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Wort Chiller
Thoughts on imersion wort chiller vs. a ice bath. Is it worth the money?
Primary - Bitter Sweet Amber
Secondary - 9 Year Wheat
Kegged - Winter
On Deck - First attempt at a corriender and orange peel wheat
Absolutely. The faster you can get your wort to pitching temps, the better your cold break coagulation will be, and have a much clearer beer. Then you add the benefit of less risk of outside bacteria getting hold of a perfect breeding medium. Then add on convenience factor as a bonus.
If you do go the route of IC, make sure you get one large enough. Most homebrewers when they take this step are looking to improve their beer quality, but will also look to increase their systems efficiency or size down the road, maybe 2-3 months, maybe a year, but if you just get the chepest 25' coil of 3/8" copper, you will find it will just barely work for a 5 gallon batch, and pretty much useless for a 10 gallon batch.
When making these equipt decisions, I have found (believe me, I have a graveyard of old equipt) that it is better to invest in a solid performer, than to just get the basic.
If you go with an IC, I would suggest at least a 50' coil, and try to get 1/2" if you can.
The other alternatives are counterflow chillers, and plate chillers. They all have their +/- however for the $$ I would recommend a plate chiller. My $.02 
Fantastic. That will be my new investment. I just bought a new fermentor. 180 dollars.....
I saved some bucks and got a big coil of copper from Home Depot and bent it myself. I had enough copper to make a prechiller as well. In the summer the water here gets kinda warm here. The prechiller is just a small coil that I set in an ice water bath in my lunch cooler. Next time I'll find something to wrap the copper around when I"m making one, mine is kinda funny looking and oblong. works good though.
ID
Someday, I to will have the extra cash to go to a plate chiller. Problem for me is that I will need a good plate chiller and a good pump, neither of which is in the near future. In the mean time, I do have an immersion chiller, and have pretty good luck with cooling by inducing a whirlpool in the boil kettle along with the IC. My method uses a sanitized paint stirrer on a drill, hung over the top of the boil kettle. My biggest concern with that is the air flow from the drill being right over the kettle. All that air flow is a concern for contamination as the temp in the wort drops. For me, it cost me another hole in my Keggle lid. It seems better, but I am still concerned, so I will keep dreaming about Jamal's method, http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php , or actually getting a good plate chiller. By the way, cold break is really great using this method.
Crabnut wrote:
. Problem for me is that I will need a good plate chiller and a good pump, neither of which is in the near future.
All that air flow is a concern for contamination as the temp in the wort drops.
How large of batches are you doing? I realize everyone has a budget, dont mean to pry on yours, however if you think you need the therminator for $195, and a pump for $130 to make this happen, you definately do not.
I have used the shirron plate chiller $85-95, for over a 100 batches of 12 gallons. You can gravity feed it- so a pump is not necessary. If you want to go that direction, it may be closer than you think.
As far as your stirring method, I would be more concerned about HSA, or hot side aeration. It is true you want to introduce O2 into your wort before pitching, however if you do at temps over 140, then you run the risk of HSA and possible oxidation down the road. If you are doing a whirlpool method to collect trub and kettle debris, I would keep it real slow until the temp drops below the 140 mark.
How did you learn so much? Books, video's, school?
I've been brewing for 7 months and have brewed 7 beers. I've gone from brewing extract to partial mash.
BK wrote:
How did you learn so much? Books, video's, school?
For me the majority of info has come right here. Reading many posts, but the questions that are normally asked are asked for the same reason, there are many trends in brewing that people go through, and as the knowledge and experience progresses, so does the mind with new ideas, those that have already been tested by others.
Brew as often as you can, and read this forum, and there are some other great ones out there too, and the obsession will soon grow from a hobby to a way of life.
Its already an obsession. My wife and I have been to over 300 microbreweries including Sam, Bud, Miller and Leinenkugels.
We collect Tap handles and all kinds of beer stuff. We've been to multip brewfest. The next ones were going to are Michigans winterfest and the great ameeican beer festival.
Brewing was an easy choice and I find myself buying more and more.
Irondavy wrote:
I saved some bucks and got a big coil of copper from Home Depot and bent it myself. I had enough copper to make a prechiller as well.
