Simple Immersion Wort Chiller
 

This is what I made this afternoon.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...Chiller006.jpg

Its a simple set-up:
- 50' of 3/8" Copper Tubing
- 2 Compression to Pipe Union (3/8" - 1/2NPT) Watts A-124
- 2 Hose Adapters (1/2" NPT - 3/4 male garden hose) Watts A-668
- 2 Clothes Washer attachment hoses 4' each.
- 1 faucet to garden hose adapter
- 7 wire ties to hold it together well (less slinky-like)
Also needed;
- Teflon Tape for wrapping threads
- Tubing bending kit.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...Chiller001.jpg

Close up of the fittings/ hose connections

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...Chiller004.jpg

I tested it with water so it doesn't leak. I'll being testing later to see how well it works with water (cooling boiled water), and not too long with a John Palmers Tittabowsi Brown Ale. :mug:

Comments Welcome.

Nicely done! Looks good and should work good too!

Looks beautiful! I hope those hoses are long enough for you, but again it looks easy enough to change if it turns out you need more length.

Assuming you do your full boils outside, you may find yourself hooking up the wort chiller directly to the hose outside and leaving the kettle on the burner instead of bringing it inside to chill by the kitchen sink. That way there's no chance of spilling it or slipping and falling in transit.

Great job! It looks a whole lot better than the one I made. With 50' of tubing it should work really well. :mug:

Thanks for all the complements!!

As far as where I was thinking of using this.... The sink was my first thought, then possibility of using it outside is pretty practical. Hooking up the garden hose is gonna be easy.

Just out of curiosity, when you use these outside do you need to cover the pot? I'm a bit concerened about the risks of the wort getting contaiminated by things blowing in the breeze. I'm not sure how well the lid would stay on the kettle. A big piece of saran wrap would work? Right?

I've always done partial boils never full boils so they have always been on the kitchen stove. I'm pretty certain I'll have too use the turkey fryer to get the BTU's to boil 6 gallons.

That'll be a first. - In a short time I'll being doing my first AG.

Any advice you can give me would be appreciated. BTW - I plan to plumb the inlet so cold water starts at the bottom working its way up.

It looks really nice, one thing though are you sure that the plastic zip-ties (think that is what is on there, right?) are going to be able to stand up to the boiling wort? You may want to think about using some copper wire to tie it all together. just my opinion though.

Cheers

""Just out of curiosity, when you use these outside do you need to cover the pot? I'm a bit concerened about the risks of the wort getting contaiminated by things blowing in the breeze. I'm not sure how well the lid would stay on the kettle. A big piece of saran wrap would work? Right?""
I use a towel and a bungee cord. This allows DMS to absorb into the cloth without dripping back down into the wort, it allows pressure differentials to pass through the cloth, and it prevents birds, flying mammals, leaves, kids, pets, etc from making me nervous.

""BTW - I plan to plumb the inlet so cold water starts at the bottom working its way up.""
It would be slightly more efficient if you start your coldest water at the top. This creates a larger temp differential, and more energy transfer faster. You could time one brew one way and time another brew the other way, but that might be scientific or something..ha, ha. :p

try a splatter screen ( fine mesh stainless steel) from walmart @10$us
also doubles as a strainer during transfer to the fermentor.

Your probably right. The zip ties were an after thought. The thing was like a slinky. I didn't want it coming uncoiled. Its surprising how heavy 50' of copper coil is when you have in hand. Add water and its worse.

Copper wire is a good idea. - Thanks!

Thanks also for ideas for covering the wort too.

:mug:

Man, yours puts mine to shame, mine was real simple.

Brother in-law used to do plumbing so i got 25' of 3/8" Copper pipe for free. I bent that around a coffee can and put it in with the boil, since it's warm i jeasily attach siphon hosing to run the water through it. I fill the bottling bucket with ice water, set it up high, open the spigot and let gravity do the work, the other hose drains into the yard, and i have a hose keeping the water level constant.... maybe i'm just cheap, but it works, and if it's not broke......