Herms coil in BK for chilling

[DMA]

Has anyone ever done something like this? I'm considering adding a herms coil to the BK for the chilling process. This way, I can connect a chilling system (glycol or similar) and cool the wort, while in within the bk, without the need for an immersion, counterflow, or plate chiller...not to mention the water savings. Would this work? What do you think?

 

[don_bran321]

Has anyone ever done something like this? I'm considering adding a herms coil to the BK for the chilling process. This way, I can connect a chilling system (glycol or similar) and cool the wort, while in within the bk, without the need for an immersion, counterflow, or plate chiller...not to mention the water savings. Would this work? What do you think?

Absolutely. People do it all the time. I'm not sure I would necessarily use glycol just in case of a leak but definitely will work with water

 

[don_bran321]

Absolutely. People do it all the time. I'm not sure I would necessarily use glycol just in case of a leak but definitely will work with water

Look up 2 vessel brew setups

 

[mirthfuldragon]

When I was still looking at going 3v, I was leaning towards building the HERMS coil into the lid of the HLT, then you can move the HERMS coil from the HLT to the boil kettle, swap the lines for cold water, and presto, instant immersion chiller.

In full disclosure, I went BIAB a year ago and haven't looked back since. YMMV, of course.

 

[DMA]

Thanx to all! Proof, as always, that supporting the forum is worth it's weight in gold...

LIQUID GOLD!

 

[don_bran321]

When I was still looking at going 3v, I was leaning towards building the HERMS coil into the lid of the HLT, then you can move the HERMS coil from the HLT to the boil kettle, swap the lines for cold water, and presto, instant immersion chiller.

In full disclosure, I went BIAB a year ago and haven't looked back since. YMMV, of course.

I hear you on that one. I went all out with the 3v e-herms system, but it's such a pain to put together and tear down/clean every few weeks. I'm thinking of going biab as well.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

I hear you on that one. I went all out with the 3v e-herms system, but it's such a pain to put together and tear down/clean every few weeks. I'm thinking of going biab as well.

I have no regrets, other than spending money on 3v gear. A ratchet pulley is a game-changer as well, well worth the $7 off of Amazon.

 

[RocketBrewer]

I did it and ended up taking it out. I brew in my garage and didn't want to pull out a dripping immersion chiller and carry it outside. I used a 50' stainless coil hard plumbed through the keggle wall. I was using a CIP ball and PBW to clean after a brew. It seemed to be working great, but during a brew, I noticed some material floating in there that didn't look like normal hot break. After the brew and cleanup, I took the coil out and sure enough there was some buildup on the backside of the coils where the CIP was not actively splashing it. There wasn't enough room between the keggle wall and the coils for me to actively clean the coils so I just removed it and built a counter flow chiller that hangs on the front of the brew stand. I would also imagine that unless you had a pretty powerful glycol chiller, you would overwhelm it pretty fast trying to chill boiling liquid to pitching temps.

 

[mongoose33]

It'll depend on how much capacity your glycol chiller has. I have a Penguin, about as good as you're going to get. It has a 2-gallon reservoir (other chillers have larger reservoirs). I typically keep it at 28 degrees for cold crashing a fermenter, but for the sake of argument, let's assume 30 degrees.

Let's also assume you have 6 gallons in the BK at 212 degrees.

If my math is at all correct, or even close, you're going to drop that boiling wort about 60 degrees....maybe. Probably not that much. Then the chiller will have to work to try to keep the glycol cold enough. My penguin is good, VERY good, but it's not that good.

Further, maximum chilling comes from the greatest temp differences possible. Once you start recirculating into a chiller's reservoir, you start heating up that liquid, which reduces the temp differential.

I can see you doing this with water from a faucet or garden hose or whatever, but I have great reservations that a glycol chiller will perform as you'd like. Eventually it'll get you there, but it's not going to be fast.