[weithman5]

faster flow rate does drop temperature faster. the outlet water will not heat up as much that is true but the heat transfer rate from hot to cold will increase with faster flow rates.  in fact, they use this phenomenon in some cases to actually measure fluid flow rates by maintaining a heating element at a constant temperature. the higher the energy input required to maintain the temp the higher  the wind, water speed

[morticaixavier]

faster flow rate does drop temperature faster. the outlet water will not heat up as much that is true but the heat transfer rate from hot to cold will increase with faster flow rates.  in fact, they use this phenomenon in some cases to actually measure fluid flow rates by maintaining a heating element at a constant temperature. the higher the energy input required to maintain the temp the higher  the wind, water speed

That's interesting I always assumed that if the water coming out was hotter it was cooling faster. but that does make sense. On the other hand if you are paying for your water, or live in a drought stricken area there is a trade off between speed of chilling and water used. I guess if you are recircing and using ice it's less of issue.

[bluesman]

I use muslin hop bags to help keep the hop particles down. I use a CFC to chill the wort. After the beer has been chilled, I let it sit in the fermenter to settle for about 30 min then siphon into a second fermenter leaving the trub behind. It seems to work well for me.

[tubercle]

I don't really worry a lot about this part of the process. Whirlpool after cooling down to about 80f (all my well water will do in a reasonable time), drain through mesh stuffed in a big funnel and then let the wort sit in the converted chest freezer over night to get down to pitching temps. What gets through doesn't seem to hurt anything.

[Will's Swill]

I've got a plate chiller, and I've been toying with the idea of skipping the whole pre-chilling-into-the-chiller as it seems like too much work.  Seems you could just immerse the plate chiller itself in ice and get the same effect....has anyone tried this?

If you immerse in ice water, that would probably work.  You won't have a lot of surface area in contact with the ice water, but it should still help.

I use muslin hop bags to help keep the hop particles down. I use a CFC to chill the wort. After the beer has been chilled, I let it sit in the fermenter to settle for about 30 min then siphon into a second fermenter leaving the trub behind. It seems to work well for me.

+1 this is my standard procedure as well except I use reusable nylon hop bags.

[bluesman]

I don't really worry a lot about this part of the process.  Whirlpool after cooling down to about 80f (all my well water will do in a reasonable time), drain through mesh stuffed in a big funnel and then let the wort sit in the converted chest freezer over night to get down to pitching temps. What gets through doesn't seem to hurt anything.

I've been seriously considering trying the whirlpool chiller. I like the idea of gathering the trub in the middle of the kettle and siphoning off.

With the CFC, the wort and trub is chilled then siphoned off after chilling. With the whirlpool chiller I'll save a step.

[Will's Swill]

I do occasionally use an immersion chiller (in fact I will tomorrow), but I skip the pump circulation-induced whirlpool.  That's just more equipment I'd have to set up, clean, and tear down.  When I use the immersion chiller, I just drain the kettle through a screen to separate the trub.

[dons]

FWIW, I just went through the same process the author of this thread indicates regarding the constant clearing of the filter as the wort is being funneled into the PF.  It's a pain, even though I use a hop bag.  I must have had to clean it 10 times yesterday.  I don't see much of a way around this at this point other than to concoct a better filtration system as has been described above.

As far as the chilling goes, I still take the lazy approach and it seems to work fine.  I use an immersion chiller and ice-bath to drop the temp to 80F in 10 minutes.  Then I put the carboy in its fermentation spot - a wine cooler set for 65F - wait 4 hours, remove it, shake it, pitch the yeast, shake it and back into the cooler.  As I said, works fine for me.  I don't think there is any drawback in the 4 hours to get the wort from 80 to 65F - once it got to 80 so quickly.

[Will's Swill]

Are you using muslin hop bags?  If you still want to go the hop bag route, try the reusable fine mesh nylon hop bags.  They work great for me.  I use a small individual hops bag for each hop charge when I'm brewing batches around five gallons, or one big bag that I hang in the brew with paper clips clamping it to the side of the kettle when I brew bigger batches.