Wort Chillers and Cold Crashers

[Stonecutter]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of making a big CCVM coil and using it as a cold crasher.
Here’s a link to a commercial site pretty much doing just that but I figure I could twist up my own for half the price.
https://spikebrewing.com/products/temp-control-coil

My only hesitation is that the coils might pick up quite a bit of flocculation but then again I think if drained gently it wouldn’t be a problem.

What do you all think?

[Salt Must Flow]

I don't know if it would be worth while. It would take a lot of cold water to recirculate in order to chill it adequately. If you're not recirculating cold water then that's a whole lot of water to be sent down the drain just to chill it. It would also need to stay cold for a good amount of time for it to cold crash. Cold weather works to your advantage if you can just push the fermenter outdoors for a while. Clearing agents are more convenient. Others will say time costs nothing (other than time) for it to clear on its own.

[Stonecutter]

Ferment is normally sitting at 70F/20C give or take by the time it’s done. Obviously I’d hook the coil up to a pond pump in a cooler full of ice and just enough water to submerge the pump. I do believe I could get some damage done before the ice ran out.
Unfortunately the fermenter isn’t moving while it’s full and I don’t care much for clearing agents.

My other idea is to duct tape some hose around the SS fermenter and run cold water through it. However, I believe sweating would be a problem and plastic isn’t the most ideal material for thermal transfer.

[MooseMan]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of making a big CCVM coil and using it as a cold crasher.
Here’s a link to a commercial site pretty much doing just that but I figure I could twist up my own for half the price.
https://spikebrewing.com/products/temp-control-coil

My only hesitation is that the coils might pick up quite a bit of flocculation but then again I think if drained gently it wouldn’t be a problem.

What do you all think?

You could hook your coil (Wort chiller) up to a beer cooler unit and get the job done really quickly with zero water waste?

I have the smallest sized chiller with only 2x lines that I run corny kegs from, and in full summer, with warm kegs out in the sun, it chills the beer to crisp cold drinking temp no problem at all, so if you were to cycle it through a coil it would be super efficient.

[greggn]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of making a big CCVM coil and using it as a cold crasher.

I use 3/4" CSST as a wort chiller. It's wound with a large radius so that it just fits through the mouth of my Speidel fermenters. It's quite effective and quite similar to what your proposing.

[Stonecutter]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of making a big CCVM coil and using it as a cold crasher.

I use 3/4" CSST as a wort chiller. It's wound with a large radius so that it just fits through the mouth of my Speidel fermenters. It's quite effective and quite similar to what your proposing.

Now that’s what I’m talking about, Brilliant!
I’m assuming just an MPT to hose Barb fitting for the CSST

[greggn]

I’m assuming just an MPT to hose Barb fitting for the CSST

Not even. The CSST was a cutoff so I just hose-clamped my lines. I'm only chilling to pitch temperatures and putting it back on the shelf, not cold crashing, so my build was never needed to be "installed" or "permanent."

[Demy]

I use this system at the end of the boil when I prepare the beer, it is very easy to clean compared to other methods but it could consume a lot of water (which can be used for cleaning for example). I adopted another system: 2 coils, the first inside a bucket of iced water, the second inside the beer: the water passes first into the iced bucket then into the beer... thus cooling is rapid.

[Stonecutter]

Well I’m sure as hell gonna try it as a cold crasher.
10-4 on the clamps greggn