Gravity CFC question

[Aleman]

I reckon I will have a go at that wire soldered around the copper coil idea, you may well hear some ripe cursing distantly wafting over the Pennines at you :nono:

Before you start that trick I would just like to say I TOLD YOU SO!!!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[john harvey]

I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!

Te-Hee, I know you're probably right but I will have a go at it if only to give you lot a giggle.
You never heard of KY jelly btw :shock:

John

 

[Aleman]

You never heard of KY jelly btw :shock:

Silicone Spray is much more effective . . . or food grade silicone grease on a tissue taped to the end of the copper tube

 

[EskiBrew]

That's awesome eskimobob, I never realised how simple (in theory) it would be to put one of those together. :thumb: How much do you reckon it set you back?

It was a few years back now so can't exactly remember the price - the only bit I had to buy was the 8mm copper tube because I had everything else going spare. IIRC, the tube cost less than a tenna :thumb:

 

[john harvey]

You never heard of KY jelly btw :shock:

Silicone Spray is much more effective . . . or food grade silicone grease on a tissue taped to the end of the copper tube

S'pose threading a "fishing wire" down the hose first may to help pull the 8mm through ?
Deffo a warm day type job I think so the hose is soft and flexible :idea:

John

 

[Aleman]

Fill the hose with boiling water . . . it makes it really soft, then pull it into a straight line while its still got hot water in it before allowing the water to drain out.

It is probably wise to warn you that you ideally need to completely uncoil the copper tube into a straight line and also the hose so if you are going for a 20m one you need at least 40m of linear space to work in . . . . I did mine on the grass verge of a busy dual carriage way . . . I would have loved to know what the passing motorists thought was going on :lol:

 

[john harvey]

Right then so I've made me CFC (gravity set-up) and wow is it surprisingly efficient, no problem chilling down from 90ish to 15 (my present mains water temp).

I went for Eskimo's 8mm copper design and just yer normal 1/2" ID garden hose.
Personally I found threading the 10 metres of copper tube into the hose so easy, so encouraged by this I decided to go for it and do the spiralling copper wire soldered around the copper inner thing, (I stripped out the wires from old 1mm twin and earth cable).
This tedious spiral wire idea did take well over an hour to do.
Anyway aided by a glob of silicone grease at the pointy end it all slid through the garden hose with absolutely no problem at all, (getting the copper tube really as straight as poss is the trick).

Only one disappointment in tonight's test is the very slow run-off speed from the boiler into the FV, (in my gravity set-up just 15L or 3 galls took around 20 minutes), I do 10 gall brews so I would like a bit more speed.
10mm "wired" inner copper would give quicker outflow but you would deffo need 3/4" ID hose to accommodate a 10mm "wired" inner.

Nighty-night me beers,
John.

 

[Oggys Bar]

(I stripped out the wires from old 1mm twin and earth cable).

Whoa there...That stuff's worth a fortune on fleaby...would have been better to use some NEW stuff...or flog it on Fleaby and buy a plate chiller with the proceedes :)

By the way yer haven't got about 3m of 10mm "Old" Twin & earth have you?

 

[john harvey]

My quote: 'Only one disappointment in tonight's test is the very slow run-off speed from the boiler into the FV, (in my gravity set-up just 15L or 3 galls took around 20 minutes), I do 10 gall brews so I would like a bit more speed'.
- - - - - --
So last night I *water* tested the CFC set-up by actually pumping the liquor from the boiler through the CFC into the FV using an RG 550 pump.
Adjusting the flow of tap water coolant to a medium to fair flow and then adjusting the outflow of hot liquor/wort from the pump I soon had the ideal situation a great run-off speed at 20C.
Great, sorted...
But now I am thinking what are the implications of *pumping* the wort out of the boiler?
In the boiler I use a perforated screen with a mesh frying pan spatter screen on top of that (I could photo it if you were interested, on gravity it works very well).
But will it work so well with a pump sucking on it's arse? Ie. compaction or pulling crap through it ???

I'd rather mither you lot rather than researching on some faceless webpage, sorry if I'm a drag.

H2o Harvey.

 

[Aleman]

I use a hop stopper clone in my kettles (Two big discs of #30 stainless mesh sewn together), and have no problems with the hop bed compacting on my Hop Stoppers. When I use the RG500 and CFC you normally recirculate the boiling wort through the CFC for 15 minutes to sanitise the chiller . . . then you stick the end of the hose into the FV to transfer the wort. . . . During the recirculation anything that gets sucked through gets passed back into the boiler where it gets trapped by the hop bed. . . . you end up with very clear wort in the FV . . . apart from the Cold break of course . . . you can get around this by recirculating the cold wort back into the boiler, and when you reach your pitching temp switching to the FV . . . all the break gets trapped, and it doesn't take too long apparently

 

[jamesb]

By the way yer haven't got about 3m of 10mm "Old" Twin & earth have you?

The stuff I got from Wickes to do my brewery doesn't have a date code on it, and as they were selling the new colours before Part P came in, there's no way of telling when I did it.

 

[john harvey]

ou can get around this by recirculating the cold wort back into the boiler, and when you reach your pitching temp switching to the FV . . . all the break gets trapped, and it doesn't take too long apparently

I am quite a dumb-ass aren't I...
I may as well carry on now with my upgrade and go for the full re-circulation set-up.
Right where's me blow lamp again.

I'll let you know how things turn out

 

[john harvey]

ou can get around this by recirculating the cold wort back into the boiler, and when you reach your pitching temp switching to the FV . . . all the break gets trapped, and it doesn't take too long apparently

I am quite a dumb-ass aren't I...
I may as well carry on now with my upgrade and go for the full re-circulation set-up.
Right where's me blow lamp again.

I'll let you know how things turn out

Crikey am I talking to meself again but by email ? A form of modern insanity I spose !

So now I am the proud owner of a pumped CFC set-up complete with boiler re-circulation.
If anyone's interested I will try and find how to enter my pics in the photo files section.
You must have a giggle at my 2 stage trestle specially "designed" to fit in my lickle shed.
Bloody marvelous it is :whistle:
John

 

[Wez]

Would love to see it :thumb:

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