Efficient use of immersion chiller?

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DocTrucker

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Morning all,

Can someone please point me towards an article or thread that discusses the most efficient use of an immersion chiller?

I've got a small pump that I use at the moment and generally recirculate water from my sink through the coil and back to the sink. If I were pouring water straight down the drain after the cooler then I'd drop the flow rate down, but I'm guessing the best way to run a recirculating pump cooler is with the pump flat out and change the water in the sink periodically?

I'm beginning to to think this would be no less wasteful on water than straight down the drain with the flow adjusted so that the output temp is the same as the point where I would change the water! Using the sink does however give the benefit of being able to dump a load of ice in there without contamination issues and get the input temperature down to 1-3 degrees.
 
Just done a few checks and ignoring the density change in water from 95 to 80 (less than 3%) you need a cooling capacity of just over 2.2kW to cool 25 litres of hot water from 95 to 18C in an hour.

My pump running flat out could deliver 12 l/min. Comparing the outlet to inlet temperature if there was a 2.7C increase on output from input then the cooling capacity of the chiller would match this requirement. I'll measure next time I brew.

Obviously if I'm recirculating then I'm moving heat from the boil volume to the volume of water that I'm cooling with. Seeing these figures I think it may just be as simple as I really should be stirring my cooler about in the wort or something similar!
 
Maybe not much help with those equations but I keep my waste water, it's hot, and use it to clean everything. I just put a long hose on my run off and put the hose in my bathtub.
 
Thanks all.

I'll have a read through the link, and re-use of the water for cleaning is a good idea.

Interesting comment about the excellent cold break from an overnight cool. I was under the impression the quicker the cool, the better the cold break.
 
Interesting comment about the excellent cold break from an overnight cool. I was under the impression the quicker the cool, the better the cold break.
Hi!
I've read that some use a plastic jerry can for no-chill, others transfer to the FV and let it cool overnight, while others simply put the lid on the boiler and wait.
All of these methods seem to work well and are considerably cheaper than the cost of an immersion coil and the water.
When I am ready to move on to AG I intend to go no-chill.
 
Cold break by leaving on the garage floor overnight

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Looks like the benefits of quick cooling for the cold break has been over egged!

As I've already got the cooler I'll persevere a little longer in trying to get it running well. I'll certainly divert the upgraderitus attention away from the cross flow heat exchangers!
 
Obviously if I'm recirculating then I'm moving heat from the boil volume to the volume of water that I'm cooling with. Seeing these figures I think it may just be as simple as I really should be stirring my cooler about in the wort or something similar!
To get a better rate of heat transfer you should be moving the wort around the coil (or vice versa). By keeping the temperature of the wort constant throughout the bulk by movement you are increasing the 'driving force' of the heat transfer process, by keeping the temperature difference as large as possible. If you don't do that all you succeed in doing is tending to cool a local mass around the coil and outside that the bulk is at the 'hot' temperature, and the driving force is less. So physical movement is much better than relying on convection currents in this instance.
 
Maybe not much help with those equations but I keep my waste water, it's hot, and use it to clean everything. I just put a long hose on my run off and put the hose in my bathtub.

I do exactly this, collect mine in a builders trub and a spare FV though.
 

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