I have a regular size Immersion Chiller that I use for 1 gal. batches in a 3 gal. kettle. I’m going to 5 gal. full volume boils in a 10 gal. kettle. I’m wondering if I should get an XL IC or if my regular-sized IC will do a decent enough job. For those doing 5 gal. full volume boils (with an IC)- what size do you use?
I have a 30’ IC that I made, takes about 20 minutes to get to 60 from boiling depending on the incoming water temperature.
I use a 25 foot homemade IC. Using my low 50s well water I get from boil to 60s in about 20 minutes.
I have a 50’ chiller that works well. I can chill down to pitching temps in about 10min if I work at it. Meaning, if I stir the wort and lift the chiller in and out while stirring. If I just let the chiller sit in the wort with no work on my end, it takes maybe 20-30min. Honestly, I think a 25’ would work almost as well. I barely have the coils spread out on mine. If using a 25’, I’d think spreading the coils out a little bit more would have a much similar effect. That’s just a theory though.
Based on my kettle size, an XL (12" of coils) would have roughly 5" of coils sitting above the surface of the wort while it cooled. My regular-sized one (4" of coils) will sit about 3" below the surface.
I think I’ll stick to my regular one and save some money; it should work fine once I pair it with a pump in a bucket of ice water.
Used to use a 20’ coil, then upgraded to a 60’ when I started making 10gal batches. Both homemade. You can make do with the shorter coil, it just takes a little longer to chill a large batch.
