I’ve been doing a bit of YouTubing on home made counterflow wort chillers and every example I’ve found has a set up where the brewpot has a spout at the bottom of it. I’m using the standard 7.5gal turkey fryer which does not have a spout so my question is how exactly do you get the siphon started/regulated for the wort to pass through the system on gravity alone.
Currently I’m using an immersion chiller and can’t seem to get my wort down to much below 100° and even that takes about 45 minutes.
Not sure where you live, but you may not have much more luck getting cooler with a counterflow chiller. I use one but my tap water temps are in the mid 70’s during the summer, so I was getting as cold as possible and adding very cold water to top off.
You could add a valve to the brew pot, that is what I did to two stainless steel pots.
Other than that you only real option might be to pump through the CFC, but that seems like quite the hassle.
You also could get a pond pump and create an ice bath to get the water colder that you are running though your immersion chiller
In order to use a CFC without a valve on the bottom of your brewpot, you will need a stainless steel racking cane which can handle the 200+ degree heat. Then you have to figure out a way to get a siphon started from the racking cane to the CFC. Doable but not a good setup in my mind.
You need to stir your wort (without splashing) with a clean and sanitized spoon while it is chilling. That will make a huge difference in your IC’s effectiveness.
