new equip/wort chiller

[paulcgi]

why am I posting this? I dunno. just for fun. bored at work.
brewed a blonde ale over the weekend and put my new shirron cooler to work and also put the wort in my new SS conical.. wheee!

plate chillers rock! I had to work hard to not chill the wort too low. started filling the conical and as soon as the level was at the thermometer, took a peek.. 52 degrees! oops! sure did get a good cold break tho

for those of you with counterflow or plate chillers and pumps, do you chill whilst moving wort to primary or do you re-circ back to boil kettle first, then just transfer to primary?

[danno]

my chillzilla and I just pump through the chiller directly into the carboys. a big cold break sure is cool, huh? :D

[paulcgi]

yea, now I just need to work on the valves & settings & such to hit the temp I want. OR chill really low and then warm back up before I pitch to make sure I get that cold break.. read that in a book somewhere.. but heck if I can remember where now.

[HogieWan]

I chill mine as low as possible. The yeast may take a little extra time to kick in, but any bacteria in there is also slowed by the temp.

[paulcgi]

how low is that? with my well water right now I think I could easily hit 45 (last I checked, straight from the well is running about 40 F). this batch has WLP002 english ale yeast, I would think you'd have to wait until the temp came back up again before you could pitch without like shocking the yeast

[toneyc]

Wow, 40*F tap water. Mine is 71*F right now, and the sun isn't even up, yet. You are truly blessed.

:)
Toney.

[Saint-Thomas]

I just used my new Shirron yesterday as well, brewing up a ginger porter. I knew the theory behind it, but it didn't stop me from being amazed at how dang quick it cools the wort.

However, we did have a hard time getting the siphon going. First, my nylon bag at the end of the pickup kept clogging the tubing, not the hobs trub, but the bag itself. Then we tried to use an autosiphon in the kettle to "pump" the wort through. Well I think I discovered how hot is "too hot" for that device. (on my way to buy a new auto siphon *grumble grumble*)
Finally just filtered it all through my funnel and then moved it through the plate chiller. All in all, it was twice as much work and twice the mess! I need to figure out a different method but still use the plate chiller because it rocks!

[Mad Scientist]

Siphoning through a CFC or a plate chiller sucks, I had to do that for a while. You solution will be to add a valve to your kettle. Your best short term solution will be to get the kellte elevated before you siphon

Watch that plate chiller when you use lots of hops....it will clog with ease.

[paulcgi]

Originally posted by toneyc
Wow, 40*F tap water. Mine is 71*F right now, and the sun isn't even up, yet. You are truly blessed.

:)
Toney.

for chilling: yes.. for drinking: no my water sucks and I dread the day when my well dries up/quits
my well is almost 200 feet deep. it's cold enough that even in the hottest part of the summer putting your hands in the water from the garden hose hurts after awhile.. kids can run thru the sprinkler for about 3 minutes and then have to stop because they're turning blue & shivering from the cold

hey boerne, is that a Wuchiapingian or Wordian pilsener?

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by paulcgi
hey boerne, is that a Wuchiapingian or Wordian pilsener?

Hehe......Capitanian actually

[paulcgi]

damn.. that was my third guess :p

[Mad Scientist]

Was wolfcampian going to be your forth? :D

[paulcgi]

no .. either Sakmarian or I thought you were totally screwed up and I was gonna guess Chautauquan

[Mad Scientist]

Okay, where are you getting you info? I am going off of memory here....

[Carl Spakler]

I know it's a different product but my immersion chiller has never clogged. :p