I'm contemplating purchasing a 20 or 50 litre Braumeister at some point in the next 6 months. I'd like to ask if anyone has tested the traditional tube type immersion wort chiller against the new Plus model water jacket? How do they compare to each other? Which method is better? etc
IMO REALLY REALLY would ignore the 'plus' chiller unless some one gets one and says "they are better than sliced bread" ('cos IMO they never will)
They have been discussed here. Search box should find the threads. Simpley put it a contact surface area thing !
Thanks for your reply. I've searched but nothing definitive except reading between the lines that the jacket is certainly not worth the extra outlay. Jaded chiller and the turbo chiller are great and have lots of surface area but are a sod to maintain in a clean condition. Used immersion chillers previously and hated the amount of cleaning required and now favour counterflow chillers instead after making a number of them recently.
in defence of the immersion chiller (oddly, i never thought i'd be defending them...) i have the speidel own-brand stainless steel one and it's super easy to clean, just a rinse and once-over with a sponge and it's grand, at the absolute most a quick soak in the BM while i'm cleaning it with PBW. it works just fine and never gives problems. also it's great for doing extended hop stands where you cool down below aa-isomerization temps (<80) and leave your hops to soak before chilling the rest of the way, which you can'y do as easily with a place chiller (need to recirc into the kettle).
for the record i also have a seriously big plate chiller heat exchanger for my big system. although it is very efficient you never know what's in there unless you take it apart...
but those small plate chillers that you can fit in a pot and boil them... hmm something to be said for that. maybe i've talked myself back around...
no experience with the fancy new BM with cooling mantle sorry.
Dinnerstick, no problem defending what you like to use. Each device has fans and enemies but I find most people in life don't like something based on someone else's thoughts and opinions or by not being able to use them properly. Many read posts like this without even trying anything and then swear by a certain type. Out of all the immersion chillers, I prefer the stainless to copper ones with a discernable gap between the coils so you can get in between.
I like counterflow chillers and have made the typical type with copper tubing inside plastic tube wound around a circular buck with a temp strip on a chambered outlet and controlled by taps/valves where possible so wort in/out and water in/out can be throttled to give the best performance. Too many people just switch the cold tap on full whack and open the wort outlet and in most cases this doesn't reduce the temp enough. careful throttling will usually give the desired wort temp out. I've also made some of the long flat type that look like a trombone and used food grade silicon tuning on the ends to provide the u-bend. Very effective and easy to maintain and clean with easily obtainable pipe cleaners.
If I had a TIG welder I'd make some out of stainless.....wishful thinking as I'd also have to fashion all the unequal tee joints in stainless as well. If I do buy a Braumeister I'll more than likely get their immersion chiller anyway!
Not found cleaning to be an issue.
Each to their own.
Plate, immersion or counter flow all need all need washing I favoured a copper coil for speed and ability to see what needed cleaning.
Chilling wort is one an important process and i agree that you should it with attention, so here is a full guide about wort chillers https://diligentchef.com/best-wort-chiller/
Me too. Asolutely brilliant cools from just under boiling to 22°C with the tap three quarters open just using gravity. A couple of points to remember. It is best used in conjunction with a BacBrewing springer to stop solids and for use without a pump it needs a drop of at least 75 cm into the fv. Plus connect it to a tap and flush it both ways with hot water immediately after use. Clean it by filling with standard strength VWP and leaving it for an hour and then flush with hot water. Before use sanitise it by filling with Starsan for fifteen minutes. It saves me an hour on a brewday compared to a double coil IC. Thats with a fifty litre BM
Me too. Asolutely brilliant cools from just under boiling to 22°C with the tap three quarters open just using gravity. A couple of points to remember. It is best used in conjunction with a BacBrewing springer to stop solids and for use without a pump it needs a drop of at least 75 cm into the fv. Plus connect it to a tap and flush it both ways with hot water immediately after use. Clean it by filling with standard strength VWP and leaving it for an hour and then flush with hot water. Before use sanitise it by filling with Starsan for fifteen minutes. It saves me an hour on a brewday compared to a double coil IC. Thats with a fifty litre BM
How do you clean the BAC filter after using it and is it easy to clean?
I do not have a direct answer for your question - but If you would consider the low oxygen brewing, that you need the Plus version. I have purchased the 'classic' and low oxygen kit just as a fun extra to find out if it is better and now I can't really use it. Dum dum (and what I was googling, some nerdy guy did an uber-low oxygen brew as a comparison and ended up with people disliking the Low ox so I kind of gave up mentally in even trying...
