Heat Exchanger

The forum for discussing all kinds of brewing paraphernalia.
User avatar
Talisman
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 673
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:22 pm
Location: Grimsby, N.E.Lincs, UK
Contact:

Heat Exchanger

Post by Talisman » Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:31 pm

Hello boys and girls, ive been out of brewing for a couple of years cos of work, and spare time etc..........

But now back at it, cleaned all my kit up last week and made Old Spec Hen at the weekend. All has gone well but the cooler I made (which works perfect) is a pita to use/clean thru due to the size of the copper pipe.

Ive ripped it out and was going to make a wall mounted 22mm copper with 15mm copper inners to make a new HE, but think im wasting my time and money when proper heat exchangers seem cheaper.

Can you recommend of help me with links of something decent. I make up to 60 ltr brews but backing off a bit to 30-40 ltrs at the mo.

Thanks

Tally
Black Lab Ale - est April 2008
FV 1: Old Spec Hen FG1053
FV 2: Empty
Cornie 1: Empty
Cornie 2: Empty
Cornie 3: Empty
Cornie 4: Empty
Cornie 5: Empty
Bottled: Nowt
http://www.blacklabale.co.uk

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by orlando » Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:54 pm

I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

User avatar
Talisman
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 673
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:22 pm
Location: Grimsby, N.E.Lincs, UK
Contact:

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by Talisman » Wed Sep 17, 2014 7:47 am

Cheers but after personal opinions but from people that have used them.
Black Lab Ale - est April 2008
FV 1: Old Spec Hen FG1053
FV 2: Empty
Cornie 1: Empty
Cornie 2: Empty
Cornie 3: Empty
Cornie 4: Empty
Cornie 5: Empty
Bottled: Nowt
http://www.blacklabale.co.uk

User avatar
GrowlingDogBeer
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2672
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 5:20 pm
Location: Wickford, Essex
Contact:

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by GrowlingDogBeer » Wed Sep 17, 2014 10:02 am

The 30 plate 125kW Plate Chiller is what you need.

Mine cools 40 litres of wort from boiling to pitching temp in under 15 minutes.

roscoe

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by roscoe » Wed Sep 17, 2014 10:39 am

I am not convinced, there is no cfc counter flow cooler option here.

I have an unused 125kw plate HE (might sell), unlikely to ever use as my cleaning process after brewing is just not up to scratch. At least with CFC a half decent rinse with hot water straight after brewing keeps things at bay to an extent. With a small plate HE you have smaller gaps, more nooks, crannies and higher surface area for crud/biofilm things to attach to and spoil your next batch. Its not your first few batch with a plate HE you worry about its batch 10/20/30 and the never ending is it sanitised fear.

Maybe with a good CIP, highest pressure hot back flush and caustic cleaning, then drying cycle, but all the time saved with the higher cooling performance is spent flushing and cleaning.

I have a home made CFC which works okay, but springs the odd leak, isn't the prettiest and takes up more rig space. I wish I had bought a pre-made CFC. Still tempted from time to time with chinese SS CFC

Something like this is tempting
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Stainles ... 52140.html
But the delivery cost is high unless some else wanted to form a multi buy.....

The other 'gatling coolers' look impressive, but your still looking at near 100quid and you still gotta make it.

Other tweaks and moans.......

1. With Plate/CFC if you decide to sanitise with boiling wort for say 20mins in boil you run risk of clogging up hop take off filter in Boil Kettle. If I have pellets and I do this the transfer rate to FV is pants, if I independently boil sanitise cooler rate/filter performance is good. Have considered many times adding a second take-off in the BK for this stage.

2. I would like for various beers a hop steep at 75oC for hoppy US clones, but again you run risk of clogging filter, its a trade off for extracting to much bitterness if BK temp is kept too high for too long at end. The immersion chiller solution is better here, but it depends what range of beers your making.

3. I do have a Hop Rocket which could pre-filter gunk from reaching plate HE, but seems an expensive solution and more gear to look after and clean.

4. I used to worry about trub take over to FV and at one point was considering changing things to reduce trub, however, it seems this makes little difference to the end beer, in fact may even improve things, see this guys tests
http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-gr ... ts-are-in/


Cooling ..... seems to be a ongoing dilemma for many here !

AnthonyUK

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by AnthonyUK » Wed Sep 17, 2014 10:48 am

I was given a small 15 plate HE which I used at the weekend and was surprised at how effective it is.
It cooled from boiling to under 25°c in 15-20mins for 20l.
It would have gone lower if I had restricted the flow from the boiler.

