Wort Cooling

[BrewDoc]

We are installing a used 15 barrel Brew House. We have a plate heat exchanger, shell and tube heat exchanger, glycol chiller and 55 degree city water. Any suggestions on the best way to cool the wort.

[Jephro]

My advice would be to use the shell & tube (as long as it's not a part of the boiler or something-?) to prechill the city water with your glycol and then pipe the prechilled city water into the plate HX to chill wort.

This way you dont heat up your glycol and put a huge load on your chiller, you won't potentially push hot glycol into a fermenter, and your hot water coming out of the plate HX can be piped into your HLT for brewing or cleaning.

Just be mindful of your glycol setpoint as not to freeze your water, from my experience <28&#176;F should be fine as long as your water is moving.

[Moonlight]

Depends what temp wort you want; if your city water temp fluctuates during the year, how large or efficient the plate cooler and shell and tube is...stuff like that.
In my mind, ideal would be to just use the city water through the plate cooler with your wort. If you were making only Saison with unlimited water, it would likely work, otherwise it is more complex.

Jephro's idea sound good, and depending on your parameters, another school of thought would run city water through the shell and tube with the hottest wort, then glycol through the plate with the cooler wort. Depends on too many factors. Perhaps photos or specs on the equipment would help get you the most relevant results here.

[Capt. Bob]

Man, what I wouldn't give for 55 degree city water!
In the summer, my spigots pour 84 degrees.