Homemade Wort Chiller

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twilbrew247

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First attempt before switching to all grain.

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KettleCorn said:
I like it, let us know the delta t from flame out to pitch temp....
:D

Will do. Going to take it on a test run before I brew to see how quick and how cool I can get it.
 
That looks good, I unfortunately/fortunately just bit the bullet and bought one through NY Brew Supply via Amazon. While I love to DIY, I just didn't think that this was cost effective, I'll pay an extra $5 - $10 if it means that it's done by someone who's done it more than once.

A couple of years ago my friend and I figured out that in NJ it's more cost effective to have someone else do your oil change instead of doing it yourself, because here in NJ you can get a quality oil change for $20, when the cost of 5 quarts of oil and an oil filter costs $20. Then if you factor in the cost of your time, mine $15/hr, it actually ends up being cheaper.
 
Curtis2010 said:
What was your cost for materials? Hours to build?

$25 for 20 ft of coiled copper, $10 for 20 ft of vinyl tubing (don't really need that much), $5 or so for fittings...

It beats $70 plus shipping since I don't have an LHBS.
 
KettleCorn said:
I like it, let us know the delta t from flame out to pitch temp....
:D

Forgot this post. I ended up buying a 17-gal wash tub to use an ice bath in conjunction with the chiller because tap water is about 85°F in the summer and I couldn't get it to pitching temp quick enough. Anyway, I'm able to get down to around 75°F in about 20-30 minutes or so from boiling. Gives me time to rehydrate my yeast.
 
Yea buying online is almost abut the same as making it yourself but making it yourself is still way cheaper than the LHBS :) I went for a stainless 50' chiller cause I didn't like the fact that copper oxidizes and didn't want oxidation coming off in my wort, but I doubt it is really much of an issue, plus I couldn't bend stainless myself nearly as easily so it seemed more worth while. Copper does conduct heat faster I suppose although either material will work for this.

My hardware store only had 3/8th inch coil in 20 foot lengths, and 20 feet just isn't really enough. I thought it would be enough for my pre-chiller (made the coil smaller by wrapping it around a conrey keg), but I have my doubts.. It only drops the tap water temp about 5-6 degrees so I end up with about 76-77 tap water for cooling this time of year..I think a longer coil might have worked better.
 
I bought 50ft 3/8" copper on ebay, $45 shipped. Wrapped it around an 8" sono-tube. Made a 30' chiller and a 20' pre-chiller. About $15 worth of brass hose fittings. Pre-made chillers were just too small (short) for my brew-pot.
 
that looks nice... I bet my would make the top 10 of the most ugly chillers, but it gets the job done so whatever lol!
 
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