Author: Marshall Schott
I recently received The Hydra immersion chiller by JaDeD Brewing, it’s already been used 3 times on 2 different systems. I could blowhard about my experience with other types of chillers, how I don’t like using pumps because they’re a pain to clean, or how I was first introduced to this badass company… but I’d prefer not to beat around the bush.
The Hydra is basically made of 3 strands of 1/2″ copper tubing. The water coming into the chiller is split just after entering into each of these strands, meaning more surface area and increased contact time with cool water. It’s similar in idea to the King Cobra IC I use often, just not as squat.
For its maiden voyage, I used this beast to chill 12 gallons of Dunkel wort.
Since receiving The Hydra, groundwater temperatures where I live have been rather warm, which means I’ve not been able to chill wort to my target pitching temps. I understand I could use a pre-chiller or another setup and have plans to play with that later. However, in my opinion, a good IC is one that chills to 5°F or so above groundwater temp in a short amount of time. For the following sets of data, groundwater temperature was measured prior to the wort being chilled, at which point a timer was started and a time documented once the wort was chilled.
TRIAL #1: Munich Dunkel on My System
Groundwater Temp (GT): 82°F
Method: Constant stirring
Wort Volume: 11.5 gallons
Time to Reach GT + 10°F: 5 min 45 seconds (92°F)
Final Wort Temp: 87°F
Time to Reach 87°F: 6 minutes 32 seconds
TRIAL #2: Munich Helles on My System
Groundwater Temp: 83°F
Method: IC moved up/down in wort, occasional stirring
Wort Volume: 11.5 gallons
Time to Reach GT + 10°F: 5 min 38 seconds (93°F)
Final Wort Temp: 88°F
Chilling Time: 6 minutes 18 seconds
TRIAL #3: American Pale Ale on Friend’s System
Groundwater Temp: 82°F
Method: IC moved up/down in wort, occasional stirring
Wort Volume: 6.5 gallons
Time to Reach GT + 10°F: not measured
Final Wort Temp: 85°F
Chilling Time: 6 minutes
Not too shabby, eh? I was damn pleased, that’s for sure. If you’re wondering why my buddy’s chilling time is fairly close to mine for a smaller volume of wort, it’s due partially to the fact his volume wasn’t high enough to cover all the coils of The Hydra, resulting in some loss in efficiency. Also, he chilled his to within 3°F of his measured groundwater temperature rather than 5°F like I aim for… still pretty damn impressive.
The Verdict
I wouldn’t be writing this review if I didn’t think this product was amazing. It’s incredibly well constructed and does as it promises, plus it’s a hell of a lot easier to clean than a pump and plate chiller. For those looking to improve their chilling times, move away from clunky CFC setups, or impress your friends, I couldn’t recommend The Hydra more. One thing to keep in mind is the issue of exposed coils and how it impacts chilling efficiency– if you, like me, tend to use your larger kettle often to make smaller batches, consider the King Cobra, as it is designed specifically for this purpose. For those who primarily make 10+ gallon batches, The Hydra is the way to go.
If you have any questions about my experience with this IC, or if you’d like to share your personal experience using JaDeD chillers, please don’t hesitate to comment! If you have a question for JaDeD, contact them via their website, they’re usually very quick to respond. Cheers!
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21 thoughts on “Product Review | JaDeD Brewing The Hydra Immersion Chiller”
Trial 3 was me. I can confirm that the top 2 coils were out of the wort most of the time. That last 5 degrees probably took a whole minute as well (just a guess). It chills scary fast compared to my standard 50′ copper chiller.
I don’t know if i’m going to give it back!
I’ve been eyeing the Hydra for a while… it will probably be my next upgrade, as I’ve been using the same 25-foot chiller for nearly 10 years. 5 minutes to chill to near groundwater temp sounds pretty amazing, and then I can use my old chiller as a pre-chiller with an ice bath.
I bought the King Cobra after being interested in the Hydra. It is a sweet IC! Only problem I have is I use a garden hose to hook it up to that has a pretty long length on it, which increase cooling time, but it works a hell of a lot better than my old 3/8″ 25′ standard immersion chiller.
I’m fortunate enough… well, obsessed enough to have plumbed a spigot within about 10′ of my “brewery,” so I cut a length of my garden hose to 12′ and threw on a new fitting, it decreased my chill time by about 2 minutes.
It would be really interesting to see the the result if you used a pump recirculate the hot wort thru a whirlpool port directed towards the chiller. I wonder if that would be quicker than the manual stirring. I’m very impressed with those times. That’s faster than my home made cfc.
I plan to do this just for demonstration’s sake… as soon as I get another pump (I sold my other ones off over a year ago). According to conversations I’ve had with JaDeD, recirculation with a pump will increase chill times compared to wort agitation.
