Chillzilla vs Therminator

[robotninja]

I have recently moved to 10 gal batches and even with pumping ice water through my IC it just isnt cutting it. I knew this would be the weakest link when stepping up but as it gets colder I thought the differential in ground water temp would make up for still using a 25 ft Immersion chiller. Well, it just takes too damn long to chill this way so I am going to upgrade.

I do like the ease of my IC and have though about just going to a 50 ft IC with a larger diameter but I still feel like that is going to take a long time.

I would like to stay with gravity feed and although I would have to raise the overall height of my brewstand so that I can gravity feed through the Chiller and into fermentor I am pretty sure that I know how I can do it without causing a huge pain in brewday.

I also like my IC because I can chill and leave behind a lot of trub/hop matter in the kettle but this is not a huge deal for me. I am somewhat concerned about clogging either of these chillers but I do put my whole hops in a bag. From what I have read trub/pellet hops directly into the boil do no generally clog either of these chillers.

So what are your opinions on each regarding efficiency, clogging, ease of use, cleaning, setup etc.

[hd4mark]

Mine is similar to a Chillzilla and I have used it for over ten years. Wouldn’t go with anything else. If you keep the immersion you can put it in a container of ice and prechill the water going through your new CF. Never used a Therminator so I can’t comment on them.

To clean my CF I dunk it in a bucket of PBW for a while and rinse. Before use dunk in a bucket of no-rinse sanitizer and drain. Then before turning on the water run some boiling wort through. Right after use rinse well with hot water. Not hard at all.

[chuck]

I’ve had both of them to me they were a pain to use and clean and not much faster so I went back to an IC. You could place you 25 ft in a bucket of ice and then run it into a new 50 ft.

To clean the Chillzilla tear off a piece of sponge place it in the end and force it through with water you will be surprised how much crud will come out on it.

[mullerbrau]

Chillzilla without a doubt. You get to chill WHILE transferring to the fermenter. Saves a lot of time and works great. I like mine so much that I bought two so that I can cool full flow in July/August when the groundwater is at its warmest.

[fightdman]

After using it (and really liking it) I was convinced that I could never get my plate chiller clean, so I went looking for something better. I found this:

Behold, GODCHILLA

The coil is around 20 ft of 3/4" convoluted copper (cupronickel) tubing jacketed by 1 1/2" copper water cooling jacket. I had to reduce down to 1/2" in and out to use existing pumps and hoses. (The hose connection in the picture was for pressure testing purposes) and I put quick connections on the water in/out.

The coil is over 16" in diameter and weighs over 36 lbs. :shock:

It can take 14 gal of wort from boiling to 62F in less than 6 minutes, easy. Easy to clean, with no crud getting stuck. I think I’m in love. .

p.s If anyone is interested, I might be able to aquire a few more. Shipping would be pricey to the west coast, but it still may end up costing you less than a chillzilla for twice the cooling length. Just PM me if interested.

[msu_brewer]

HO-LEE CRAP!! Where did you find that monster? I would love to have one, but I’m almost scared to ask how much it cost.

[tg]

Love my Therminator. I’ve had it for years and have had zero problems. I brew in 3 converted kegs and use a pump so I just set it up in-line with my pump and hoses to clean with hot PBW after the brew.

Any all-metal CFC can be sterilized in the oven with dry heat.

You could also make your own all-copper CFC, but I’ve heard that with the price of copper it is still expensive.

Now I would go with 2 Shirrons or similar plate chillers from Duda Diesel for the same price as either a Therminator or Chillziilla. Use one in the Winter. In the Summer use 2 with ice water pumped through the 2nd.

[rebuiltcellars]

I also like my Therminator, but I would say that you really have to be careful to keep the crud out of it. I’m not confident about my ability to remove any crud which would get inside.

I use a steel braid in my kettle, and that does a great job of keeping cones out. Whirlpooling generally keeps the trub from being problem. Only time I really have trouble is very heavily pils-based beers and using lots of pellets. But I do gravity feed and even in the summer when the tap water is warmest it only takes me about 5 minutes to gravity drain a 5 gallon batch.

[tom_b]

I like my Therminator, but yes, I did have some low-flow issues until I learned how to keep it clean. With proper care it works great in my gravity-fed system. I also pre-chill the cooling water using my IC in a bucket of ice water so my 5-gal batches are down to pitching temp when the wort hits the carboy.

[jmeinhorn]

I love my Therminator and I don’t have any trouble keeping it clean. I can easily chill from boiling to 68 degrees using Minnesota tap water in just a few minutes. The only trouble I have is all the cold break material ends up in the fermenter. It hasn’t been a problem for me with ales.

Cheers,

Jeff