as a 3bbl nano, there is almost nothing between the little homebrew sized jobs and a big ass unit from thermaline/CPE/alfa/etc. very large difference in pricing. i've built some quotes on CPE and thermaline for HX that come in around the $1500 mark for carbon steel frames. CPE has the 30xxx models, which state 6 to 20sf, which i assume cover the span from 1 to 5bbl, as that's the volume selection you can make. the duda diesel is a hell of a lot cheaper, and has area of 1.9m2 which is also 20sf. does that sound like enough surface area for 2.5 to 3bbl batch-- 20sf?
as to operation of the exchanger, i guess i never paid attention like i should have but i was recently reading some literature when looking for the new HX. i'm not sure i understood it correctly but the summary was saying that higher flow rates will increase the cooling efficiency, which seems a bit counterintuative to me. i thought the longer the wort stayed in the plates the more heat it would give off to the cooling fluid. are we talking about the difference in flow rates of hot vs cold? or just total flow rates for both? am i reading that right or am i way off....?
i just always remember my old brewmaster talking about throttling down the flow to get the knockout temp right. i assumed he meant slow the wort, shoulda paid more attention ....
as to operation of the exchanger, i guess i never paid attention like i should have but i was recently reading some literature when looking for the new HX. i'm not sure i understood it correctly but the summary was saying that higher flow rates will increase the cooling efficiency, which seems a bit counterintuative to me. i thought the longer the wort stayed in the plates the more heat it would give off to the cooling fluid. are we talking about the difference in flow rates of hot vs cold? or just total flow rates for both? am i reading that right or am i way off....?
i just always remember my old brewmaster talking about throttling down the flow to get the knockout temp right. i assumed he meant slow the wort, shoulda paid more attention ....
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