I made my own counterflow chiller with zero water wastage. To make this happen, I have a large underground water reservoir that is my primary water supply. I connect the chiller to some garden hose and pump the water out of the reservoir, and have it flow back into the reservoir. Yes hot water is going back in, but it has little to no effect due to the amount of water. If you wanted to reduce wastage, perhaps you could have it feeding back into some sort of tank to use on your garden/other use (once it has cooled).
Nice looking unit. Chicagoland ground H2O is still pretty cold in April. You will always need to watch with changing H20 temps and pressure. I am think about a homemade glycol or water chiller. If you return the cooling wort to the tank for whirlpool you should bring under the surface and cover. Back in the day we whirlpooled, cooled and had cold break settlers in commercial operations prior to fermentation. Need to be clean.
Use a holding tank, rainwater catch system. Attach pump to holding tank, return hot water from chiller to holding tank. Might be warmer in Summer, but at least you get to re-use the cooling water, time after time!
Cody Garner And then you possibly get all that algae and microbial growth inside your chiller’s jacket. I’d rather collect clean water and use for cleaning and maybe laundry or even flashing the toilet.
Back in the day (the mid to late 90s) I used to own a Chillzilla CFC that I loved. At the end of each brew session, I would simply disconnect the hose water from the chiller, boil some freshwater in the kettle and run it through the chiller boiling hot for about 5-minutes. I would then resanitize it prior to the next brew session but I never had an infected beer with it. After a 20 year hiatus, I have decided to get back into homebrewing and I have purchased the ChilLex CFC (the most budget-friendly) from eBay (arrives before the end of the week), I'll make a review video of it one of these days including the wort flow regulator I have made to go on it. A suggestion for your chiller would be to get one of the screw-on hose ball valves (from any hardware store) to install on the chiller end of the hose to allow you to adjust your cooling water flow at the chiller rather than having to run outside to the spigot. I loved the video!
I made two of my own. One similar to yours and another all copper. I ruined the all copper by leaving it in my garage in January and it froze. Copper tubing is still valued for scrap. Both chillers worked great. Better than immersion but if you are only brewing 5 gallon batches they are probably not worth it. I also have a plate chiller but never use it as I reverted back to 5 gallon batches. I now use a smallish immersion chiller and make most of my batches in the winter. I harness the power of Mother Nature. Less is more....
I have never used an immersion chiller, instead opting for my homemade counterflow chiller. One big difference, I used my 120 QT marine ice chest and a recirc pump to recirculate iced water from the ice chest. I can have a 10 gallon batch to pitching temp within about 6-7 minutes. Of course there is the 40 lbs of ice I add to the ice chest to take into account.
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY I do a lot of whirlpool additions after flameout. So my norm is to start wort circulation through the clean system to sanitize it while boiling, then at flameout, turn on the chiller pump to bring the temp down rapidly to what ever temp I want, i.e. 170'ish for hop additions, 160 for agave nectars, 120 for honey, etc... Then maintain the temp for however long I need for what I'm doing in the whirlpool. Then kick on the chiller pump again to bring to pitching temps just prior to redirecting the flow to the fermenter.
You might try recirculating the chilled wort back into your kettle, Oberon you might not tell the difference but other beers I have made had chill haze from the hot break occurring in the fermenter instead of the kettle. I could be wrong. I need to do a test with an immersion chiller and a counter flow. One other question what was your water temp? And does it change through the year? Good video Larry! 👍🍻
Just let me know.. I’ll do everything I can to be there. Btw.. I think I’m gonna film that alternate opener at home and simply tell the story while using b roll. I may change my mind but I’m not totally sure. Gonna try to launch Saturday but time is scarce. Hope you’re well. I feel so bad about that other clip. I must have screwed something up. I was truly the weakest link Friday lol.
I've been considering a counterflow chiller when I go to all electric, since I'll need to buy a new chiller anyway. I've really liked my plate chiller but worry at times about it getting clogged. It hasn't yet but this thing you reviewed looks awesome! Cheers!
No, a counter-flow chiller is most effective when the temperature difference is high. If you recirculate, as the wort cools the chilling becomes slower and slower.
Could you do a closed loop chiller, run water through the wort to a pump through the coils in a jockey box and back to the wort? I'm guessing that you would need more tubing in the jockey box than the wort to have sufficient heat transfer.
