3 replies to this topic

[kbhale]

Has anyone used a coil of tubing in a bucket of ice water instead of a counter flow chiller? My sump pump is dying out after three years and I'm going to need to spend some money for cooling. My brewing style tends to have chunky stuff in the wort. So Shirron and Therminator would not be a good option for me. I use a March pump to keep the wort in motion while cooling. My thoughts after tap water has petered out is to just quick connect the march pump to a coil in ice water and pump it back to the boil pot till cool. Just looking for some ideas to consider and things I need to think about. Size and length and type of tubing?

[BrewerGeorge]

If it were me I'd spend the money on a new sump pump instead of another chiller coil. You don't have to keep a pump clean and sanitary - I hate trying to get all the water out of a coil at the end of a brew day. A pump would probably be cheaper, too, especially after you factor in another set of QD's for a new coil.

[3rd party JKor]

Should work just fine. I use a CFC and recirc back to the kettle until I'm where I want to be, but my ground water peaks in the low 60s, so that's easy for me.How about if you have your cooling coil in a bucket for the whole chill, continuously recirc'ing the wort through the coil. At the beginning just run your tap water into the bucket, when the wort temp gets near the limit of the tap water, drain the water and dump ice in the bucket. That way you don't have to worry about changing out connections, etc.

[3rd party JKor]

Harbor freight sump pumps are pretty damn cheap.