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by orlando » Wed Sep 17, 2014 2:53 pm

roscoe wrote:
Cooling ..... seems to be a ongoing dilemma for many here !
Not for me, my humble 12 plate works very effectively. The cleaning regime is a little more involved but is a fairly simple part of my regime. Hot flush after use then drying in the oven. Before use a hot soak in PBW, rinse then pressure cooked before use, simple, never had a problem with this regime and the chiller was second hand to begin with. Wouldn't dream of using anything else.
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

och29
Piss Artist
Posts: 207
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2013 7:32 pm

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by och29 » Wed Sep 17, 2014 4:42 pm

I have a plate chiller for my 60L batches. Cools from boil to pitch in about 20 mins. Cleanup isn't a pain: I send the hot water output of the plate chiller to my HLT meaning I have a supply of relatively hot water, add PBW and pump the 'wrong' way through the wort side of the chiller. The cleaning solution also goes through the HERMS coil and brewing tuns (if needed). Rinse with plenty of water and then leave to drip dry. Next brewday it gets flushed with water and then a soak in StarSan. Never had any problems.
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

User avatar
Talisman
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 673
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:22 pm
Location: Grimsby, N.E.Lincs, UK
Contact:

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by Talisman » Wed Sep 17, 2014 5:43 pm

thanks guys
Black Lab Ale - est April 2008
FV 1: Old Spec Hen FG1053
FV 2: Empty
Cornie 1: Empty
Cornie 2: Empty
Cornie 3: Empty
Cornie 4: Empty
Cornie 5: Empty
Bottled: Nowt
http://www.blacklabale.co.uk

Fil
Telling imaginary friend stories
Posts: 5229
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: Cowley, Oxford

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by Fil » Thu Sep 25, 2014 12:43 am

I would go with your original plan, i made a similar straight pipe counter flow chiller using 10mm x 500mm x 0.25mm SS tubes 14 of em linked with 3/8" id silicone tube and it works a treat AND can be brush cleaned and visually inspected. im pretty sure Orlando posted a pic of some residue that had melted/crept out of his plate chiller after a thorough cleaning and final oven heating which put me off plate chillers ;) When upgrading the kit to a larger volume i didnt want to spend 2 or 3 times the ammount of time stirring over the IC i had been using, the cfc chills from off the boil to picthing temps in a single pass with a flow rate of 2-3litres per minute..

iirc a 3m version made from 22mm and 15mm copper is just as efficient if not a bit more than mine, tho i think that build used lots of 15mm olives to convelute the water flow over the 15mm tube.
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by orlando » Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:29 am

Fil wrote:im pretty sure Orlando posted a pic of some residue that had melted/crept out of his plate chiller after a thorough cleaning and final oven heating which put me off plate chillers ;)
You're absolutely right, I did. It is what lead me to the cleaning regime I have now and for anyone with a plate chiller it is a salutary warning, that what you think is clear water running out of your back flushed chiller is NOT! Still wouldn't use anything else. :wink:
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

User avatar
barneey
Telling imaginary friend stories
Posts: 5423
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:42 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by barneey » Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:45 am

There have been many examples of CFC chillers on various threads .........from the Flux capacitor

Image
to the Goat

Image

Image

To the Gatling gun

Image
Hair of the dog, bacon, butty.
Hops, cider pips & hello.

Name the Movie + song :)

User avatar
Talisman
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 673
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:22 pm
Location: Grimsby, N.E.Lincs, UK
Contact:

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by Talisman » Fri Sep 26, 2014 9:40 am

The goat is what i was going to make. But my plate chiller will arrive today.... See how it goes.
Black Lab Ale - est April 2008
FV 1: Old Spec Hen FG1053
FV 2: Empty
Cornie 1: Empty
Cornie 2: Empty
Cornie 3: Empty
Cornie 4: Empty
Cornie 5: Empty
Bottled: Nowt
http://www.blacklabale.co.uk

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by orlando » Fri Sep 26, 2014 1:49 pm

Talisman wrote:The goat is what i was going to make. But my plate chiller will arrive today.... See how it goes.
You won't regret it as long as you follow a strict regime.
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

User avatar
Talisman
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 673
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:22 pm
Location: Grimsby, N.E.Lincs, UK
Contact:

Re: Heat Exchanger

Post by Talisman » Fri Sep 26, 2014 9:31 pm

Well the filter on my boiler is pretty damn good. So should be ok
Black Lab Ale - est April 2008
FV 1: Old Spec Hen FG1053
FV 2: Empty
Cornie 1: Empty
Cornie 2: Empty
Cornie 3: Empty
Cornie 4: Empty
Cornie 5: Empty
Bottled: Nowt
http://www.blacklabale.co.uk

Post Reply