Couldn't you hook this up using a circulation pump while running ice water through your cooler like you would/do when using your normal immersion chiller? Saves on water
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Nice! I'll be watching for the taste test with you and Chad in a few weeks... I'm brewing David Heath's Citrus Orange Wit today fermenting with Omega's Voss Kveik... it's a thirst quencher for sure!
I was thinking about the wasted water that was produced. What if you bought an R/O system, and cycled that for your next brew water. I do have the RO300, but there is a HbrewO system that would work as well. I have a float that shuts the water off when my buckets fill.
Great Video Larry! I'm still on the fence with the counter flow chillers, The not knowing how clean it is on the inside..... and not wanting to PBW wash after every batch. keep us posted Cheers!!
I agree with you, with your original immersion chiller. What is your thoughts about pressure brewing? I see a lot of people getting some great results and less Lagering time. And great for big hoppy ales. I'm looking forward to buying the new revised Fermentisuris V2 with a upgraded 3" butterfly and a larger opening for cleaning and improved stainless steel stand with 2 versions 27L and 50L
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY I have seen a few videos on TH-cam on pressure brewing and the benefits of the process, short Lagering time as short as 7 days start to finish. Another benefit is the process forces, sediment to be fall out under pressure and clear up super fast. Less chance of any bacterial infections, less yeast easters are produced, higher fermenting temperatures for Largering, half carbonated beer. And you could ferment Lagering time and discard of sediment and serve from one vessel. I saw many years back about 6 to 7 years back when I saw the Williams warn pressure brewing system.
Great video, Larry. And way to keep an open mind! On the topic of chilling wort, have you tried a heat exchanger? Like you, I've only really used a submersion chiller, but a buddy has a brew system with an exchanger that seemed to work pretty good with not too much extra water usage. @Short Circuited Brewers mentioned something I've never heard of with the chill haze I'm going to have to research. Thanks for the video!
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Good point, I was thinking more of the small radiator looking designs. But you're right, this is effectively doing the same thing. The Blichmann Therminator being an example
Could you just save the buckets of water and pour them directly into your washer to wash clothes so that it's not wasted? I'd be a little scared of overflow, but I'm not sure. Thoughts?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Ah, that's clever. I'll do the same and maybe test the washer theory out as well. I suppose I would always transfer some to a water can and water the flowers as well. Just seems like so much leftover water to just pour out.
So I guess it comes down to "slower cooling, easy boil sanitizing, cleaning", or "fast cooling, but with more in-depth cleaning requirement". Cleaning is the most fun part about brewing...lol
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY It would be interesting to see since the counterflow is more efficient it should take less time to chill it down. Good stuff on your channel Larry I like rewatching some of your videos. You need to drink more Beer so you can make more brewing videos :)
I made my own counterflow chiller with zero water wastage. To make this happen, I have a large underground water reservoir that is my primary water supply. I connect the chiller to some garden hose and pump the water out of the reservoir, and have it flow back into the reservoir. Yes hot water is going back in, but it has little to no effect due to the amount of water. If you wanted to reduce wastage, perhaps you could have it feeding back into some sort of tank to use on your garden/other use (once it has cooled).
Finally! Ive been wondering how well these work, finally a great video on it, cheers!
You could leave the outside valve wide open and adjust the flow with a inline valve at the brew system and leave the wort valve wide open.
Love my two counterflow heat exchangers. Cheers
Nice looking unit. Chicagoland ground H2O is still pretty cold in April. You will always need to watch with changing H20 temps and pressure. I am think about a homemade glycol or water chiller. If you return the cooling wort to the tank for whirlpool you should bring under the surface and cover. Back in the day we whirlpooled, cooled and had cold break settlers in commercial operations prior to fermentation. Need to be clean.
Try chilling while recirculation in the boil kettle for whirlpool additions.
Use a holding tank, rainwater catch system. Attach pump to holding tank, return hot water from chiller to holding tank. Might be warmer in Summer, but at least you get to re-use the cooling water, time after time!
Cody Garner And then you possibly get all that algae and microbial growth inside your chiller’s jacket. I’d rather collect clean water and use for cleaning and maybe laundry or even flashing the toilet.
