Length and Size vs Speed and Flow?

[WishboneBrewery]

I did not realise it had some bendy inside, I bet that helps,I see in some American post they spiral rap wire around the outer of the inner pipe to create some turbulance to help the chill and no reason why you could not make them in series, build another and just bolt them on (solder Compression, Jub Clip blah blah)

Well I'm hoping a slow Wort flow and a high coolant flow will do the business! I'll find out tomorrow!

[trucker5774]

Waiting with great interest to see how efficient your cooler is. I love the idea of keeping kit compact. Does using a CFC result in a large amount of cold break matter in the FV..........does it matter?

[WishboneBrewery]

A CFC does mean that your cold break settles out in your FV.

[yashicamat]

A CFC does mean that your cold break settles out in your FV.

Even with an IC, I find a quantity of the cold break makes it into the FV and I don't suffer any ill effects from it. I think if the beer was left on the yeast for a long time after fermentation, then yes it could pose an issue, but when the beer is racked after usually less than 2 weeks (for me, typically 5 to 7 days) then whatever break material that made it into the FV is left behind in the yeast cake.

[WishboneBrewery]

OK then...
Well its just been tested!
Left the boiler to settle for 20 mins from boiling, hooked up my bits of copper pipe and garden hose and turned on the cold water.

At a sensible flow rate of wort it was able to cool to 55°C
At a slow trickle I can get it down to 34°C
I ended up with 13 Litres of wort @ 45°C in the FV (with lots of flow rate changes and temperature checks)
If I'd let it trickle it would have taken ages to empty the boiler so its currently sat in the bath cooling off some more.

Here's the pics:




It does prove that if you were to gang 3 or 4 of these up you could probably get a lower temperature and a faster flow, but that goes against my simplistic idea and I'm going to go buy a coil of 10mm copper pipe... 10,15,20 metres???

[trucker5774]

Shame .............I'm still experimenting with an idea on the same lines. I like the idea of keeping it small and neat. Having said that 10mm or 8mm copper is only £1.00 per metre, so not the end of the world to make an immersion chiller. I just dont want a large piece of equipment hanging around. I will update if I perfect something

[Grahame]

If you fitted it horizontally from the boiler tap as opposed to vertically, wouldn't it work a lot better? The wort would make perfect contact with the inside as it would not be falling due to gravity...

Just a thought - your chiller really was a great idea to try

G.

[WishboneBrewery]

The reason its fitted vertically is it makes use of the Syphon effect to empty the boiler down to the last liquid cup full

I think I know what you mean though, it would naturally slow the wort flow due to less gravity and hydraulic action... Though I think I was overcoming these anyway by restricting the very end of the pipe to 8mm and the ball valve was only open a fraction - thus keeping the internal wort-pipe full of slow moving liquid.

I'm pretty sure I'll be going to buy some 10mm copper tube, I'm just not sure of the best length to buy yet.

[Grahame]

I bought I think 10M from B&Q and my IC works amazingly well, even this time of year. I can get it down to 25C within 20-25 mins.

G.

[WishboneBrewery]

I'll have to go to the Plumbers merchants, so 10m minimum then. taa

[bramswell]

i think it is cost effective to buy 25m then you could make a double coil IC, i have seen some IC's that are secured permanently inside the boiler, they are attached around the edge, i have been thinking of doing this and recirculating the wort with a pump, so it keeps moving the hot wort around the IC.

you could use liquid nitrogen on your short chiller, that would be more effective, my cousin developed a liquid nitrogen cooling system for computer prossessors. think the cost may be high though.

[WishboneBrewery]

That would be taking things a little far

[GARYSMIFF]

But what if you added a pump and let it recycle back your the Copper, you could then get an extra filter out of the hops and then port to the FV when your happy with temp.

Thats my next move with my CFC.


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[WishboneBrewery]

I suppose that would work, but that would mean buying a pump.... I'll stick to the IC I think

[AlexCricket]

I know this sounds obvious but you are feeding in the cold water from the bottom of the pipe? This ensures a full "jacket" of cold water.

I don't see anything wrong with your design - which reminds me of a Liebig Condenser - and I think that if you calculated your temperature drop over the course of your 14" tube at a given flow rate then there is no reason that by increasing the length of the tube that the cooling effect would not be sufficient.

The only thing that makes me more inclined to go with the IC method is the fact that it can be tumped into the boil to sanitise and then no further contamination issues.