Beer cooler design query

[supercooper]

I've just been given about 60 metres of pipe used for underfloor heating. It's PE-X /AL /PE-X. I looked it up and it seems it's something called cross linked polyethylene with an aluminium core to keep it from pinging back from where you bend it.
My question is whether this stuff would be suitable to use as a wort cooler by coiling, which it is very easy to do.
I hope it is , cos I reckon I could cool the wort in no time if I coiled the whole lot up.
It's is about 15mm dia.

 

[Kev888]

You can do this for cooling wort in the FV (to regulate fermentation temperatures) - by wrapping it around the Fv with insualtion over it you can essentially make a cooling jacket, and you don't need massive transfer of heat normally.

As a hot wort cooler though, its more of a challenge as theres a lot more heat to shift in a much shorter time. It would work, but as its far less conductive than copper (and thicker too) you need a much bigger surface area and I'm not sure you could get enough into the boiler for it to be very quick/efficient. (though if you don't stir your wort whilst cooling then a bigger surface area may have some advantages).

You could try it easily enough by boiling a brew-length volume of water and just dumping a big coil of pipe in connected to the tap. It'd work quickly to begin with but I'd be doubtful about its performance as you're trying to get the last several degrees down to pitching temperature - once the wort is only a bit hotter than your cooling water the rate of heat transfer is pretty poor even with copper.

Cheers
Kev

 

[supercooper]

Thanks for the in depth reply. I had wondered about the surface area to volume ratio required to make it effective. If I used all 60 metres by creating two or three coils inscribed, it may work. Do you have any suggestions regarding flow rate? My water is metered, which I need to consider when pouring it away.
Thanks

 

[Kev888]

Hi, in general its a compromise between cooling speed and water economy. To cool as fast as possible then the more water flowing through the better (within reason), but to conserve water you want a slow enough rate that the outgoing water is noticably hotter than the incoming water (so less water is still carrying away lots of heat).

Its easy to begin with, when the temperature of the wort is very high, but it gets more and more difficult when its only a bit warmer than your cooling water - it takes longer for heat to transfer when there isn't much differential. Personally I loose the will and speed it up at that point, even though it uses a lot of water, and it can still take a long while. Stirring the wort can make an appreciable difference though, again helping to transfer heat from it to the pipes.

Cheers
Kev

 

[Wendy1971]

You could immerse it in the wort and control temp by pumping cold water around. As your on metered water what about a continuous circuit through an ice bath or a fridge etc. :thumb:

 

[Andyhull]

You could immerse it in the wort and control temp by pumping cold water around. As your on metered water what about a continuous circuit through an ice bath or a fridge etc. :thumb:

This will be my prefered method, only problem with it is the need for a pump.
I will be buying a caravan in line water pump.

 

[Kev888]

I've found tap water easiest/cheapest for my brew lengths, but I've been tinkering with ice and theres no doubt that it can be very effective, especially in the latter stages of cooling.

The problem is, I'm a lazy-bones and sorting ice baths is an effort. I have a plan though: I'm going to link a few water-butts together (one turned out not to be enough when I tried it) and so use rainwater to pull out most of the heat - using a pond pump to push it through the IC (in fact some people do use their ponds).

That will be enough in winter (unless my butts freeze!), but in summer the stored water will be warmer so I'm going to switch to chilled water for the latter stages of cooling. I intend to use a beer cooler, either direct or if its not powerful enough I'll use it to more gradually cool an insulated barrel of cool water, in advance of needing it.

Cheers,
kev

 

[supercooper]

A quick update:
I tried coiling the pipe round a smaller FV to get plenty of coils into the boiler. It turns out to be a real tough job to stop it springing back. Just a slight spring makes the coil lose it's shape. I only managed to get 13m coiled up before it got unmanageable.
So decided, after lots of faffing around, to go with traditional soft copper, which I'll have to buy.
It's a shame, but it was definately worth a try.
Thanks for the time spent replying.

Cheers
Jonny