BeerBorg

I have the opportunity to get 2 more 10 gallon water coolers for free. My question is this;

What if I put ball valves in both and used them to put ice water in to run through a wort chiller. Use a pump for recirculating the ice water. Plan to use a bilge pump for boats to transfer the water between coolers. Will buy a new pump for this. They run $10-$30 on average. The aerator versions are a bit more.

Bill

I can't picture the set-up. But I think using ice water to chill is a great idea. But I also think that 10 gallons might be overkill. I just started my wort chiller, I haven't used it yet. In winter I'll use it straight up, for summer I kept one loop outside the kettle to run through ice water after chilling down to water temp (75 in summer). I might also just put a t fitting in the line to suck ice water through. If you build it, please follow up.

It would look like a typical 3 vessel setup. Ice water at the highest level, wort with chiller in the center, and the bottom cooler would catch the ice water with the bilge pump sending the water back into the top cooler.

If I build it, I will post results.

Bill

Great idea.

I hope so. I believe I will need a pump to push the water through the chiller. That is not a big deal. I am hoping it chills the wort under 10 minutes. Getting the 2 coolers free or I would not be looking into this.

Bill

Three thoughts: 1. Be careful how much ice you use. I read about a guy freezing the water inside his chiller by running it through an ice bath. 2. Gravity will work for you even if the top of the next container is above the bottom of the prior. As long as the surface is lower. 3. A cheap bilge pump may not have the lift to raise the water very high. A smaller hose will create less head pressure.
Good luck, have fun, keep us posted!

I use a simple pond pump and just one cooler. I put 3 pounds of ice and recirculate that with my $15 pond pump. I had no trouble bringing my wort down to 60 degrees on a 96 degree day.

As far as freezing inside the chiller I don't know how that can happen when it is in a kettle of very hot water.

Thanks guys. Glad to hear someone else is doing something similar. Gymrat; Where did you get the pond pump? Nice set up.

Bill

Gymrat:

How fast can you cool to pitching temps? I do not have a kiddie pool so I will need both coolers. Is your pond pump in the water cooler?

Thanks;

Bill

Gym, the guy who froze the chiller had two sets of coils, one in an ice bath before the wort chiller. He froze the water in the first coil. His solution was to run the water before immersing in the ice bath, preventing a jam.

Madman,

I've used a pond pump like Gymrat mentioned in his posts. I submerse the pond pump in an ice chest full of ice and water and simply recirculate through the wort chiller back out into the ice chest. Works great. I obtained my pond pump from Lowes.


Rick

Rick;

How fast do you get to pitching temp? I still need to purchase a chiller and pump. Or build a chiller. I will probably try to build one in a couple months.

Madman I don't use the kiddy pool for anything to do with the cooling system. It is just there to catch any water leaking from the hose connections and keep it off of my garage floor. When it was 96 degrees out side I got 5 gallons of liquid from boiling to nearly 60 degrees in 25 minutes. I would take the water down to 100F before attaching the pond pump. That way it wouldn't melt my ice too fast as it recirculates the water.

Gymrat;

Thanks for answering. I plan to use the ice water right away. Not worried if all my ice gets used. I have plenty. I hope to get temps down in 10 minutes or so.

Bill

Madman,

In the summer time here, when the ground water temp is > 80 degrees, I'll use the chiller with tap water to cool the wort down to about 120 degrees. This takes about 10 minutes, give or take a little. After that, I switch the connection to my pond pump which is submerged in an ice chest filled with ice and water and then begin recirculating. The wort will drop from 120 to 80 pretty fast, usually within 7 to 10 minutes. It can take another 10 minutes to go from 80 down to 68. Those times could have been improved had I been attending the cooling and helping by stirring the wort or moving the chiller. Many times, though, I'll be doing other chores like finishing yeast re-hydration or fermenter preparedness.


Rick