Author: Marshall Schott

As regular readers have likely gathered, I am a huge fan(boy) of JaDed Brewing’s ridiculously rad lineup of immersion chillers. I’ve been using their King Cobra for nearly 2 years and think it is the bee’s knees! I acquired The Hydra a few months back, a behemoth of an IC that can knock the temp of wort from boiling to a few degrees above groundwater in no time flat. The reasons I prefer immersion chillers over other options is simple: they’re easy to use, easy to clean, and they do their job in the same amount of time, sometimes less, as counterflow and plate chillers. In order to chill as quickly and efficiently as I do, it is imperative that the cool coils of the IC are constantly in contact with warm wort, which requires a fair amount of elbow grease. In the 5-12 minutes it takes me to chill a batch of wort, my arms remain active by either moving the IC around or vigorously stirring the wort, usually a combo of both. It’s not terribly uncommon for me to wake-up the following morning with a touch of soreness in my shoulders. I’m okay with this, but for those who aren’t interested in bulking up while making beer, there are options for wort agitation that don’t involve bodily movement and the risk of a torn rotator cuff.

I first heard about using a whirlpool arm attached to an IC a few years ago from Jamil Zainasheff’s website, Mr. Malty. At the time, I was using a 25′ x 3/8″ copper IC to chill my wort, it would take 45-60 minutes depending on the season– I wasn’t yet aware of the importance of flow rate and wort agitation. Rather than attempting to utilize this method, and due to my erroneous fear of hot-side aeration, I bought a pump and a plate chiller… then quickly realized this wasn’t the route for me. I hated the setup, I hated the cleanup, I hated the black shit that would get spit into my wort when I’d first turn the pump on, I hated dealing with all the tubing. I just hated it. This is when I learned how to use an IC efficiently and picked up my first JaDeD Brewing immersion chiller. After that first amazing use, I was sold! My pump and tubing were tucked away, gathering dust, until recently when the dudes at JaDeD Brewing asked if I might compare my tried-and-true elbow grease method to an automated method using their Whirly Bird whirlpool arm attached to my Hydra. As a beta tester for JaDeD who has also received numerous similar requests from others, I set my obstinance on the shelf and forged ahead with only a slight gritting of the teeth.

The day I decided to perform the comparison, I was brewing two 10 gallon batches that happened to be of a similar starting gravity. This was ideal, as I didn’t want to do a comparison with worts that were of totally different viscosity, as this could have an impact on chill times. On double-batch brew days, I intentionally stagger my start times to allow for chilling, on this day I utilized my usual method first. Here are the variables that remained constant:

Groundwater Temp: 66°F

Batch Size: 10 gallons

Source Water Flow Rate: 100%

Wort Temp at Start of Chilling: 212°F (immediately at flameout)

Stopping Temp: 5°F above groundwater temp

| ELBOW GREASE |

The Hydra was added to the wort with about 15 minutes left in the boil. Within seconds of flameout, my source water was turned on full blast, I use a garden hose attached to an outdoor spigot. I began by moving the IC up and down in the wort, then I moved to stirring, trading off every 1-2 minutes.

The results were similar to what I had achieved in prior uses of The Hydra, taking only 11 minutes 16 seconds to reach 71°F, at which point the wort was racked into carboys. Clean-up consisted of spraying the IC down with hose water for a minute or two then placing it under my workbench to dry.

| AUTOMATION |

Getting my pump and tubing all setup took about 5 minutes, not nearly as annoying as I’d anticipated. As with the prior batch, The Hydra was placed in the wort with 15 minutes left to go in the boil, at which time I also turned the pump on for sanitation purposes. It had obviously been awhile, as I’d left the valve on the out side of the pump fully open, which caused a bit of an eruption in the kettle. It wasn’t too bad, I guess. As soon as the boil was complete, I hit the flame and turned the source water on full blast. Then I just sat there. It was weird. I checked Reddit for a minute or two, messaged with a couple friends on Facebook, took some photos, watched my kettle thermometer slowly move in the cooling direction. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t sort of nice. But still, I was certain my way would handily beat this automated way. At 10 minutes in, I plopped myself down in front of my kettle to observe the thermometer, it was at 80°F. I watched it intently until it reached my target temp of 71°F. The timer was stopped and I was right!!!! My way, the right way, was faster! It took this ridiculous automated method…

13 minutes 52 seconds. A not-so-drastic difference of 2 minutes 36 seconds. I was oddly pleased with how well this worked, despite realizing my way wasn’t really all that better than the other way. Once the wort was racked to carboys, I got to cleaning everything up. It took about 15 minutes for me to wipe up the little bit of wort that spilled on my garage floor, spray out all the tubing, and run hot water through the pump.

| The Verdict |

Both methods worked equally well, and both methods have their trade-offs. Us elbow greasers sacrifice a bit of physical discomfort and consumption of time in order to shave off a few minutes, while those who prefer automation exchange maybe 20 minutes to be able to sit and relax while their wort chills on its own. I’m glad I performed this experiment, I feel it allowed me to better understand at least some of the reasons a person might choose to use a pump for these purposes.

As for counterflow and plate chillers, well, I still require convincing.

If you have any questions about his xBmt or my experience with JaDeD Brewing immersion chillers, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section below. For inquiries about purchases, you can contact JaDeD directly via email: jadedbrewing@gmail.com

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