This is a great idea for people looking to save some money and have no problem doing DIY projects. Wrapping copper tubing around a corny keg makes a perfect sized immersion chiller and using the extra copper for a pre chiller is also a great idea. I would have taken this route if I didn't stumble into a great deal last summer - brand new Shirron plate chiller for 60 bucks.
BK wrote:
How did you learn so much? Books, video's, school?
I've been brewing for 7 months and have brewed 7 beers. I've gone from brewing extract to partial mash.
Keep in mind that Thirsty also brews almost every week! He has really dedicated himself to becoming a great brewer, and the results are easy to see when you try his beers.
Getting better and making better beers does really come from brewing more, its not always equipment.
You can read many books, and do all the internet resources. But those are unidirectional.
Forums really allow you to ask a question, get an answer and then say, "I don't understand that answer can you clarify". Its the next best thing to actually being able to hang out with a bunch of brewers on a brew day.
Don't brew in a vacuum. Forums and clubs really can improve your game when you get to talk with and sample other guys beers.
Oh yeah and chillers are indeed necessary. I started with your standard 3/8th inch 25 foot chiller and it worked fine for many years. But last year I upgraded to a 50 ft 1/2inch chiller. There has been a definate improvement in chilling efficiency.
I started brewing 3 years ago. One sure way to get good quick is to go to brew days. There is nothing better than hanging out with 7 or 8 guys who really know how to brew, you will get about 10 batches worth of brewing experience in 1 brew day. Getting information, and then implimenting it in your own system, and working with your own equipment is the only way to get better.
Yeast, use enough, keep it at temp, make sure it's the best damn yeast you can get. Get a stirplate they are invaluble. Some say hops are to beer what grapes are to wine. That's not true, Yeast is to beer what grapes are to wine, so take care of those little guys. Great yeast is the difference between drinkable beer, and beer that will let you play with the big boys.
And for the money, you can't beat a plate chiller. I can chill 10 gallons of wort to 60 degrees in 10 minutes, while it's being dropped in the fermenter. And I did this before I had a pump, all gravity, it really blows your mind, especially if you've used icewater in the past and had to wait 45 minutes to chill, mine.
Welcome to the board, and have fun brewing.
bruguru wrote:
I Some say hops are to beer what grapes are to wine. That's not true, Yeast is to beer what grapes are to wine, so take care of those little guys.
Then what is yeast to wine? hehe
Ha ha, I don't know, but from what i've seen there is only like 5 types of wine yeast, and they don't impart anything as far as flavor, they will make it dryer or sweeter.
Please correct me if i'm wrong, but wine yeast is just to get the booze from the grape, and then the grapes and the wood do the talking.
thirsty wrote:
Crabnut wrote:
. Problem for me is that I will need a good plate chiller and a good pump, neither of which is in the near future.
How large of batches are you doing? I realize everyone has a budget, dont mean to pry on yours, however if you think you need the therminator for $195, and a pump for $130 to make this happen, you definately do not.
I have used the shirron plate chiller $85-95, for over a 100 batches of 12 gallons. You can gravity feed it- so a pump is not necessary. If you want to go that direction, it may be closer than you think.
As far as your stirring method, I would be more concerned about HSA, or hot side aeration. It is true you want to introduce O2 into your wort before pitching, however if you do at temps over 140, then you run the risk of HSA and possible oxidation down the road. If you are doing a whirlpool method to collect trub and kettle debris, I would keep it real slow until the temp drops below the 140 mark.
Crap. Hot side aeration. I did three batches this way. So far, no flavor problems, but your right. The immersion coil works a lot better with wort moving in the kettle, but I will have to gentle up a bit till the temp gets down quite a ways. Should have thought of that. Thanks for the heads up.
As for new equipment, that is strictly a no till I am reemployed. For the near future, my beer budget is strictly ingredients, short of a steal on Craigslist or something like that. My batch sizes are typically designed for 6.5 gal into the carboy fermenter, about half way up the neck, so that I almost always get some blowoff to get a little cleansing there. I have all the basic equipment, almost all of it DIY. Immersion chiller, Keggle, 7 gal turkey fryer kettle, mashtun cooler, etc. Currently building a stir plate and still trying to find a source for stir bars. Looks like for now it will be e-bay for that.
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