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Wort chilling: money available, solution desperately wanted

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galapagos jim:
Hey brewers, I'm hoping you can help me figure out what kind of a wort chilling solution to buy. I've got some birthday money to spend and an eye to speed up my brew day.

My current solution is a copper immersion chiller fed from the garden tap. Shut off gas, insert IC and stir... stir... stir... after a half hour I'm somewhere around 85F, going nowhere, and usually give up, drain the kettle and put the fermenter in the chest freezer and check it later. (FWIW, ground water here in Seattle is reasonably chilly, less so in the summer.)

I'm impatient, especially at that point when I've spent 4+ hours setting up and brewing and now I want to be done with the project, pitch the yeast, clean up and move on with my day. So I want to find a more efficient chilling solution.

I've read about counterflow chillers. I've read about plate chillers. I've read about recirculation. I have no experience with any of them and no idea which option is right for me. Maybe there's another solution I haven't heard about yet.

What do you recommend? What's a good option for quickly cooling wort? I've got $100 to spend, though if you think it's worth spending more, supplemental funds might be found (or possibly brought by Santa Claus).

ccfoo242:
At about 120F I switch to using a pond pump in an ice bath and recirculate that through the immersion chiller. I can take pictures of it when I get home tonight. I got the pump at Harbor Freight for about $45, then added some quick disconnects for my hose and pump. Usually at pitching temperature in about 40 minutes.

*Sent from the future using Tapatalk Quantum Edition*

morticaixavier:
okay, take 10$ and buy 10 .5 litre bottles of water. carefully remove the label without scratching the plastic surface. Place in freezer. after your IC gets you down to 85 sanitize some of the frozen bottles and put them in the wort. move them around a bit.

now figure out what you are going to buy with your other 90 bucks!

denny:
Buy a March pump and recirculate while chilling.  In addition, you can use it for a lot of other stuff, some not even brewing related.  I recently used mine to empty my waterbed!

galapagos jim:

--- Quote from: denny on December 04, 2012, 11:51:47 am ---Buy a March pump and recirculate while chilling.  In addition, you can use it for a lot of other stuff, some not even brewing related.  I recently used mine to empty my waterbed!

--- End quote ---

March pump is on the way. That's why I've only got $100 of birthday money left! :D

What do I need for a recirculating setup? Do I just run a hose from the outlet of the pump into the kettle? Am I attempting to create a whirlpool?

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