Back in the day (the mid to late 90s) I used to own a Chillzilla CFC that I loved. At the end of each brew session, I would simply disconnect the hose water from the chiller, boil some freshwater in the kettle and run it through the chiller boiling hot for about 5-minutes. I would then resanitize it prior to the next brew session but I never had an infected beer with it. After a 20 year hiatus, I have decided to get back into homebrewing and I have purchased the ChilLex CFC (the most budget-friendly) from eBay (arrives before the end of the week), I'll make a review video of it one of these days including the wort flow regulator I have made to go on it.
A suggestion for your chiller would be to get one of the screw-on hose ball valves (from any hardware store) to install on the chiller end of the hose to allow you to adjust your cooling water flow at the chiller rather than having to run outside to the spigot.
I loved the video!
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY I understand, and I didn't get a complete picture of your total setup, it was only a suggestion. Thanks for the reply!
Great video Larry, I look forward to seeing how the cfc works out.
With an immersion chiller you don't have to worry about cleaning too much, just rinse it off and maybe blow out the water inside of it.
I made two of my own. One similar to yours and another all copper. I ruined the all copper by leaving it in my garage in January and it froze. Copper tubing is still valued for scrap.
Both chillers worked great. Better than immersion but if you are only brewing 5 gallon batches they are probably not worth it. I also have a plate chiller but never use it as I reverted back to 5 gallon batches.
I now use a smallish immersion chiller and make most of my batches in the winter. I harness the power of Mother Nature. Less is more....
I have never used an immersion chiller, instead opting for my homemade counterflow chiller. One big difference, I used my 120 QT marine ice chest and a recirc pump to recirculate iced water from the ice chest. I can have a 10 gallon batch to pitching temp within about 6-7 minutes. Of course there is the 40 lbs of ice I add to the ice chest to take into account.
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY I do a lot of whirlpool additions after flameout. So my norm is to start wort circulation through the clean system to sanitize it while boiling, then at flameout, turn on the chiller pump to bring the temp down rapidly to what ever temp I want, i.e. 170'ish for hop additions, 160 for agave nectars, 120 for honey, etc... Then maintain the temp for however long I need for what I'm doing in the whirlpool. Then kick on the chiller pump again to bring to pitching temps just prior to redirecting the flow to the fermenter.
You might try recirculating the chilled wort back into your kettle, Oberon you might not tell the difference but other beers I have made had chill haze from the hot break occurring in the fermenter instead of the kettle. I could be wrong. I need to do a test with an immersion chiller and a counter flow. One other question what was your water temp? And does it change through the year? Good video Larry! 👍🍻
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY I'm thinking about it. Maybe use the counter flow for half the batch then immersion chill the rest.. We'll see.
Great video! I bought one of these and a pump. I've yet to use it.. Soon! It takes my immersion 30min to chill. Hoping to reduce that time as well.
I have the Exchilerator Maax and absolutely love it!
Cool video, brother 👍🏼. I’d love to be a part of a brew video sometime. Cheers 🍻
Just let me know.. I’ll do everything I can to be there. Btw.. I think I’m gonna film that alternate opener at home and simply tell the story while using b roll. I may change my mind but I’m not totally sure. Gonna try to launch Saturday but time is scarce. Hope you’re well. I feel so bad about that other clip. I must have screwed something up. I was truly the weakest link Friday lol.
I've been considering a counterflow chiller when I go to all electric, since I'll need to buy a new chiller anyway. I've really liked my plate chiller but worry at times about it getting clogged. It hasn't yet but this thing you reviewed looks awesome! Cheers!
You're a very valuable web video; could not make it without ya!
That’s why you whirlpool the chiller wort back into the kettle until your at pitching temp...
No, a counter-flow chiller is most effective when the temperature difference is high. If you recirculate, as the wort cools the chilling becomes slower and slower.
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY i like to keep the cold break in the kettle. each to there own as long as the beer is good. =)
Could you do a closed loop chiller, run water through the wort to a pump through the coils in a jockey box and back to the wort?
I'm guessing that you would need more tubing in the jockey box than the wort to have sufficient heat transfer.
Thanks for the new vid, very helpful.
You need to install a needle valve in your water pressure side to control the flow...Bro
I prefer fewer things to clean. I suppose if I had a pump setup that wouldn't be as much of a concern but for now I'll stick with my copper cobra.
Couldn't you hook this up using a circulation pump while running ice water through your cooler like you would/do when using your normal immersion chiller? Saves on water
Once again a great video, Larry! I was wondering what kind of pump you’re using 🤔
Larry look at you dude... approaching 50k subs that's money baby...
