How fast is fast? Optimizing Your Existing Immersion Wort Chiller

I built my wort chiller four years ago.  I purchased a 50' roll of soft 1/2" copper tubing and four 90 degree elbows for about $69.80 + $13.63 shipping.  I then had to purchase soldering equipment (lead free solder and flux) and brass garden hose fittings.  So I was probably in about $100 or so for my wort chiller build.  When I got around to constructing it I only used about 40' of the tubing due to a height restriction on the vessel I was using to form the circular structure.  I still need to figure out what to do with the rest of that copper tubing!

Fast forward to 2015, and I am kind of surprised to see that the prices of copper today are actually less than they were in 2010.  In fact, the site I purchased my materials from even carries packages specifically for immersion chillers!

For a while I thought my immersion chiller was just not as good as some of the commercial products out there.  I would see products advertising 5 minutes to get to pitching temps… 5 minutes!  I was immediately filled with envy as I recalled that last brutal brewday of the summer.  You know, those 90 degree days where incessant stirring for 20+ minutes only gets you down to 78 F.  I thought it was just my crummy chiller, but as with all things in my life I began to thoroughly research the issue at hand.

I Googled for any information and product reviews I could find on wort chillers.  I saw a lot of people with a similar dilemma give up on their immersion chiller and go with a counter-flow or plate chiller.  I was also aware of Jamil Zainasheff's recirculating whirlpool system.  All of these seemed like wonderful options.  Unfortunately, they too, all seemed to have flaws.  The biggest of these flaws to me was that a pump was required (I don’t own a pump).  I kept researching and was really intrigued by the JaDeD Brewing chillers.  Their chillers post some crazy fast chill times with the Hydra boasting a 3 min chill to 68*.  Okay, this is some sort of brewing magic, right? Do you need to sprinkle special chilling dust at flameout to achieve these results? The answer: Nope!  JaDeD provides insight to this sorcery by explaining the science behind fast cooling.  To paraphrase, it is essentially the input chilling water flow rate and wort movement which dictates how fast you can chill.  Yes, the temperature of your source water can make a big difference, but that wasn't the component I was lacking.

I have always had good wort movement - I stir the heck out of it as I am chilling.  However, I, for some silly reason thought if I turned my spigot on only halfway or even a trickle, that I would somehow be extracting the most heat possible from the liquid?  Not sure how I came up with that inaccurate idea.  Maybe, I figured running the water through too fast wouldn’t fully utilize that volume of water's potential? Or maybe I was just drunk.  Either way, I now feel like such a bonehead.  Keeping cool water flowing through your immersion chiller REAL fast and keeping the wort moving (to avoid hot and cold spaces) is what results in fast chilling.

The next brewday when it came time to chill, I opened up that spigot full bore and “let 'er rip.”  Boy was I surprised to  be within 10* of my groundwater temperature within 5.5 minutes.  Now I don’t feel so insecure about my immersion chiller, and I can get back to brewing some great beer.  I invite you to learn from my mistakes and make the most of your wort chiller - if it aint broke don’t fix it!

How do YOU chill your wort and why?  Let me know in the comments below!


After writing I remembered reading a post on Brulosophy a while back where Marshall tested using a pump to recirculate vs his (and my method) of moving the chiller all around.  Spoiler alert, manual beats mechanical.

Brew Thru #1 - Other Blogs, Small Batch Bottling Tips, and Equipment upgrades

So in the past I had written some blog posts that I just simply titled "Brewery Update [insert date]" and while that was appropriate, because it was an update, I want to try and better categorize any and all update-type posts in the future.  I also want to try and label posts with appropriate tags to be able to search my growing list of posts better.  I am deeming these smorgasbord posts as Brew Thru's.  I liken this much to the growing youtube tag Homebrew Wednesday (HBW).  If you aren't aware, HBW is the acronym people use when they make short videos every Wednesday and post the video on youtube.  These videos usually feature a guy tasting a beer and giving any updates related to their homebrew gear or gadgetry.  They can be very entertaining, however, only 5% - 10% of the video provides informative information.  I hope to outline these updates in a way which allows readers to quickly skim and extract any informative content they may find useful.

Without further ado, lets brew thru!

Other Blogs

I have a lengthy commute, sure I have mentioned that before, and I utilize my time on the commuter train to to read other homebrewing blogs.  I cam across a few recently which I am really enjoying and want to highlight them.  As usual, you can view all my blogs over in the right sidebar:

• Sui Generis Brewing - Homebrew blog with a focus on yeast.  The author has developed a great series of youtube videos for the beginner in yeast culturing and working in an aseptic environment.  If you are interested in start a small homebrew yeast lab, definitely check out this site.
• Eric Brews - This is somewhat of a new blog created back in November to document the brewing of a ton of beer for the authors coming nuptials which are this weekend, I think?  I stumpled upon Eric's blog doing my semi-weekly google searching for "induction" or basement brewing setups.  Eric is using the avantco burner, too.  I am hoping his blog stays frequently updated once his marital status changes.
• Shegogue Brew on HomebrewTalk - I have written a few articles and plan to write some more for the popular online homebrew community.  I have also provide a link to the right specifically for my posts.  I will try to plug them through future brew thrus.

Cool New Ideas - Small Batch Bottling Tips

Has your significant other every told you that you brew to often?  If not, you may not be brewing enough!  If so, I may have found some rationale for you to justify how infrequently you do brew, in comparison... thanks to Matthew Murray.  Matthew is a homebrewer from NC who has probably been brewing more often than a lot of commercial breweries.  He started a website to document his journey of brewing a beer everyday for an ENTIRE YEAR.  Matthew is a little over a year into this and posted a new idea which I haven't seen before.  If you are a small batch (1-2 gallon) brewer, his tips on bottling are must see will definitely speed up your process.  

Equipment Upgrades

I have been using a new 9 gallon Bayou classic (1036) pot for my last 5 or so brews.  I made this kettle change in my anticipation of going electric.  The 15 gallon aluminum pot I used to use was not induction capable.  The new pot came with a ball valve, and although the pain of cleaning and sanitizing my autosiphon is now relegated only to packaging day, I learned the hard way how messy it can be to try and get wort from the kettle to the fermenter with just a ball valve.  I decided to solve this issue and future-proof my kettle by ordering a set of camlcok quick disconnects and silicone tubing from brewhardware.com.  I used the setup to drain from my kettle to a Better Bottle on Monday when I brewed and it worked like a charm!  Yet another small step in my constant goal of brewday time optimization.