Heh, back right after I started brewing, I too make a three strand chiller from 1/4 copper tubing, and even called it the Hydra. Guess great minds think alike…
– Dennis Life Fermented Blog
my hydra got its maiden voyage. i ran just my well water without ice or pump recirculation. Today’s well water temp is 53F. Timing from boiling temp to 64F with 6.5gal wort.
boiling to 80F in 3:45sec.
70F at 4:45sec
64F at 5:40sec.
i’m simply blown away!
Just curious how you handle doing a whirlpool with this. Like you I love the simplicity of the immersion chiller and prefer over counterflow and plate chillers. Normally at flame out I’ll lift the chiller from the kettle, get a good whirlpool going and then end up slowly lowering the immersion chiller into the kettle trying not to disturb the hop cone but that is usually difficult. Just wondering if there is a better technique for this.
Well, I’m not sure an actual “whirlpool” is all that necessary on the homebrew scale, and I’m especially not convinced leaving behind all the kettle trub is terribly important. All of that to say– I don’t “whirlpool” and, in fact, usually gently stir the wort while filling carboys to ensure equal distribution of kettle trub in each (because they’re almost always comparative xBmts. Hope that helps!
Hey Bru!
For the record, your site is the cats @ss for home brewers! I’ve learned so much from you. Thanks for continuing to break the rules and share your findings with us. I have a quick question on your cooling process. By all of the mixing and raising then lowering of the IC that you do, you must be missing all of the hot break and other gunk that usually falls to the ground if you stir your wort and walk away. So am I to assume that you poor all of the wort along with hot break and any other gunk directly into the fermenter? If so…cool…because I have been taking a cautious approach by trying to transfer the least amount of break and gunk that I can. The downside if the long time it takes to cool my dang wort!!!
Have you done a experiment with break versus no break?
I hope I just learned another new trick from you.
Thanks and Cheers
Scott
Hi Scott,
Thanks for the kind words! We’ve actually done 2 xBmts focused on kettle trub making it to the fermentor:
Pt. 2: https://brulosophy.wpvence.com/2015/03/22/the-impact-of-kettle-trub-part-2-exbeeriment-results/
Pt. 1: https://brulosophy.wpvence.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/
Cheers,
Marshall
I am interested in purchasing this and a bit late to the comment section. My question is how do you think this will perform when hooking up to the kitchen sink? I don’t this the pressure is the same as a garden hose and I will have to buy attachments, but other than that I am hoping it will be alright. Any opinions? Also, thanks for always helping out!
Don
Based on a very limited amount of research, it seems sink water pressure is quite variable between houses, so there’s really no good way of knowing how well it’ll work for you specifically. That said, I’ve heard from a couple folks who are using The Hydra for indoor brewing connected to sinks and their feedback has been very positive!
Don,
you may be best served by emailing them. They have a tab for “optimization” or inquiries.
Also, you can buy a gauge at most home supply stores that will read pressure at a hose faucet or sink faucet. You’ll need to unscrew the deaeator etc. Then you take a vessel of known volume and run the water for a measured time. That will give you aprx flow rate (gal/min or liters/min). Give them that info.
I’m deciding between the King Cobra and the Hydra.
Seeing as the Hydra chills both 5 gallon and 10 gallon batches faster than the King Cobra, yet costs less, I fail to see many reasons to buy the King Cobra. Granted, 95% of my brews are 5 gallon batches (~6.5 gallons of wort) so out of a size perspective, the King Cobra seems easier to handle and you don’t end up with coils above the surface. However, I do a 10 gallon batch from time to time as well and the Hydra would be a benefit for those rare occasions.
In other words, what I see is a larger chiller that chills any batch faster for less money. So why would I get a King Cobra that costs more even though majority of my brews are 5 gallon batches (~6.5 gallons of wort)?
Depending on the size of your kettle, the top coils on the Hydra might stick out of the wort for smaller batches, making it less efficient.
I assumed that in the 5 gallon test, some coils were above the surface and not fully submerged. I’m pretty sure that some coils would be exposed when chilling 6 gallons of wort in my 15 gallon MegaPot 1.2. So if the 5 gallon test were conducted while fully submerged (very narrow pot?), then the Cobra has the upper hand in my situation.
How do you wash trub from this chiller, I suppose you cant reach every inch of it with sponge? Thank you
I’ve never used a sponge on any chiller, rather I spray mine down with a high-pressure nozzle on my water hose immediately after each use.
I have stainless steel chiller, hops and stuff stick to it, I have a habit of cleaning it thoroughly with sponge. Thank you for your response and thank you for all this great articles and experiments. Greetings from Serbia