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VipertheIV · 09-13-2012, 12:55 AM

So, an idea I have had for a while but am not sure how it would work is this. Using food grade (similar to siphon tubing) tubing; run it through a chest cooler full of ice (two 16 lb bags) and replace drain plug with a ball valve. You could control flow rate keeping worth in ice cooler longer to get it to temp. Could this work? Would be cheaper than a copper DIY worth chiller. To me it is the same principle as a counter flow chiller

**Ramitt** · 09-13-2012, 12:59 AM

Standard siphon tubing is not going to handle 200 degree wort very well, you would need silicon tubing and I am not sure how well it well exchange heat.

**worksnorth** · 09-13-2012, 01:00 AM

Soooo is this like a gravity feed to the fermenter? Or is this using a pump recirculating?

VipertheIV · 09-13-2012, 03:25 AM

Gravity feed to the fermenter

VipertheIV · 09-13-2012, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramitt

Standard siphon tubing is not going to handle 200 degree wort very well, you would need silicon tubing and I am not sure how well it well exchange heat.

What of I were to use the flexible PVC tubing

**arturo7** · 09-13-2012, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VipertheIV

What of I were to use the flexible PVC tubing

Very poor heat transfer. Copper is your best bet.

**sweetcell** · 09-13-2012, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arturo7

Very poor heat transfer. Copper is your best bet.

yup. plastic, silicone, rubber, etc are decent insulators - they prevent heat transfer. so very little heat would be lost. metal, on the other hand, is an excellent heat conductor. that's why it's used in chillers.

**SteveMillerTime** · 09-13-2012, 01:08 PM

I'll bite!

What if you did this instead:

Add a ball valve to your boil kettle - from there you could use a piece of thick walled silicon tubing which would go to a piece of copper or SS tubing of equal diameter (you'll have to have a piece of silicon tubing on both ends of course). The metal tubing would go into the ice bath and you could have a barb on both sides of the ball valve that's in the cooler so that the silicon tubing on the other end of the metal tubing can slide on there...and ta-da your method would work.

Yea i know, the way i described it sounds a little confusing, but its really straight forward...I'll draw a picture if you need me to

EDIT: Oh hell, I've got nothing better to do at work (also, I just realized, you'll probably need a bulk head of some sort to mount the ball valve in the cooler) - here, check this out:

mjap52 · 09-13-2012, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveMillerTime

I'll bite!

What if you did this instead:

Add a ball valve to your boil kettle - from there you could use a piece of thick walled silicon tubing which would go to a piece of copper or SS tubing of equal diameter (you'll have to have a piece of silicon tubing on both ends of course). The metal tubing would go into the ice bath and you could have a barb on both sides of the ball valve that's in the cooler so that the silicon tubing on the other end of the metal tubing can slide on there...and ta-da your method would work.

Yea i know, the way i described it sounds a little confusing, but its really straight forward...I'll draw a picture if you need me to

I think whatever size tubing he had coming from the kettle would be a bit large for that application, meaning that s/he'd have to have a fair amount of copper/ss pipe to get the desired temp down, not to mention that's going to melt the ice like crazy, to the point where I think by the end of the drain, you'll be running that wort through luke warm water.

Also, the cost of that ice will add up if you're purchasing it, making it more cost effective to just buy (or make) a immersion chiller.

**SteveMillerTime** · 09-13-2012, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjap52

I think whatever size tubing he had coming from the kettle would be a bit large for that application, meaning that s/he'd have to have a fair amount of copper/ss pipe to get the desired temp down, not to mention that's going to melt the ice like crazy, to the point where I think by the end of the drain, you'll be running that wort through luke warm water.

Also, the cost of that ice will add up if you're purchasing it, making it more cost effective to just buy (or make) a immersion chiller.

yea, i realize that, but its still a cool idea lol...maybe he could pour in some liquid nitrogen