Similar issue here. Tried 1 pump, 2 pumps and no pump and I can't get wort to flow through it.

Avoid using chillers and pumps together. It's bad to the heat exchange.
And, if you connected pump to the faucet line, water will stop until game reloade.

The counterflow chiller is BROKEN. It WILL chill your wort, but also remove ALL IBUs (not good). Better option as pointed out by a helpful user here - when getting ready to cool wort, transfer it to a larger pot (if possible) and use the immersion coil - it will chill it a lot faster than say small pot / small immersion coil / small batch and keep contamination at bay - AND you'll still have your IBUs!

They put out a patch, the coolers should work now :D but yes use them without any pumps

Originally posted by LucyRiver:

They put out a patch, the coolers should work now :D but yes use them without any pumps

But how, I,ve tried placing the pot higher, tube on the tap plugged in the counterflow intake, tube from the outtake to the fermenter, doesnt go through. I've tried every imaginable way to plugged it with and without pump. How exactly, step by step, do you plug it?

1: put the chiller next to the sink
2: put a receptacle on the floor in front of the sink
3: tube from intake water to tap
4: tube from outtake water to sink
5: tube from outtake wort to receptacle on the floor
6: once your wort is done, put it on the counter next to the chiller
7: tube from intake wort to your wort container
8: open tap

First cooling cycle chills from about 95-100°C to about 55°C so once it's done you disconnect the wort tubes, switch the receptacles and reconnect them. Second cycle chills to about 32°C. Third cycle chills to about 21°C, which is good enough for most yeasts.

You can also cool by connecting the outtake wort to your brew pot with wort so it keeps cycling through, which is actually simpler, cause you don't have to switch pots around.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2872263331

Okay so I typed this out and tested it, but it seems the basic wort chiller is still broken at least. Instead of removing IBUs and flavors, it's adding a gazzillion flavor lol

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2872266521

I just realised you asked about the counterflow chiller not the wort chiller plate but it works exactly the same way (and is broken in exactly the same way too)

Originally posted by LucyRiver:

Okay so I typed this out and tested it, but it seems the basic wort chiller is still broken at least. Instead of removing IBUs and flavors, it's adding a gazzillion flavor lol

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2872266521

Yep, same here

Beh, wanted to do a contamination challenge and bought the counterflow since it was best available for me. Guess I'll wait and brew for real x)

Same here for me. The plate chiller is adding flavors in the trillions. My end batch had like 12 or 15 digits in the flavors. Color me suprised, they couldn't fix it.... NOT!

Originally posted by LucyRiver:

1: put the chiller next to the sink
2: put a receptacle on the floor in front of the sink
3: tube from intake water to tap
4: tube from outtake water to sink
5: tube from outtake wort to receptacle on the floor
6: once your wort is done, put it on the counter next to the chiller
7: tube from intake wort to your wort container
8: open tap

First cooling cycle chills from about 95-100°C to about 55°C so once it's done you disconnect the wort tubes, switch the receptacles and reconnect them. Second cycle chills to about 32°C. Third cycle chills to about 21°C, which is good enough for most yeasts.

You can also cool by connecting the outtake wort to your brew pot with wort so it keeps cycling through, which is actually simpler, cause you don't have to switch pots around.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2872263331

Okay so I typed this out and tested it, but it seems the basic wort chiller is still broken at least. Instead of removing IBUs and flavors, it's adding a gazzillion flavor lol

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2872266521

Thanks!
In that exact order of opening valve it works for me!
I was opening the hot wort cauldron before opening the cold wort valve and it doesn't seem to work that way. Dunno why

And they got it fixed, I just used it and still got my IBU and no vigintillion digit in my flavor note

Thanks a lot!

And yes i was trying with the plate chiller too but the post was about the counterflow.... so potato potato

I just bought the counterflow and after not getting it to work, found this thread. The steps above did get it working, but I'm left wondering why we'd even use it?

Seems to me its faster to just use the submersion chiller. hook it up, turn on water, done.

Whereas with this its cool a bit flip everything around, cool a bit flip everything around, cool a bit flip everything around. If its supposed to be more efficient at keeping contamination low, then logically running from pot to pot to pot would just be counter intuitive.

The ONLY way the counterflow would even make sense is if you had a pump in the loop and you were running from pot to chiller to pump back to same pot in a continuous loop AND it cooled faster than the submersion chiller.

I just... don't get it.

EDIT - I figured it out, it IS simpler and faster. You DON'T transfer from pot to pot. You need a pot with a valve. You hook up chiller to water as normal, run hose from pot valve to intake, then from wort outtake back to SAME pot. open valve annnnd profit. Both chiller and pot sitting next to sink, seems gravity is defied now lol.

Originally posted by Sarchio:

Originally posted by LucyRiver:

1: put the chiller next to the sink
2: put a receptacle on the floor in front of the sink
3: tube from intake water to tap
4: tube from outtake water to sink
5: tube from outtake wort to receptacle on the floor
6: once your wort is done, put it on the counter next to the chiller
7: tube from intake wort to your wort container
8: open tap

First cooling cycle chills from about 95-100°C to about 55°C so once it's done you disconnect the wort tubes, switch the receptacles and reconnect them. Second cycle chills to about 32°C. Third cycle chills to about 21°C, which is good enough for most yeasts.

You can also cool by connecting the outtake wort to your brew pot with wort so it keeps cycling through, which is actually simpler, cause you don't have to switch pots around.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2872263331

Okay so I typed this out and tested it, but it seems the basic wort chiller is still broken at least. Instead of removing IBUs and flavors, it's adding a gazzillion flavor lol

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2872266521

Thanks!
In that exact order of opening valve it works for me!
I was opening the hot wort cauldron before opening the cold wort valve and it doesn't seem to work that way. Dunno why

And they got it fixed, I just used it and still got my IBU and no vigintillion digit in my flavor note

Thanks a lot!

Just route the wort back into the same container and let it run until its too temp

I've never had it work with pumps. The chillers work with just gravity, though, I can confirm that.