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Author Topic: Stainless Counterflow Chiller  (Read 4842 times)

Offline a10t2

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Re: Stainless Counterflow Chiller
« Reply #15 on: April 28, 2019, 09:24:16 am »
Looks good - how efficient is it?  I have stainless CFC but run through a pump and recirculate with a SS WIC also... but I am sure that copper is quicker.  Yes?

With the caveat that there's a lot of hand-waving involved, I'd say it's ~2/3 as thermally efficient as a properly-sized plate chiller, but in a home brewing setting that means using maybe 11 gal of water to knock out a 5 gal batch, instead of 8 gal.

I ran a couple quick trials (they're below the actual build instructions) and for an "ale" knockout (wort outlet 12°C above water inlet) it ran a 2.3 ratio, about the same as the copper chiller. At least in theory, the longer the tubing is relative to its diameter, the less effect wall material/thickness will have on heat transfer. The all-stainless CFCs that are on the market (KegCo et al) use shorter runs of larger tubing, so this should be significantly more efficient.
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Offline jkingsto

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Re: Stainless Counterflow Chiller
« Reply #16 on: May 28, 2019, 12:48:33 pm »
From the looks of it, the wort only travels through the stainless tube, so is there any reason to make the rest of the parts stainless?

Offline a10t2

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Re: Stainless Counterflow Chiller
« Reply #17 on: May 28, 2019, 01:28:07 pm »
From the looks of it, the wort only travels through the stainless tube, so is there any reason to make the rest of the parts stainless?

Partly for durability, partly for geekiness, partly to eliminate galvanic response (see: geekiness), mostly because when ordering online there's no price difference.
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Beer is like porn. You can buy it, but it's more fun to make your own.
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