Just wondering if anyone has bought one of these and if they are as good as they say? I just received the new Hopcat 50 litre and I don't think my bulldog chiller will cut it, it used to take around 20 minutes to chill a 23 litre batch with that.
I have seen lots of people raving about the Grainfathers counterflow chiller and you can buy thse in the uk for around the £140/£150 mark, would that be a better option?
https://www.geterbrewed.ie/the-chillinator/
Takes me about 20 minutes to transfer using the gf CF chiller so I don't think it's any quicker but it does remove the step of transferring separately
Brewdorg has one says his is very good, drop him a message for info.
I was going to get one but decided to build one instead, very easy build. Built for under 100 euro, cheaper if you have tools and solder etc. I recirc and whirlpool, can get 25 liters down to pitch in about 11 minutes, just as fast as my plate chiller that I don't use anymore
Yep I have this. It's decent but really not worth that money. It was around 100 when I got it 2 years ago. In Winter I'll get my 22L batch down to pitching temps in 15 mins with some stirring. Takes the usual 20-25 in Summer.
The problem is that the input and output pipe is the same diameter as the coil pipe. Had they used a larger diameter pipe, you could put double the water through it and it would chill much quicker. Look at the Jaded Hydra below to see what I mean. Like I said, it's grand and does the job but it's not as good as it could be.
(http://www.brewunited.com/images/chiller_comparison.jpg)
Is it possible to recirculate your wort when chilling?
I.e. Run your pump while chilling.
I do this on Braumeister, 20mins gets to pitching with a regular immersion chiller.
Increased movement of liquid on both sides is a much of a factor as surface area.
If using pellet hop, or leaf in a bag, add a tube to the return so as to minimise splashing (not hugely familiar with bulldog, hopcat, ace, brewmonk, arsegan, etc.)
These masses of copper are sometimes not necessary.
Also, consider a second 'feeder' coil, sitting in a batch of ice.
Here's mine
Input pipe is larger than the coil, whirlpool with pump and it chills as fast if not faster than a plate chillers (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190209/850f81e6ea2b6d3b8e4cc15720ee85e9.jpg)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks everyone, I reckon I will pass on the Chillinator anyway.
John - they don't recommend using the pump for chilling because of hop deris etc but I do have a spare pump that I could connect to the tap and recirculate that way. I think I will try that before buying anything.
Failing that I found a 50ft immersion chiller on Amazon for €100 that doesn't seem too bad.
I bodged together a makeshift counterflow chiller using the copper from an old immersion chiller if that's any use to you? Handy enough to do and it's very effective.
I more or less did the following, but I used pex piping and compression fittings.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/diy-counterflow-wort-chiller-build.537126/
Thanks Helmet. I think I will try recirculating first with the immersion first and see how that goes. Did you find the counterflow good?
It works great, a little too good at times. Last winter I had wort coming out into the fermenter at around 14°, during the summer when the ground water's a bit warmer it tends to be about 20 on first run.
I got my hands on a Bulldog Master brewer recently and haven't used it since (I'm using the immersion chiller that came with the kit and am recirculating like suggested already).