Wort Chiller Selection Basics for a Good Homebrewing Experience

Using a wort chiller is an excellent way to bring down the temperature of your wort for pitching your yeast. This is called the Cold Break and using a chiller is called Crash Cooling.

In the world of home brewing, yeast is your greatest ally, while bacteria is your darkest nemesis. The period between just after turning off the heat source and the time it takes to allow the wort to cool to the yeast's comfort zone of 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (21 - 21 degrees Celcius) is the time when your wort is the most susceptible to bacterial contamination!

This is why you want to bring down the temperature (anywhere from 140 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit) as fast as possible. And besides bacterial contamination, a slowly cooling wort continues to produce dimethyl sulfide which tends to add a dulling butterscotch flavor to the beer. In addition, rapid cooling preserves fresher hop aromatics and helps settle trub (protein and hop particles) for a clearer, less hazy beer.

Though not a necessity, wort chillers can greatly improve your homebrewing experience. Without them, you're stuck either letting the wort sit for several hours until it cools and risk bacterial contamination, or go through several store bought bags of ice in the sink while still taking a long time.

If you've decided to purchase a wort chiller, there are three types to consider:

The Immersion Wort Chiller

An immersion chiller uses coil of either 3/8" copper or stainless steel tubing ranging from 25 to 50 feet that is immersed in the brew kettle, then vinyl hoses are attached to the male and female couplings to run cold water from a hose through the tubing and out the other end. Depending on the length of the chiller, it takes roughly fifteen minutes to bring down a boil to about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. For a few extra bucks, stainless steel lasts longer, is easier to clean and transfers heat more efficiently. The real difference is in the 25 to 50 foot jump, which brings a faster cool at almost double the price, so that choice is purely economical.

Another great thing about an immersion wort chiller is that it is perfect for the beginner as it is a fairly easy process. Even better, dropping it into the boil during the final five minutes disinfects the chiller, and all you have to do is leave it in there during the transfer.

Some negatives include the use of running water for about 15 minutes (my well water goes back to mother nature, but not without my family's waste), and none of them come with a kitchen faucet converter; it's only meant for garden hoses. I'd recommend one here, but faucets are different shapes and you'll need to size it and run to the hardware store for a proper fit, just get some extra hose clamps because they have a tendency to come with cheap ones, no matter the brand. As well, get the ones with the tubes, otherwise shopping for yet another item at a higher price is just a pain.

Counterflow Wort Chillers

Counterflow chillers are faster and more efficient, reducing both time and water usage. It appears similar to an immersion chiller, but the way in which it accomplishes its achievement is in the way the wort is run through the chiller. Cold water is run through one tube while wort is run through another tube within the same coil. This reduces cooling time to about half that of an immersion chiller. But it comes at about twice the cost and requires enough of a gravity feet as well as a ball valve on the brew kettle to run the wort into the fermenter. The biggest pain is in the sterilization, which requires a sterilizing solution to run through the wort tube exactly right, otherwise it can introduce bacteria, which is exactly what it's supposed to avoid!

Plate Wort Chillers

Plate Chillers are compact counterflow chillers that use a series of metal plates to accomplish the heat exchange. Water is run from the intake to the outtake, while wort flows in a similar fashion parallel to the water. It is the fastest of the three choices for achieving excellent cold break. It's also the type of item that is for the advanced hobbyist or homebrewer, since it will require a makeshift permanent stand, multiple hose connections. They're also by far the most expensive, and require a high-temperature pump to push the wort through. Plus you still need to disinfect the interior pathways, which tend to be small and difficult to get to.

Recommendations

I like the 50 foot stainless steel immersion wort chillers with all the hoses. They're priced well for the beginning home brewer, last a long time, do the trick and require basic expertise while impressing the wife, girlfriend or friends. Plus it's the cheapest of the three types, just consider upgrading within this category to the 50 foot stainless steel!

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I Like This One Best

Same Good Quality, Just Smaller and Cheaper

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