Great Wort Chiller

I built the attached wort chiller recently and I have to say it was amazingly efficient! I used 50' of 5/8 inch refrig copper tubing. I wrapped the small diameter coil around my corny Keg and the larger around my ale pail fermenter.

I joined the two coils together using soldered 90's and a very short piece of copper. The uprights are from a piece I ridgid copper pipe (the exact size and type I don't remember).

All in I spent about $100 or a bit less on parts.

This thing took my boiling wort down to 68 degrees in only 7 minutes and 34 seconds! Really pleased with the results.

I am on well water in Maryland so my water is definitely cold but this worked much better than any previous chiller I had made.

BTW...I bought the fittings and
copper tubing from coppertubingsales.com for only 75 bucks or so.

Wow, great looking IC. That thing looks pretty stout!

Just out of curiosity, what is the approx height from the base of the chiller to the top of the coils?

I agree it looks great. Very impressive work.

Mine is much cheaper it is a bucket of ice in the fermenter and gets my wort down to temp in about 2 minutes

dcHokie said:

Wow, great looking IC. That thing looks pretty stout!

Just out of curiosity, what is the approx height from the base of the chiller to the top of the coils?

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The inner coil is about 8 inches high and the outer coil is about 6 inches high

My cold water is fed to the shorter coil first then it goes up through the taller inner coil

Looks great! Interested in making another one and shipping to Cali?

pfgonzo said:

Looks great! Interested in making another one and shipping to Cali?

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You know, I would consider it send me a PM if you are serious

I've got one almost exactly like this, I'll get a pic in here tomorrow. I can vouch for the performance, mine regularly chills with times I usually see with counterflow chillers. On sunday I took mine from boiling down to 55 in ~12 to 14 mins. (wasn't timing it, but it was around there). Granted our groundwater is like 45F right now, but that was also without moving it. If you grab the spouts and are constantly lifting it up and down, it chills way faster.

The only thing I'd do slightly different from this is to separate the coils a bit so hot wort can freely move betweem them creating even more surface cooling.

Komodo said:

I've got one almost exactly like this, I'll get a pic in here tomorrow. I can vouch for the performance, mine regularly chills with times I usually see with counterflow chillers. On sunday I took mine from boiling down to 55 in ~12 to 14 mins. (wasn't timing it, but it was around there). Granted our groundwater is like 45F right now, but that was also without moving it. If you grab the spouts and are constantly lifting it up and down, it chills way faster.

The only thing I'd do slightly different from this is to separate the coils a bit so hot wort can freely move betweem them creating even more surface cooling.

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I originally thought the same thing and agreed with you about the separation but as you mentioned, if you simply move the chiller up and down gently it chills quick. I also have separated and locked the coils as one unit by weaving in between the coils copper wire.

Just like you, I chilled to 54 this weekend and I did time it but it was under 12 if I had to bet. Once the temps get lower, the temp drops rapidly. I have accidentally overshot 68 a few times because it's a matter of seconds between 74 and 68.

Definitely have to put down the beer and pay attention while chilling with it.

Damn, I was looking for something like this......but went with a chillus convolutas. Looks good.

Mine seems like it starts out crazy fast, then slows as the temps get closer to the ground water. It does go way gaster when moving it up and down, and you have to check the temps at the bottom of the pot and the top as they can be very different. I have mine going in the small coil to the bottom, then it winds its way back up the larger coil to the top.

I assume that you were recirculating the wort to get in to drop in TEMP so fast?

DPBISME said:

I assume that you were recirculating the wort to get in to drop in TEMP so fast?

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No, I simply put the ic into the kettle and move it around a bit... Quick and easy and best of all easy to clean up, just a quick spray of the hose

Ok, here's a pic of mine. You can see they are pretty similar in design and function. I have too much soldering on mine with the huge strips on the side holding it as a solid unit. If I redid it. I'd make those much smaller copper wire.

Komodo said:

Ok, here's a pic of mine. You can see they are pretty similar in design and function. I have too much soldering on mine with the huge strips on the side holding it as a solid unit. If I redid it. I'd make those much smaller copper wire.

View attachment 103953


View attachment 103954

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Very nice...that thing is a beast! :rockin:

I do like my copper wire holding everything together but yours has got to be 100% rock solid...there is still a small amount of play in mine but night and day difference from not having the wire binding it together!

I would love to see some other wort chiller creations that people have had. I l am always tinkering and if there is a better/different design out ther I would l would love to see it!

It is rock solid, no flex anywhere. I just redid it last weekend by elongating the 'spouts' so I could fully immerse it down in my keggle. I seriously think our design is maybe the most efficient immersion chiller there is.

Fredderick said:

I built the attached wort chiller recently and I have to say it was amazingly efficient! I used 50' of 5/8 inch refrig copper tubing. I wrapped the small diameter coil around my corny Keg and the larger around my ale pail fermenter.

I joined the two coils together using soldered 90's and a very short piece of copper. The uprights are from a piece I ridgid copper pipe (the exact size and type I don't remember).

All in I spent about $100 or a bit less on parts.

This thing took my boiling wort down to 68 degrees in only 7 minutes and 34 seconds! Really pleased with the results.

I am on well water in Maryland so my water is definitely cold but this worked much better than any previous chiller I had made.

BTW...I bought the fittings and
copper tubing from coppertubingsales.com for only 75 bucks or so.

Click to expand...

I built a wort chiller that is pretty much like yours -- a smaller diameter coil centered on a larger diameter coil. I also get chill times similar to yours. I love it!

Finally, I bought my copper from the same place. I could not give them a better recommendation. I am very pleased with Copper Tubing Sales.

Mark