Immersion Wort Chillers

[daryl]

I am looking to buy an immersion wort chiller, one that is sanitized and placed into the hot wort and then either tap water or ice water is pumped through the coil. I have some questions that I would appreciate comment/guidance/suggestions.

Is stainless better than copper in terms of: thermal transfer, cleanliness, ease of cleaning, etc.

Will a 50ft coil perform better (chill faster) than a 25 ft coil; or is it just a matter of the flow rate and temperature of the water running through it?

Any other suggestions/recommendations would be appreciated.

With this procurement and a cooler mash/lauter tun, and I will be on my way to my first all grain batch of brew.

[DrPaulsen]

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/therm ... d_429.html

Copper is a much better thermal conductor than stainless (400 vs 16 W/m-K). Surface area will drive how fast your chiller cools down the wort - get the biggest immersion chiller (with the largest pipe) you can afford.

[Matt F]

I use a copper immersion chiller and really like it. It is made with 50' of 1/2" copper. I also have a pump and use it to whirlpool recirculate the wort while chilling. I get a 10 gallon batch under 100 F in less than 5 minutes with tap water. Another 5 gets it to 68F or less depending on the time of year. You can also pump ice water through to knock down the temp at the finish a little faster. To sanitize just toss it in you boiling wort with 10-15 minutes to go in the boil. It will initially stop the boil but it will kick back up again. I use mine as a HERMS coil in my HLT during the mash too (again the pump is nice).

Bigger is better. I used a 25' x 3/8" coil years ago and it is crazy slow compared to the larger chiller.

A lot of people forget using an immersion chiller is a nice way to get zinc, an essential yeast nutrient in to your wort. Boiling the copper will get some zinc in your wort. Some breweries even throw copper rods in to their boil to accomplish this.

This is the immersion chiller I have. Got it on a deal of the day or something years ago. Wasn't that expensive when I got it, but copper prices keep going up. You can make your own if you can source the copper cheaper. You can get a regular immersion chiller and add a return pipe at anytime if you don't have a pump at your service.
http://morebeer.com/products/wort-chill ... 50-12.html

Here is a link describing immersion whirlpool chillers.
http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php

[TappedOut]

No need to sanitize it. Clean it, of course, but put in w/ about 15 min left in the boil will sanitize it. Also, a big key to quick cooling is to keep the wort moving. Either stir stir stir or recirculate. I have an old 25' one that I used for 5 gallon batches, which was fine, but now that I'm doing 10-ish gallon batches, a 50' one is much quicker.

[czubak]

love love love my 50' 1/2" copper chiller. When I bought my keggles the owner asked if I wanted his chiller for $50 more since he bought bigger kettles and a plate chiller. I jumped on it! I used a stainless 25' 3/8" for years before on extract and 5 gallon batches. Worked fine, but the larger tubing makes a world of difference. Previous owner asked if I wanted to sell the immersion chiller back to him

[Matt F]

Nice, $50 is a screaming deal!

[whitedj]

Have an immersion because it was cheap and on need for a pump to circulate or clean.... however I find the need to mix the wort up with a sanitized spoon for adequate chilling to minimize the gradients.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

[Matt F]

Yeah, stirring with the spoon makes a huge difference. Last night I brewed a double, possibly triple IPA. At the end of my hop stand I cold crashed about 6 gallons of wort from 164F to 65F in 9 minutes. It was below 100 in 2 minutes. This was while recirculating with a pump and using tap water. The beer had 9 oz. of hops post boil in three different hop stands. The wort tastes and smells ridiculous. It will be going to NHC after three rounds of dry hops.