Wort Chiller Problem

[Dailybrewz]

I am opening a 3.5 bbl brewery in a few weeks. I have my first three beers in fermentation. I am having problems getting the wort chilled after whirlpool. I am running it through the wort chiller that my brewery supplier recommended. It has two cold water inlets and 2 outlets and of course materials in and out. The best temperature I have gotten out is 100 degrees. The first wort came out at 130 degrees. It has been very warm here and my tap water is in low 60's. Any suggestions?

[Humulus16]

How long was the transfer? Are you on city water..well or holding tanks?

[Humulus16]

Just saw the temp..we have holding tanks(water at 65)and two HX'rs one with water other smaller plate exchanger(18 plate) has glycol(23F). It's about a 25 min transfer and we get 70F. You could try this or slow down the transfer considerably. Maybe a HX'er to cool your water more?

[JeffGCBC]

Either your chiller is filthy causing poor surface area(unlikely if its new equipment, Or your pumping way to fast and not allowing the wort adequat contact time with the plates to cool down. Slow your pump down some.

If none of this works what i quite often do on my home system(1bbl) is recric chill into the kettle till i get to 160 or so, then knockout to fermenter. gets me to about 65-70 without any issues on city water.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Dailybrewz]

Thank You

Both great suggestions! I will slow down the transfer and if that is not enough I will recirculate until it comes down. Thanks!

[Humulus16]

After every brew I clean both HX'ers forwards & backwards...then pack with PAA.

[MikeS]

Plumbed properly?

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious here, but it's not mentioned in your initial query:

Are you sure you have the water going in the right direction? It should be flowing through the exchanger in the oposite direction as the wort. The symptom your describing sounds to me like the water and wort are flowing concurrently instead of counter-currently.

Low 60s water temp should be plenty to cool wort with a properly sized HX.

-Mike

[triple]

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious here, but it's not mentioned in your initial query:

Are you sure you have the water going in the right direction? It should be flowing through the exchanger in the oposite direction as the wort. The symptom your describing sounds to me like the water and wort are flowing concurrently instead of counter-currently.

Low 60s water temp should be plenty to cool wort with a properly sized HX.

-Mike

Good call.

[MatthewS]

Either your chiller is filthy causing poor surface area(unlikely if its new equipment, Or your pumping way to fast and not allowing the wort adequat contact time with the plates to cool down. Slow your pump down some.

If none of this works what i quite often do on my home system(1bbl) is recric chill into the kettle till i get to 160 or so, then knockout to fermenter. gets me to about 65-70 without any issues on city water.

Cheers,
Jeff

Just a quick observation. You have a giant risk of DMS if you allow your wort to go below 180-185 in the WP/K. This is why we want such a 'fast' cool down process. Just my suggestion, Keep that wort above 180 prior to crashing.

[BrewinLou]

I have seen a couple HX on small systems lately that have the two water in lets and outlets setup. After looking into it a bit further one of the water loops is going into a ss block. That loop is for water. The second "water loop" is meant for sending glycol thru the plates. At least the one I was looking at was labeled as such. Are you sending water thru both loops? ALso chekc with the manufacturer it would not be the first time the inlets and outlets were mislabeled.

[CPESystems]

Do you have any specifications on the heat exchangers? Makes? Model?

Maybe a picture or drawing of how you set it up. It would make it a lot easier for us to help with troubleshooting