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Im in thoughts about wort chilling as im underway getting all the all grain bits and peices together. With the plate and copper coil chillers you run water in one end and out the other. My concern is the waste of water there for i was thinking of riging up a green wheelie bin with a tap at the bottom with a pump to run the water from the bin through the chiller and then returning to the bin for future usage. Do you think this would work? would the water in the wheelie bin stay cool enough to cool the wort? if not maybe adding ice? and what type of pump would i look at? Just a cheap one that would circulate the water nothing fancy. I just dont like the idea of wasting water as i dont have a rain water tank.

I use a copper coil and i collect all the water i use and whack it in the washing machine and use it to clean up my gear, nothing gets wasted

If I was you I'd use two vessels. That way you don't return the hot water to your source, so the source water stays as cool as possible. You probably need about (very approximately) 60L to cool a 23L batch to 30°C using an immersion chiller. A plate chiller should be a bit more efficient. Lethal's idea of using it in the washing machine is a good one because hot water is a big greenhouse gas emitter, so taking the load off the hot water service rather than wasting your nice warm water is a great solution.

I made a full extract brew yesterday(about 24 litres) at work and once the boil had finished, had put it in s.s sink and poured in 20ltrs of 4degree water, I had then put in 5 x 4ltr blocks of frozen ice and chilled the wort from 100degrees to 25degrees in about 1/2 hour, the blocks of ice work much more efficiently than cubed ice, so only used 44litres of water.

If your brew fridge or keg fridge has a freezer, grab some ice cream tubs and freeze some water and use a cube or jerry can to chill water in your fridge..

I was going to make a immersion chiller but I like the way ive done it now..

Need some info here. Question: with a plate chiller does the wort flow through the chiller or over it. I am contemplating either a plate chiller or coil not sure yet which way to go. As far as water supply goes I have a 9900L poly tank behind the shed full of very cold water so it is not a problem to pump water through chiller and send it back to the tank.

Might heat the tank up a bit

I saw at bunnings that they have 20m coils of annealed copper tubing for $105, was thinking it would be a good idea to get one of those and have a all in 1 prechiller that then blends into the wort chiller, no need for any brazing of copper etc.

Probably would have to have it sized up properly with the pot i will use for the boil and the tub for the ice/ice water...

Would actually be alot easier than ice baths and that only works as the dishwashing sink at work is perfect, once I start doing it at home I will have to go this way to make it a little easier....

Here's my pre-chiller.

I have deliberately left it as a stand alone item, so that I can bypass it, or pass my chiller inflow through it.
The blue box is filled with some water, and lots of ice which I freeze in icecream or butter containers.

I find it best to use the immersion chiller directly until I get the wort down to about 30ºC with tap water. After that, the ambient tap water temperature no longer chills the wort to any great effect. At that point, I route my water through the pre-chiller on the way to the immersion chiller. I find it is the most effective way to use the ice, as I find it tends to melt if I use it too early in the process.

Good call Warra..

That is just the reason why I think its a great idea posting anything on this forum, as then you get other peoples opinion and it can work out much better..

Cheers

Biernut wrote:Need some info here. Question: with a plate chiller does the wort flow through the chiller or over it. I am contemplating either a plate chiller or coil not sure yet which way to go. As far as water supply goes I have a 9900L poly tank behind the shed full of very cold water so it is not a problem to pump water through chiller and send it back to the tank.

Might heat the tank up a bit

I have 2 x 8000L rainwater tanks full that i used to run thru my plate chiller and then back into the downpipe so wastage is zero. At this time of the year i can cool my wort down to 12C with a single pass.

Biernut wrote:Question: with a plate chiller does the wort flow through the chiller or over it.

Through it. It's essentially a more compact more efficient version of a counterflow wort chiller.

I am contemplating either a plate chiller or coil not sure yet which way to go.

They're totally different. The coil (immersion chiller) you immerse in the wort and it chills it in-place in the pot. With the plate chiller you run the wort through it, and water flowing the other way (separated from the wort by copper plates) runs the other way, removing the heat from it.

Basically, the plate chiller is the more efficient/pro option, but you need to ensure you filter the hop debris out of the wort before you chill to avoid blockage. You also need to pay particular attention to keeping it clean, as you don't have direct access to it innards. An immersion chiller is your simplest possible option. All you need to do is put it into the boil with 10 minutes to go, and it's totally sterilised by the boiling wort.