My DIY Chill Wizard Knock Off

Says right there on the website-

Side note: Looks easy to build yourself? It's really not. Cheaper if you build it yourself? Surprisingly not.

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Hmmm....Ok well Sabco's is going for a pricey $829. Minus the paint I need to finish this up, I got this put together for about half that. This is it mocked up. Getting primer and paint this weekend and test runs will commence shortly after.

Sweet build! PROST!

I wonder if you'll have any issue getting the pump primed with the head turned that way?

Bobby_M said:

I wonder if you'll have any issue getting the pump primed with the head turned that way?

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This is going to sit on the ground well below the kettle. My buddy's two tier pump is mounted this way as well.

I couldn't get over not having the stainless frame that Sabco offers, so.....

Aw man, should have mexi-chromed it:

klyph said:

Aw man, should have mexi-chromed it:

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I had that can sitting in my hands for a few minutes at Lowes. But in the end "Hammered Gray" won. Comes complete with texture....ooooooo

Thank god you didn't, that stuff looks horrible. Your finish, however looks great. Good luck on the build.

Side note: Looks easy to build yourself? It's really not. Cheaper if you build it yourself? Surprisingly not.

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Seriously... who would actually believe that claim ? If it cost just as much to build it yourself as it does to buy it from them, where would they be making their money?

Sure, they probably get some savings from buying pumps and chillers in larger quantities, but someone has to then sit down and build the damn things, which they claim is not easy. So, that person building it is going to be getting paid for his apparently very skilled and/or intensive labor, wiping out the profits they had from buying components in bulk.

Bobby_M said:

I wonder if you'll have any issue getting the pump primed with the head turned that way?

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That's how they're supposed to be mounted. As long as you have nothing upstream restricting air from purging out of the the outlet, the pump will prime just fine.

Who decides how it's supposed to be mounted? March?
If so, why is every outlet pointing up on this page? http://www.marchpump.com/

I don't really know if there's an ideal orientation, just asking.

My March pump for my 2-tier is mounted "head up", horizontally. It primes just fine.

Nice build, Chimone. How long did it take you total? When are you going to try it out?

Bobby_M said:

Who decides how it's supposed to be mounted? March?
If so, why is every outlet pointing up on this page? http://www.marchpump.com/

I don't really know if there's an ideal orientation, just asking.

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Hmmm... I kind of assumed that was the ideal orientation from how it came new in the box (left-right). I'm looking through the manual and it says:

The pump should be mounted with the Electric Conduit Box on the bottom. The oil ports will then be on the top of the motor.

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And then:

The pump housing should be installed with the arrow on our housing pointing in the direction of the water flow within the system. If the arrow indicating water flow is not in the direction you require when the motor is in position, remove the four round housing screws (Item 1) holding the housing to the motor assembly and rotate the housing assembly as required. Replace the four screws and tighten.

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Interesting.

From that I would infer that the only orientation that is important is the conduit box (for oiling the bearings). The head can be oriented whatever way fits the user. No mention on which way primes better.

I stand corrected, it seems.

Will you include the oxygen injector?

YooperBrew said:

My March pump for my 2-tier is mounted "head up", horizontally. It primes just fine.

Nice build, Chimone. How long did it take you total? When are you going to try it out?

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Well my buddy is a pretty dam good welder. He did my Brutus too. Other than ordering the parts, it took him about an hour to weld everything up. After that a quick run to the hardware store for some nuts n bolts and its good to go.

I am going to put McMaster QDs on everything for easy disassembly and reversing the flow for cleaning. I still need to piuck up an O2 bottle and regulator, but maiden run on the 2050 and this chiller is next weekend hopefully. I still have a few more couplers and a water filter to order

artbrau said:

Will you include the oxygen injector?

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it is in the assembly with the thermometer. HEre is the back side. Sabco has a really nice tri-clamp verison. Mine is threaded....no biggie, Im going for CIP anyway

Did you buy the aeration-temp assembly or build it?

hojuwestlake said:

Did you buy the aeration-temp assembly or build it?

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https://morebeer.com/view_product/16614//Stainless_in-line_Oxygenation_Assembly_with_no_Barbs

I priced it out and it came to pretty much the same price as if I assembled it myself.

that little keg lamp is just way to cool.

Does the carbonation stone assembly have a check valve?

thegreatgumbino said:

Does the carbonation stone assembly have a check valve?

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No, the pressure needed to push liquid through the stone is enough to not need one....hopefully anyway, but I will find out tomorrow. Here is the finished ass'y. All ready for a PBW wash and trial run



And reversed for cleaning. I plan on putting some steel wool in the kettle pickup, so between a good whirlpool and that wool I shold be able to keep out all the big particulates

Very nice buddy! I have a 40 plate chiller with SS QD's that utilize a thermometer/oxygenation stone setup. I use the pump from my RIMS to pump it. Your setup is really nice!

Congratulations on a job very well done! How many more dollars would it have cost you if you would have used the tri-covers and triclover aeration stone and GFCI like Sabco did? I remember guys claiming to be able to make this for a half of the price using the exact parts Sabco did in one thread. It was a rediculous claim when the chiller was $200, pump $125 and triclover aeration stone $75 just to start.

Chimone said:

No, the pressure needed to push liquid through the stone is enough to not need one....hopefully anyway, but I will find out tomorrow.

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Awesome. It looks great. Good luck with the brewing today. Let us know how it works out for you.