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY I've been looking at this recipe this is one of my favorite styles are you using the Bell's House Yeast?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Nice! I'll be watching for the taste test with you and Chad in a few weeks... I'm brewing David Heath's Citrus Orange Wit today fermenting with Omega's Voss Kveik... it's a thirst quencher for sure!
Larry, would be great to know your tap water temp for reference.
You should review one of the jaded immersion chillers
Love my jaded chiller
I have the JaDeD Cleanable Counterflow Chiller and I freaking love it!
I was thinking about the wasted water that was produced. What if you bought an R/O system, and cycled that for your next brew water. I do have the RO300, but there is a HbrewO system that would work as well. I have a float that shuts the water off when my buckets fill.
Thanks, seemed objective.
These are awesome! Great vid! Cheers 🍻
Great Video Larry! I'm still on the fence with the counter flow chillers, The not knowing how clean it is on the inside..... and not wanting to PBW wash after every batch. keep us posted Cheers!!
I know I'm late on this but could you use the counterflow chiller by using a submersion pump as you did with your immersion chiller?
Do you have to send it back? If not, then the product is the payment.
I agree with you, with your original immersion chiller. What is your thoughts about pressure brewing? I see a lot of people getting some great results and less Lagering time. And great for big hoppy ales. I'm looking forward to buying the new revised Fermentisuris V2 with a upgraded 3" butterfly and a larger opening for cleaning and improved stainless steel stand with 2 versions 27L and 50L
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY I have seen a few videos on TH-cam on pressure brewing and the benefits of the process, short Lagering time as short as 7 days start to finish. Another benefit is the process forces, sediment to be fall out under pressure and clear up super fast. Less chance of any bacterial infections, less yeast easters are produced, higher fermenting temperatures for Largering, half carbonated beer. And you could ferment Lagering time and discard of sediment and serve from one vessel. I saw many years back about 6 to 7 years back when I saw the Williams warn pressure brewing system.
Great video, Larry. And way to keep an open mind! On the topic of chilling wort, have you tried a heat exchanger? Like you, I've only really used a submersion chiller, but a buddy has a brew system with an exchanger that seemed to work pretty good with not too much extra water usage. @Short Circuited Brewers mentioned something I've never heard of with the chill haze I'm going to have to research. Thanks for the video!
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Good point, I was thinking more of the small radiator looking designs. But you're right, this is effectively doing the same thing. The Blichmann Therminator being an example
Just curious, would you not have a similar amount of waste water using an immersion chiller?
Hi, how to clean inside the copper tube where the wort passes?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY thanks, 🍻
Could you just save the buckets of water and pour them directly into your washer to wash clothes so that it's not wasted? I'd be a little scared of overflow, but I'm not sure. Thoughts?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Ah, that's clever. I'll do the same and maybe test the washer theory out as well. I suppose I would always transfer some to a water can and water the flowers as well. Just seems like so much leftover water to just pour out.
Could you use the same 55 gal drum of water as a closed system?
Did you have a follow up for this video?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Thanks for the reply! I guess considering that you're still using it, it must be good :)
So I guess it comes down to "slower cooling, easy boil sanitizing, cleaning", or "fast cooling, but with more in-depth cleaning requirement". Cleaning is the most fun part about brewing...lol
Couldn't you adapt this to the recirculation setup you use for your older wort chiller coil (cooler with ice water) and maybe use less ice?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY It would be interesting to see since the counterflow is more efficient it should take less time to chill it down. Good stuff on your channel Larry I like rewatching some of your videos. You need to drink more Beer so you can make more brewing videos :)
sorry if i missed this, but what was the ground water temp?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY thanks for the reply! I've learned a lot from your channel.
Larry, do you recall what your tap water temp was when you were chilling?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY I'll be interested to know how that changes as your tap water temp increases. Typically a 10 degree differential.
Larry esta muy bien el enfriador
Washing laundry is a good way to use that collected waste water, im guilty of just letting in run into my grass though. Shame on me!
Fountain pump, cooler of free McDonald's ice, some water, and a wort chiller. Water circulates cooling the wort with little water waste.
McDonald's gives free ice there my mc d's a buncha cheap asses.
40lbs ice, water pump, big ass bucket done chiller don't matter.
Have a little less beer before shooting next video