Recirculating water

[MatthewM]

Hi

I've got a plate chiller but to get my wort down to pitching temp takes about 30 minutes.

I'm on a water meter and have noticed that the increase of the temp in the water exiting the plate chiller is minimal. Basically I'm pouring tap water straight down the drain.

I've thought about making a water bath in the sink with some ice and a pump with the water basically being recirculated through the plate chiller.

I wondered if anyone has done this before and if so what size pump to use please

Thank you

[Fil]

or just throttle back the flow of both the beer and water so the water exits HOT which you can save to clean with and the beer exits at the pitching temperature you require.

the problem with recirculating back into a small reservoir is you will raise the temperature of the cold store very quickly unless its mass is significantly larger than your boil volume,

if you have a sink that holds the same volume as your beer (23l) at say 5C and starting with 95C beer, with 100% efficiency the most it will chill down to is 45-50C, before the waterbath is the same temp as the beer. and as the difference between the two volume temperature narrows so the rate of exchange slows.
so you will need a mass of cold water so large that it wont rise significantly in temp for it to be a viable solution imho. tho with a couple of 200l blu barrels of cold rain water a solar pump should move the water fast enough?

[AnthonyUK]

I would suggest there is something wrong with either your plate chiller or how you are using it.
I have a small 15 plate one which cools from boiling to <20°c in 20 mins or so.
The outlet is too hot to touch to start with.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

I agree with Anthony.

I cool 45 litres in approx 20 minutes from boiling to pitching temp.

Can you give us a picture of how you have it set up.

[Jocky]

I'm on a water meter and have noticed that the increase of the temp in the water exiting the plate chiller is minimal. Basically I'm pouring tap water straight down the drain.

I have been through the same worry as you ('wah I'm pouring 100 litres of perfectly good water down the drain'). I was raised not to waste – always leave your plate clean, always turn off the lights/TV when you leave the room, and don't leave the tap running.

Then I realised that Thames Water charges £1.25 per 1000 litres.

I worry a lot less now – I'm putting the water to good use making nice beer. Technically I'm saving the carbon emissions of having beer shipped to me too.
Collect hot water for cleaning up, and when it gets a bit cooler attach your garden sprinkler, or collect a bit more to wash the car.

[Mr. Dripping]

Sounds to me like there is a set up issue......most likely the flow rate is too fast as Fil mentioned. Or, you could have the wort and coolant flowing in the same direction....I find it better to have wort in at the top and coolant in at the bottom.

[barneey]

Its been a while since I used a plate & cant remember for the life of me which was the best position for the plate to be standing with the connections, it should make a difference.

[MatthewM]

Thank you very much for all the advice and apologies for the lack of a reply - I thought I'd set up notifications but it seems I had a setup issue with that too!

My plate chiller is setup as:

Wort in Wort out
Water out Water in

It is a 50 plate chiller.

On reflection the water is running out cold to the touch so if I reduced the flow then that should be fine but that doesn't really overcome the problem that to get the wort out at 20 degrees (I have a probe on the wort out) it is having to be run at a trickle really from the boiler.

Thank you again and thoughts greatly appreciated

[AnthonyUK]

Are there any part no.s on the unit?
Not all are configured in the way you mention with in/out at opposite ends. Mine is but other in the same range are the opposite e.g. with ins and outs at the same end.

[Jocky]

Is your wort cooling significantly?

If not, is your chiller situated below the outlet (e.g. your fermenter) so that you don't have wort rushing out of the chiller before it can be cooled? Same for the water outlet, you need to make sure that the chiller is always full of both liquids, so the chiller should be at the bottom of the system.

[MatthewM]

Thanks for the replies.

I think the flow in to and out of the chillier is setup right as it is from a reputable supplier who provided the diagram.

At the moment I have it so that the boiler and chiller are on the work surface with the fermenter on the floor. It's gravity fed so would there be enough to force the wort out of the chiller if it was below the fermenter please?

Thank you

[Jocky]

It will work for gravity in many cases but I don't know for your system - it depends upon too many things.

The key thing is making sure that there is some back pressure on the outlets so that the plate chiller gets flooded properly.

Keeping the chiller below the wort level of the fermenter should ensure your chiller is flooded. Alternatively with your current layout you could also pinch the tubing between the chiller and the fermenter using a small clamp, although this would reduce the flow a bit.