Will this pump do the job?

[Chicago_Eric_]

I just bought a 10m copper roll to make my IC. My original intention was to chill with the ice water pump re-circulation method. Mainly because I live in an apartment and don't have a yard for runoff. My tap water is 65 F at the moment, probably will warm up a bit as it gets hotter, I live in Madrid, Spain. I've read that you just burn through ice unnecessarily until wort gets a bit down in temp, but what makes more sense? Waste more water or ice? Also will this pump be a good choice? It's listed as 3000L/h and I was looking for ones that had the same 18mm diameter as my copper.

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00X997TF8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[IslandLizard]

It depends on what costs more, water or ice.

First use tap water and capture the hot water from the coil output in a couple buckets and use for cleanup. If you have more hot water, capture the rest in more buckets, or a larger (plastic) vat. Let cool to water plants, flush toilets, wash dishes, cars, etc. Or discard.

Once you get within 30-40 °C of pitching temps, you may want to add ice and pump. Depending on the output water temps, if it's high, recirculation will melt the ice faster, so capturing or discarding may still be the better option. Once the temp difference becomes much smaller, recirculation becomes more economical.

Moving that coil around inside the kettle will help chill it faster, wasting much less water.

Using the capturing and only late recirculation method, I may use 3-5 pounds of ice total, if that. Ground water here is around 60-65F in Summer.

That pump should work fine, but only has 3 meters of head, which means if it's on the ground and needs to pump 2 meters up, your flow will be only 1/3 of the maximum of 3000 l/h, which is around 1000 l/h (~16 l/m) which is probably still plenty. There is also some coil resistance, so flow may be a little less.

There's also the no-chill method, often used in Australia. Worth considering.

 

[LittleRiver]

What I do is collect 5 gallons (19 litres) of water in a bucket, and 5 gallons of water in an insulated cooler to which I add 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of ice. I use an inexpensive water transfer pump for recirculation. I chose not to use a submersible pump, because it would displace volume, reducing the amount of water available for cooling.

I recirculate first from the bucket. The resulting hot water in the bucket is saved for clean up. I then move the hoses to the cooler to finish with the ice water. The resulting warm water is used for rinsing during cleanup. I clean the copper immersion cooler by dunking it in the warm water in the cooler.

I've found this to be very effective, efficient, and hassle free. Use crushed ice if you can, the increased surface area helps with heat transfer (when compared to large solid blocks of ice).