Wort Chiller

[brulelager]

http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?qu ... erchillers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyone ever heard of these guys? They have some fairly reasonably prices wort chillers available.

http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?qu ... erchillers

[GuingesRock]

I never had a plate chiller, but reading, it seems a lot of people get them and give up on them?

[jeffsmith]

http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?qu ... erchillers

Anyone ever heard of these guys? They have some fairly reasonably prices wort chillers available.

http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?qu ... erchillers

I've been using one for nearly three years and love it. Never had any issues with it. Initially I used a hop blocker from theelectricbrewery.com to keep hop matter out. I tempted fate today and used a side pickup tube for a batch of IPA that had nearly a pound of pellet hops. I did a 15 minute whirlpool before running the wort through the chiller and didn't have any issues at all. My hop blocker will be going on the shelf for the time being...

[brulelager]

Interesting reply, someone actually said that to me recently.

Guess I'll stick with the immersion.

[RossBee]

Never had an issue with my homemade counterflow wort chiller, extremely forgiving as far as debris is concerned.

[brulelager]

Jeff smith, you look like a serious brewer. Thank you for your insight.

[jeffsmith]

Jeff smith, you look like a serious brewer. Thank you for your insight.

Haha, depends on who you ask. Today was the first time I've brewed in six months. I've run quite a few batches through my gear, though.

[LeafMan66_67]

Interesting reply, someone actually said that to me recently.

Guess I'll stick with the immersion.

I've had an immersion Chiller, homemade counter flow, cheap 10-plate plate Chiller and now have a Chillzilla counter flow.

An immersion chiller works great if you have a way to keep your wort moving in the kettle. It's simple, easy to clean. At the time I didn't have a pump so I decided to make my immersion chiller a counter flow.

My 25' counter flow worked great - no complaints except that it was bulky. I used 3/8" copper wrapped with copper wire, inside a 3/4" high temperature rubber hose. I was still able to gravity feed with this chiller without any problems.

I "upgraded" to my plate Chiller to reduce space. Initially it worked great, even with gravity feed. Eventually two things happened - my taste in beer changed from lightly hopped to more hops and I changed out some gear, upping my capacity from 5 to 10G. I started having problems with clogging. I did make an awesome hop blocker with a domed false bottom and stainless steel mesh that worked great with the plate Chiller, but I had to reduce flow on my pump to just a trickle so draining the kettle took longer than I wanted.

When I had a chance to grab a used Chillzilla, I jumped at it. The 1/2" copper in copper is compact and works great. I don't use a hop blocker, I can run my chugger wide open to whirlpool and chill at the same time and chilling is quick. This time of year, a 5G batch is cooled to 67 F in less than 10 minutes, 10G's in less than 20. It's a bit longer once the HRM water supply warms up but I'm happy with it. The only restriction I have now is that I have to stick with pellet hops, which isn't an issue.

If I had a chance to do it all over again, I would seriously consider an immersion Chiller with a chugger for whirlpooling, easy to clean and simple to use.

Just my nickel's worth.