Pond pump for wort chiller

I can't comment on that one. But here's the one I use with my immersion chiller and it works well...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AX09E/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

 

You have a couple of variables: The more water you send through the chiller the quicker the wort will chill. Also more water will be wasted. If water and ice were free you ideally would hook up a fire hose and let 'er rip.

I compromised on a 200gph pump similar to your link. It has a variable speed output and I normally run it at the slower speed. This is feeding a 25' immersion chiller with tap water (initially), then chilled water. At some point in the chill process the return water (outlet from chiller) is cooler than your tap water and you go closed system . . . no waste after this point. Overall efficiency is highly dependent on temp of your tap water and/or using a lot of ice.

 

Mine is 550 GPH. Wish it was >1200.

150 GPM would be a hell of a pump, filling almost 3 55gallon drums in one minute.

You chill down to about 80F with tap water, then go closed loop with the pump. I used the snow I have for free to get 10 gallons of CAP down to 45F.

 

Initially the return water from the chiller will be 170+ . . . this is what I send down the drain. If you choose to add this to your cooler with ice you better have the Icehouse put on an overtime shift. Increasing the flow rate will chill faster, but it's diminishing returns. A Fluid Dynamicist could tell you for certain, but pretty sure doubling your flow will not half your time (at these temps). This is the water that is dumped or converts your ice blocks to warm puddles. I don't convert to closed system until chiller outlet temp is below tap inlet temp. Again, if water is free then pump away.

That sounds great, but unless inlet water temp is specified is an incomplete statement. On the coldest day of the year my inlet temp is high 60s. In the summer (10 months out of the year) the inlet temp is high 80s. So I'm lucky to get my wort down to 130 on tap water, then go to ice. For hopfenunmaltz: No zinger here . . . we all are dialed into our systems and make them work, but lots of variations out there. On brew day I really wish I had access to your snowbank!

Also, you may be surprised to find out how warm the water in a cooler filled with ice blocks really is. No show stoppers in any of this . . . you will become a thermodynamic expert quickly.

 

It has been a while since I had Heat Transfer, I but I understand the principles. In a hot summer, sure I can maybe get done to the 90 to 100F range, then I switch over to the pond pump and ice. The temp for tap water in the summer here is about 75F, winter, well I think we are about 40F right now, and I did chill a lager down to 46F using tap water, but that takes a while and a lot of water. 50ft 1/2 in chiller with a Chugger pump to return the wort and whirlpool to increase the heat transfer on the wort side. Two days ago we used the cooler full of water and snow.

On the flow rate, faster is better. You get turbulent flow at about 1 liter/min in the size tubing we use. Going higher will also increase the mass of coolant that gets heated, and carries away the heat energy.

The first part of the cooling water goes into a kettle to be used as clean up water.

 

Quick connects are KEY to making this work smoothly. You go from ground water to the pump in a few seconds and continue to chill effectively with ice water in a closed system.

I don't use frozen 2 liters. I think they insulate a little too well and cut a lot of surface area that you need to effectively chill wort to 40-60F. My ground water in the summer is 72F, btw. I make ice, (from ice cube trays in advance stored in ziplock bags after freezing, refilling, freezing, refilling) or I take ice from the ice machine at work. Mickie D's also sells bags of ice for about a buck if you're in a pinch.

 

@barfdiggs suggested this pump to me http://www.amazon.com/EcoPlus-72832...0925&sr=8-7&keywords=pump submersible ecoplus It works well. I typically have a bucket I stick it in to drop the temp to 180 or 160, then I unplug it, stick it in a big ice bath and pump that water through the immersion chiller and back into the ice bath. I tried pumping it through the chiller and back filling with tap water but this method worked better since it takes a bit to chill the new water down. Im in Texas though so the ground water can be warmer than my target...

My only challenge with this pump was adapting it to the 3/8" immersion chiller to the 1/2" pump output. I had to hunt around a little but I ended up buying two barb fittings 3/8" male and 1/2" female and threading them together to adapt the tubes. Its not pretty but its hard to find a 1" to 3/8" npt to barb.

When I run the pump I just stick both my chillers in the kettle to get more contact. Only way I could see making it better would be recirculating the wort.