Cooler whirlpool thingy

[bramswell]

Has anyone made a recirculating whirlpool cooler like this

be interested to know if it works well as i have a stuart turner RG550 pump spare and could make this

 

[Muddydisco]

I take it that's inside the boiler and you recirc the wort to make the whirlpool? Looks like it could work without leaving cold spots or thermal differences. It's interesting for sure. I'd like to know if it works as well!

 

[MEB]

No, i've never felt the need. That's a lot of copper/expense.

 

[bramswell]

No, i've never felt the need. That's a lot of copper/expense.

It's not that much copper, if you allready have an IC
it could be made with an extra 18"

(the pic is a little miss leading, the very outer section is just a reflection of the boiler)

 

[Smod]

Go to here http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php

and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZiHTXf9Hps

Jamil Zainasheff is a legendary (apparently) award winning home brewer and he invented this I believe. It chills the whole wort in a very short time by recirculating hot wort at an angle over the cold coils which also causes a whirlpool effect and passes even more hot wort over the coils. Claims are that this cools quicker than leaving the chiller in the wort (only wort close to the coils is getting cooled) and a counterflow chiller that only chills the wort passing through the coil at the time, as it cools the whole wort. People have reported it helps retain more hop flavour and helps lets more trub and hops settle better in a cone setup by the whirlpool.

I haven't got a pump but stir in the centre of the coil to get a similar effect and I've managed to cool from boil to about 20-22CC in about 10-15 mins. (my arm ached though)

If you do make one let me know the results. :thumb:

 

[MEB]

No, i've never felt the need. That's a lot of copper/expense.

It's not that much copper, if you allready have an IC
it could be made with an extra 18"

(the pic is a little miss leading, the very outer section is just a reflection of the boiler)

Ah, it looked like a great big coil of copper around the outside too.

I use the time it takes for chilling to have a clear up, empty my MT and enjoy a beer. But then i don't really mind the length of a brewday as i'm happy as sitting in my brewery/workshop. There's always something fun to do. :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

I've just done something very similar using 4 individually fed 5m coils of 8mm copper tube and recircing the wort through the coils using my morebeer pump. There was a fair whirlpool going and the hops gathered in a pile on the centre of the strainer, allowing break through where it wasn't covered

Anyway, it took 40 minutes to cool a 67lts fill volume from 76 deg c to 22 deg c, the last 5 deg c being painfully slow.
I fed the coolant in through the top of the coils and might try the bottom next time to see if it makes any difference.

Personally, now I've tried it, I prefer my cfc as it's a lot faster to cool the same volume at 20 mins

 

[EskiBrew]

Personally, now I've tried it, I prefer my cfc as it's a lot faster to cool the same volume at 20 mins

Do you think it uses more or less coolant water??

 

[bramswell]

Do you think it uses more or less coolant water??

it's suppost to use less water, the guy using it has an FV filled with ice water and recirc's it

 

[Vossy1]

Do you think it uses more or less coolant water??

It used a lot more than my cfc

it's suppost to use less water, the guy using it has an FV filled with ice water and recirc's it

Most sites advise adding Ice toward the end of cooling when the difference between coolant and wort isn't that great, to aid cooling further. I've not tried that yet.