Combined Immersion/Counterflow/Wort Recirculation Device

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Hogarth
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Combined Immersion/Counterflow/Wort Recirculation Device

Post by Hogarth » Wed Aug 28, 2013 8:27 pm

Here’s an idea I had in the bath the other day. I thought I’d have it peer-reviewed before getting out my pipe-bender.

The idea is, there are two tubes, one inside the other, standing vertically in the boiler. The ends of the inner tube are blocked off. Between them runs a spiral of copper pipe carrying the cooling water. A propellor pulls the wort into the bottom of the larger tube via a hop filter, and pushes it up between the two tubes, forcing it travel around the spiral formed by the coolant pipe, until it spills over the top and back into the bulk of the wort. The wort would keep circulating until it has cooled and hopefully is nice and clear too. At that stage you’d switch off the propellor and empty the boiler via the tap, drawing the wort from behind the hop filter.

Here’s a crude pic:

Image

It’d be a bugger to build, but I can see several potential advantages to it:
* Easy to sanitize. Like an immersion chiller, you’d just pop it into the boil a few minutes before flameout. I’d try and make it easy to dismantle for cleaning.
* Efficient like a CFC. (There’d be much more coolant pipe than shown in the pic.)
* It would also recirculate the wort, filtering out the hops, the hot break and the cold break.


So, what do people think? Too much hassle? Nutty? Best idea ever? Let us know!

och29
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Re: Combined Immersion/Counterflow/Wort Recirculation Device

Post by och29 » Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:15 pm

I think it would work but whether it would be better and cheaper than a good plate chiller and a filter I'm not too sure. If you have the time and fancy a project then go ahead... I'm sure everyone would love to see how it turns out. How do you plan driving the prop?
Drinking: AG#7 Final Sprint (APA), AG#8 Buckwheat Brett (Saison - Saison/Brett), AG#9 Helles Meister
Conditioning: -
Fermenting: Selection Pinot Grigio
Planning: Orange Blossom Mead, Mexican Honey Mead, Chocolate Stout

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Hogarth
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Re: Combined Immersion/Counterflow/Wort Recirculation Device

Post by Hogarth » Fri Aug 30, 2013 9:35 am

The prop (or should that be 'impeller'?) will be driven by a motor above the boiler, linked by a shaft.

I'm beginning to think it'll all be too fiddly and impractical, though, and not worth the hassle. Instead, I might keep the impeller idea but combine it with a Jamal-style whirlpool IC.

Oakey22

Re: Combined Immersion/Counterflow/Wort Recirculation Device

Post by Oakey22 » Sun Sep 01, 2013 11:11 am

How about a liebig type condenser but in a shotgun design. Could be easily made to pass the wort through the outer pipe while water runs through the middle pipe or viceversa.

I am thinking about making something like this with 15mm and 22mm copper pipe. :)

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Hogarth
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Re: Combined Immersion/Counterflow/Wort Recirculation Device

Post by Hogarth » Sun Sep 01, 2013 7:59 pm

Oakey22 wrote:How about a liebig type condenser but in a shotgun design. Could be easily made to pass the wort through the outer pipe while water runs through the middle pipe or viceversa.

I am thinking about making something like this with 15mm and 22mm copper pipe. :)
I think that's essentially a counterflow chiller, isn't it? :-k

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