Counterflow chiller question

[kjball]

Yeah, Austin wasn't all that much more, and I needed to get to $100 to get free shipping. Where is the kit for mounting the heater? is it this?

http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.ph ... duct_id=95

[Matt F]

That is the one. I have had it on mine for over a year and works great. The first time I tried it I had a small leak, so I tightened it some more and hasn't leaked since.

[kjball]

Sweet, I think I'll do that, how did you drill your hole? Step bit?

[Matt F]

Step bit is best but mine didn't go big enough. I bought a cheap hole saw bit at menards that worked much better than I thought it would. You can borrow it if you like.

[kjball]

I've got a hole saw kit, and my HLT is aluminum, so it should go through like buttah

[JimF]

I back flush mine with hot tap water until clear then hook up with pump and run PBW mix through it for a about 15-20 minutes.  Then I run a StarSan mix through it for another 15-20 minutes.

In that case, I am just as fast as you, with an immersion chiller. I can chill in less than 30 minutes, and I don't have to do all that cleaning.

I should have pointed out that I'm not just cleaning my chiller, I'm also cleaning and sanitizing my brew pot, pump and hoses at the same time... (Yes, I know I don't have to sanitize my brew pot, I'm just using it to mix and hold the sanitizer while it is being circulated.)

[tompb]

I use an immersion whirlpool chiller like Matt. I cool in about a half hour, most of it is dropping from 80 down. I'm looking at an ice water recirculation at the end to speed things up.
When I start cooling I put the first hot water in the HLT for cleaning. I put pbw and hot water back in the brew kettle and pump it for about 15 minutes to clean the pump, tubing, and kettle.
I use the cam lock fitting on the hoses. I get them here.
http://proflowdynamics2.reachlocal.com/ ... 5200619944
Looking at the site now they have a special homebrewers section. 1/2" SS 3 piece ball valves for $15! Shipping was reasonable too.

[kjball]

Well, here it is about half done, Waiting on the electronics for now, I'll post more photos when it's done

[JimF]

Old post but I've had some recent experience that I wanted to pass on... I've started recirculating my wort through my therminator back to my brew pot to bring down the temperature even faster. Also someone asked the question about gravity feeding through a plate chiller and I had the opportunity to try this due to a power outage last month... I was able to gravity feed through my therminator down to pitching temperature without any problems. Gravity prevented me from recirculating in this situation of course but I was able to get past not having a pump to cool the wort and get it into a fermenter. Believe me when I say my brain was in overdrive when the power went out at the end of the boil!