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Chilling and whirlpooling

Post #1 made 9 years ago
by onkeltuka
I've now brewed three times, and one thing's that has started to puzzle me is how to combine a whirlpool and a coil chiller? Using a coil chiller in an unmoving liquid results in the cold part settling down, the hot part rising up, and the whole process of chilling getting quite slow and inefficient. Mostly due to us brewing outside I've been hesitant to keep the kettle without the lid to stir the wort while chilling. So a whirlpool of some kind would sound very good, maybe with a pump? But how to achieve that if I have a chiller sitting in the kettle restricting the liquid flowing freely? :dunno:
"The rules for making hop additions during the boil are about as well defined as those for a knife fight." -Stan Hieronymus

Post #4 made 9 years ago
by PistolPatch
Another simple way onke is to add your "potato masher" (cleaned/sanitised) into the kettle and then put the lis on as best as you can. Use a clean towel to put over the whole lot and cover the gaps. Then, during the chill, just give the masher an occassioanl up and down jiggle. That works well. Once chilled, just leave it to settle for 20 minutes or so before transferring.

:peace:
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Post #5 made 9 years ago
by onkeltuka
Well that does sound like a lot cheaper method; I just checked out some pumps and they are quite expensive!
"The rules for making hop additions during the boil are about as well defined as those for a knife fight." -Stan Hieronymus

Post #6 made 9 years ago
by PistolPatch
There's actually some very basic faults in many commercially sold immersion chillers (IC's). I don't have time to go into this deeply atm but I have two immersion chillers both made by myself and both are of two different diameter copper tubing and of different lengths. The lighter, shorter, wider IC seems to be just as efficient as the much longer, narrower IC but, forget that for now. Instead, make sure you don't do/buy an IC that has either of the following faults...

*Fault 1 of Many IC's: Coils are wound too close too each other. Google some immersion chiller images. See how in many IC's, one coil is actually touching the next? This dramatically reduces the effective surface area of the coil. There needs to be space between the coils for maximum effective cooling. If the coils are touching, it effectively turns the coil into a cylinder. Does that make sense?

*Fault 2 of Many IC's: The hose attachments need to be well outside the kettle. That way if you have a leak, any drips/sprays won't go into the wort.

Also, when I said potato masher, I assume you know that I mean this means a long handled paint stirrer or something similar. Search the site on these terms if unsure.

:peace:
PP

* If your IC has neither of the above faults, you can actually ignore the potato masher and instead just give the immersion chiller an occasional jiggle. This is the best and easiest method.
Last edited by PistolPatch on 29 Sep 2014, 00:40, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #7 made 9 years ago
by onkeltuka
Thanks again. Actually my chiller has Fault number 1. I was thinking that I could carefully pull the chiller's ends apart, to take each coil apart from the next? But it's also pitifully small for our kettle.
"The rules for making hop additions during the boil are about as well defined as those for a knife fight." -Stan Hieronymus

Post #8 made 9 years ago
by joshua
onkeltuka, After the coil are separated, You can Carefully UN-Wind the coil to make it a larger diameter, but the Hose end may not line up.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
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Post #9 made 9 years ago
by onkeltuka
A plumber friend promised to source me some copper tubing, so I hope I'll have a new one soon,so I'll just keep this small one in case I end up doing some stove-top mini-biabs or the like in the future.
"The rules for making hop additions during the boil are about as well defined as those for a knife fight." -Stan Hieronymus
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