Flash Chillers

[Bebop1980]

Hi Guy's, have any of you guys got one and what do you think of them? Are they worth getting?

Seen one on Ebay at a reasonable price and it's local so could collect, the only thing is that its a single line unit.

Not sure wither to got down the chiller route or just get a few cheap second hand fridges

Cheers for any responses.

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

I went for the chiller route rather than a fridge. Easier and more flexible in that you could have a big fermenter.
I currently have a maxi300...Modded with a STC-1000 and an under soil heating strip will keep my biggest fermenter stable to within 1 degree and will chill the lot down to under 10 degrees over the course of 24 hours.
you can use them to keep casks cool under jackets as well

 

[Bebop1980]

Sorry for being dense here but are these chillers ment to run beer through a line which then gets chilled. How are you going about chilling a fermenter, really interested in the options for these units

 

[Fil]

ideally for serving beer a keg fridge is the easiest option as u can set a specific temp for the beer.. however if no room a shelf chiller is a pretty good 2nd choice, but they are not as controllable as a fridge as the rate of chill depends on both the starting temp of the beer and the rate at which if flows thru the product hex coils, so with a keg fridge you have a more consistant system, with a shelf chiller and kegs at ambient temp the ground moves a bit more with the seasons.

to chill a few pint of an evening u only need run a shelf chiller for 30-40 mins to bring the water bath them down to 0C which is ample cold for a few pints,, so they can be an economical chioce..
if u only have 1 keg to serve from a 1 line chiller is fine, but if buying one i would look for a 4 line job giving u way more scope to dbl up if u want to effect an excessive chill perhaps

 

[Bebop1980]

Cheers Fil, that makes a lot of sense ok think i will hold off on the chiller and focus on a few fridges for now.

May invest at a later date for one with more lines.

 

[LeeH]

The big advantage of a maxi type chiller is you can cool your beer lines right up to the tap. It's no good having cold beer going from the fridge into room. You will just get problems with foaming obviously.

When I was using the fridge option and a little solar pump to chill the lines, the fridge just couldn't keep up with the warm return water continually being dumped back it it's reservoir.