Lawrence Brewers Guild

I found a site where a guy describes his counterflow chiller design that he made (or stole, whatever). He added .040 diameter copper wire along the length of the copper pipe to add turbulence to the water, which he states increases the heat transfer rate and chills his beer quicker.
Let me know what you all think of this design.

http://sdcollins.home.mindspring.com/Co ... iller.html

He does have a point. To prove it, a immersion chiller needs to be moved occasionly during the cooling process so stratification around the coils doesnt happen. This keeps hot wert against the cooling coils at all times. On this design it the same theory, and a good one at that. I like this design way better than the convoluted cfc's as these are tons harder to keep clean which imo, has more places for the little bad guys to hide......effiecincy isnt everything when it comes to cfc's........nice link........thanks!

I like his design, the wire to cause turbulence is a good concept.

Bill; interested in building one? I'm game.

cyburai wrote:I like his design, the wire to cause turbulence is a good concept.

Bill; interested in building one? I'm game.

Ive built numerous cfc's. If you need help or a parts list, let me know........

cyburai wrote:I like his design, the wire to cause turbulence is a good concept.

Bill; interested in building one? I'm game.

Heck yeah! Though I asked Jeff what he wanted for his counterflow he has in the Swapmeet section. Maybe we could use his existing copper.
How hard would it be to put already coiled copper into a garden hose? Or is that the usual process?

While were on the subject of cfc's, i think before you get to excited there are a few very important things that need to be known. Cleaning and sanitizing is lots harder. Expecially the cleaning part. A flush of water to rinse the wert out is not anywhere near enuff. Here is my cleaning cycle "AFTER" every session.

Backflush w/ hot tap water immeidatly after the session. Backwards, opposite direction of the wert flow.

Load cfc by back flushing w/hot PBW or the cleaning mixture of oxyclean and tsp90 for a overnite soak. This works if you have no pump. But pumping the hot mixture backwards for 10-15 minutes is preferred, then 24 hr load soak.

After the 24hr. soak, backflush hot water thru until clean. Then drain, store dry. Some store wet w/ iodophor. I prefer storing dry.

You will be amazed of the buildup after a few sessions on the inside of these things. You gotta keep this stuff out or bacteria will grow.

Also, never leave a acid based sanitizer (starsan) in contact w/ soft alloys for more than 24 hrs. This includes your cfc. This is a pain in the butt. But the effeciency you gain w/a cfc outweighs this pain. Again, its up to you, but something to seriously think about..........again, ive built numerous cfc's so if you want help, just holler........

I would think that shorter lengths of wire spaced along the copper tube would provide more turbulence than a continuous length. That would cause it to circulate then stop circulate the stop.
Say a foot of wire, none for two feet, a foot of wire etc.

I'm in Andy I need a parts list.
Chuck

Actually, in response to Andy's "tons harder to keep clean" quote, the wort will be in the copper so it will never come into contact with the .04 'turbulance' wire, so I see no added sanitation issues with this method.
Maybe I'm not reading his sentence correctly.

Either way, I want a CFC (along w/ many other things) and would like to be in on actually making one of these things. Please let me know if/when this will come to be.

for that matter, I have never seen a CFC in action.

Bill wrote:Actually, in response to Andy's "tons harder to keep clean" quote, the wort will be in the copper so it will never come into contact with the .04 'turbulance' wire, so I see no added sanitation issues with this method.
Maybe I'm not reading his sentence correctly.

Either way, I want a CFC (along w/ many other things) and would like to be in on actually making one of these things. Please let me know if/when this will come to be.

for that matter, I have never seen a CFC in action.

Im talking about the buildup inside the copper from the wert. This needs to be addressed as part of a cleaning cycle of some sort. When i clean, the chunks of dirty wert that comes loose is enuff to clog a strainer if you let it go to long. This is a bacteria generator. And since its on the cold side, your risk of an infection is increased. Anybody is welcome to come by, see it in action, and get a parts list anytime. If you want to see the chunks in my cleaning solution, you can see that too. I was just as amazed. Others may not see it this way, but at the volumes i brew, i need to worry about this.

Built one last weekend. Took so long that the wort was cool already. I sweat soldered the wire in place at the ends to keep it in place while pushing it into the hose.

So you haven't tested it yet? We should do a side by side test some time and see if it really does chill faster w/ the wire attached.