot water from my liquor tank through it. This washes out any bits that make their way into the chiller. Next i run Star San through it and it is ready to store till the next time. DO NOT wait long to do this or you will have issues as the wort and particles dry up and get stuck inside the chiller. If this happens you will have to run PBW through it to make sure it is clean.
How many plate 30 ???
This one was a 30 plate chiller
I bought a 20 plates for a 5 gallons ????
Enough ???
Hi Franco, The number of plates should be enough for a 5 gallon batch. It is not so much the volume of the batch but the flow rate over the plates. If it is coming out to hot then just slow your flow.
Perdue 6:29