Counterflow cooler

[Jim]

Looking good Andy!!

The transparent hosepipe was a good idea, at least you would know where the pipe was up to while you were threading it through.

The valve is a good idea; I have trouble getting the flow rate right sometimes with just the tap lever to use for adjustment.

[Andy]

jim, you're right, being able to see where the copper was helped loads. I could straighten the hose just before the head of the copper as it fed through. Took about 15 mins to thread through.

[James]

Who there...

....10m.....thats a long one!

Mines only 7m .......But it is pumped

Looks Good. As well as zip-tying a 3-4 of the coils together, might be worth (in addition) tying it all the coils together...my coils always slip around and it is a right pain.

JC

[Andy]

Cheers James, I might well do that.

I had 15m of PVC hose and 25m of copper pipe so I could have made a monster one

I'm hoping that with the 10mm copper then with a sufficient head I should be able to gravity feed the wort through.

[Jim]

QUOTE (James @ Jan 7 2006, 08:00 PM) Who there...

....10m.....thats a long one!

Mines only 7m .......But it is pumped

Looks Good. As well as zip-tying a 3-4 of the coils together, might be worth (in addition) tying it all the coils together...my coils always slip around and it is a right pain.

JC
James, what sort of pump do you use? Is it hot end or cold end. In fact I think we require photos!

[Andy]

Talking of pumps I was looking at this one on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %3AIT&rd=1

Magnetic pump, intended for use in a photographic machine but seems ideal for shifting liquor/wort around. Only question is can it handle boiling wort!

[Andy]

I think I'll just go with gravity for my first brew. The only thing which concerns me is having to lift the boiler after sparging such that I can then gravity feed into the CFC when the boil is over.

[jean-yves]

good one andy, I've the same with a ball valve on the water inlet , it's very easy to control the T° .
I collect the running in a bucket on the floor and transfer it in the boiler with a magnetic pump (similar to the one on ebay) there's no problem for the T°, it's transfer more than 2000 l without any problem.

the price on ebay for the pump looks very good B)

[Andy]

jy - is your pump specifically for homebrew or just a general fluids one ?

[jean-yves]

it's just a general fluids one; I bought it many year ago for my fertiliser system for flowers.
at the beginning I use to carry the hot bucket from the floor with a friend (50ltr!!) but quickly I thought to try some thing else and remember to that unused pump since many year, so I clean it and try. now it so easy that I don't know how to do without it.
and no problem with the T°, it take a few mn to transfer the wort.
during the boil , I use it to sterilised my counter flow chiller. but after the boil I transfert the wort trough the cfc in the fermenting bucket by gravity and control the T° with the ball valve. B)

[James]

Andy,

I wouldnt bother with that oump on Ebay - I dont think it powerful enough. It should handle beer OK - its magnetically coupled (so you can restrict flow) and should be dissasembalable (!) but its only rated 12L/min - too low. Really you need twice that minimum. I guesstimate that with a 1.5m difference between boiler/fermentor, gravity will give you 5-8L/min anyway.

Using your counterflow gravity fed will be fine. A pump helps a little in that it gives you more control over flow and you do not have to place the cooler below the level of the boiler, but it'd happily do without a pump for beer-pumping counterflow duties.

Where a pump is usefull (and this is where DAAB's link is too..) is pumping cleaning fluid. you can just re-circulate round and round for 10-15 mins. Of course, for this you do not really have to worry about high temperatures or if the pump is food grade or if its insides can be properly sanitised. I would think about the toolstation pump for that alone.

So DAAB, personally I would not use that toolstation pump for beer - too many risks.

I think im correct in saying this that most pumps are designed to pump (i.e. push and not pull), so connecting to the cold side of the counterflow might not work.

JC

[Andy]

Well just tested the CFC with hot water and it's errr......efficient!

Can get 85degC input to 25-30degC output with only a small cooling flow through the CFC.

Glad I fitted one of these to adjust the cooling flow

[jean-yves]

I don't use my magnetic pump on the cold side of the cfc when I trnasfer the boil, I've another one for that which is more powerful (or you can connect to the tap water, but you've to pay it!!) , personnaly I use fresh water from a well wich cost nothing. the hot wort is comming by gravity.

I use it to transfer the hot wort after the sparge, because as DAAB said, I was afraid about what could happen when I lift 50 liter from the floor

to clean it I run bleach into the cfc and pump for 10 mn and then rinse with cold water,
you can also dismantle the pump with 4 screws to sanitize.

the pump I use is only 8l/ mn "SIEBEC", I've another 20l/mn "IWAKI" if needed.

[Andy]

So the ebay 12l/min pump should be OK for transferring the wort after sparge upto the boiler then.....

[jean-yves]

of course, take 2-3 min to tranfer for 25l B)