How'd it go yesterday?

Nice!

Now throw on some tri-clamp fittings and your build cost will be close to that of Sabco.

Seriously, tri-clamps are expensive! The only Tri-clamp Im using is the one that will attach to the conical. Other than that, its boiling when it enters the chiller, so no need for sanitary fittings there. I don't plan on removing the QD's at all once its sanitized.

At least thats how Im justifying it anyway But 20 bucks per fitting with another 8 for the clamp? No thanks. It would be nice yes, and maybe down the road who knows, but for now this will work just fine.

Chimone said:

Seriously, tri-clamps are expensive! The only Tri-clamp Im using is the one that will attach to the conical. Other than that, its boiling when it enters the chiller, so no need for sanitary fittings there. I don't plan on removing the QD's at all once its sanitized.

At least thats how Im justifying it anyway But 20 bucks per fitting with another 8 for the clamp? No thanks. It would be nice yes, and maybe down the road who knows, but for now this will work just fine.

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Just pulling your chain. Recently bought a hopback and wanted TC's for the fit-up. the few fittings I needed for the connect cost 50% more than the HB vessel to begin with.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Just pulling your chain. Recently bought a hopback and wanted TC's for the fit-up. the few fittings I needed for the connect cost 50% more than the HB vessel to begin with.

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I would love to have everything in my brewery connected with sanitary fittings, but SS has become so pricey. Who knows, maybe I'll find a smoking deal on a few down the road.

St. Pats is the cheapest Ive found for tri-clamps, if anyone knows someplace cheaper let me know.

Chimone said:

St. Pats is the cheapest Ive found for tri-clamps, if anyone knows someplace cheaper let me know.

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Look up Swagman here on the boards... haven't bought from him myself, but everything I hear is positive...

The cheapest supplier is KLG stainless. Look him up on the web or on eBay. The owners name is Kevin.

Ok just tested it out finally. I took the day off work to prep and get ready for tomorrow. Gave the chiller a boiling PBW run, then hook up hot water as I pumped into my Blichmann. Chilled boiling water down to 65 with the flow throttled back to a little less than half way open

Now the oxygen stone did let some water through if it the flow was wide open or if it was pumping into a closed tri-clamp on the fermenter.... which of course promptly trips the GFI from dripping directly into the pump. YEa that was fun.....but good to know safety devices are working properly.

Brewing my house pale tomorrow morning which is the chiller, 2050, and the conical's inaugural run. SHould be fun!

Chimone said:

Ok just tested it out finally. I took the day off work to prep and get ready for tomorrow. Gave the chiller a boiling PBW run, then hook up hot water as I pumped into my Blichmann. Chilled boiling water down to 65 with the flow throttled back to a little less than half way open

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But, How long did it take to chill???

Walker said:

But, How long did it take to chill???

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Well as long as it takes to pump 22 gallons out of the kettle. If cold water in is pre-chilled to ~40 then you would most likely be able to run the pump with the exiting valve wide open. My ground water is ~65 so I had to throttle back the ball valve to let the hot liquid have longer contact time with the heat exchanger.

It takes less than 10 minutes regardless

ah... ok. I thought you were recirculating the wort back in to the kettle and making multiple passes through the thing. But I guess that's not necessary with that therminator, eh?

Walker said:

ah... ok. I thought you were recirculating the wort back in to the kettle and making multiple passes through the thing. But I guess that's not necessary with that therminator, eh?

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Nope, hence the one drawback. You only get one pass being that it's being pumped directly into the conical. You need to hit your pitching temps the first time through because there is no recirculating.

The big dial thermometer lets you monitor the exiting temps. So if it's too hot you simply close the valve to give it longer. Too cold, then you open the valve more.

but you COULD recirculate, right? Maybe more of a hassle for you than it's worth?

I'm using my IC in reverse mode.... coil dropped into ice-water and wort pumped through it. I just recirculate it back into the kettle until the temp in the kettle is where I want, and then pull the coil up and move the pump's output from kettle into fermenter and let it go.

I still recirc mine back into the kettle from the wizard output just to drive the bulk down fast and to trap the break.. Unless I hop back. Then I throttle down for a single pass.

You mean recirculate back into the kettle? Sure, I suppose you could but it would add a bit of time and water needed to accomplish the same recults as making one pass.

Chimone said:

You mean recirculate back into the kettle? Sure, I suppose you could but it would add a bit of time and water needed to accomplish the same recults as making one pass.

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Yeah, back to the kettle.

As for saving time and water, I guess it depends on the full set-up. If you have two pumps (and I assume you do since your sh*t is so fancy), you could pump ice water through one port, recirculating it back to the icewater tub, and pump wort through the other side and back into the kettle.

Full-open throttles on the wort pump, set ice pump where you want. What came out of the chiller might be over-chilled, but it goes back into the kettle to mix with the stuff that's still hot.

You'd have to monitor the chiller INPUT instead of OUTPUT here to see when you reach the point where the stuff coming out of the kettle is at pitch temps.

I dunno.... just thinking out loud....

Walker said:

You'd have to monitor the chiller INPUT instead of OUTPUT here to see when you reach the point where the stuff coming out of the kettle is at pitch temps.

I dunno.... just thinking out loud....

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I do what you describe with a plate chiller but I monitor the output of the chiller. Once it's coming out at my pitching temp, I swing it over to my fermenter. Works like a champ.