Another Wort Chiller

Built my wort chiller just now. Thanks to the mother in law who likes to give me $25 lowes gift cards I was able to get the copper tubing. Now I need to hope the neighbor lets me borrow his torch so I can sweat the fittings on.




Was a lot easier than I expected. I know it's not as pretty as some around here, but it's not kinked and works. Whole bending process took about 20 min. The first 5 trying to figure out how to get it started. Need a decent amount of space to swing the coil around the can. All together not too bad. Hopefully I can get this finished and try it out today!!

if you ever make another one ...(maybe for a friend )
tape an eng to a bucket and roll the bucket on top of the coil and have some one feed you more coil as you go..... it keeps it nice and round

but it will do the job just the same as a pretty one

nice job! looks like it'll work just like you need it to.

what size copper did you use, and what length?

davis119 said:

if you ever make another one ...(maybe for a friend )
tape an eng to a bucket and roll the bucket on top of the coil and have some one feed you more coil as you go..... it keeps it nice and round

but it will do the job just the same as a pretty one

Click to expand...

Brilliant! Wish I had thought of that. About to test it out. Went to the hardware store for the fittings and no sweating needed. Just a compression fitting directly to two hose connectors.

I used 3/8" at 50'. A lot simpler than I thought. Was at LHBS yesterday and they were $120is for 3/8' at 25' or $160 for 1/2" at 50'. My total cost was as follows

Parts
3/8" at 50' soft copper = $45
3/8" to Hose connector = $5 x2 = $10
Total = $55 and I live in Hawaii so everything is slightly more.

Extras
pipe cutter = $12
25' hose = $12

total project = $80 and I have a pipe cutter I can use for the next project and an extra hose. Plus I have $35 gift card for Lowes thanks to the mother in law.






Now just trying to figure out the best place to put the run off. I don't want to flood the yard and I don't want 40 gallons of water running down the street either.

Now just trying to figure out the best place to put the run off. I don't want to flood the yard and I don't want 40 gallons of water running down the street either.[/QUOTE]


looks great. I have heard that the water comes out vey hot and it could kill the grass. I'm ready to make (or hopefully find one on Craig's list). I would also like to know where you will be dumping it. some dump into the washing machine but that's not an option for me.

I ran the hose back into the house to the sink. The thing is amazing. Went from 220 to about 100 in no time. The problem was once it hit about 90 it took forever to get to 85. I think I ended up pitching the yeast at about 82. It was just taking forever to get those last few degrees. The tap water is not very cold here.

mjmac85 said:

I ran the hose back into the house to the sink. The thing is amazing. Went from 220 to about 100 in no time. The problem was once it hit about 90 it took forever to get to 85. I think I ended up pitching the yeast at about 82. It was just taking forever to get those last few degrees. The tap water is not very cold here.

Click to expand...

Stir.

Noted for next time.

Another option is getting a cheap harbor freight pump (~$35), and put it in a bucket with ice water to pump the water through the chiller once you get under 100º.

mjmac85 said:

Noted for next time.

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If you have a pump, whirlpool, I get down to pitching my 12 gallon post boil batches in about 15 minutes. If not, stirring will help greatly, but is a pain in the ass.

I run the first hot water into my mlt with oxy clean for cleaning.

Ramitt said:

I run the first hot water into my mlt with oxy clean for cleaning.

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I run first running inti the HLT, and second running of the hit water into MLT, that way you can oxiclean the kettle and rinse with hotter water.

Nice job on the chiller.

If you get a few bucks, make another chiller, but only make it 25' long and use it as a pre-chiller. Run your hose to the short chiller and put it in a cooler of ice water, then run a hose to your big chiller in your wort. Stir you wort with your chiller as it cools.

I have 80* tap water and chill my wort to 60* in less than 15 minutes and use less than 20 gallons of water.

Was thinking of just getting a pump to circulate ice water. Think it will be roughly the same price for the pump as a roll of tubing.

If you use the pre-chiller idea, dump a good amount of salt into the ice water. It will drop the water temp another 10 degrees to around 25 or so.

mjmac85 said:

Just a compression fitting directly to two hose connectors.

3/8" to Hose connector = $5 x2 = $10

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Let us know how those connectors work out for you. I JUST bought one yesterday for my setup intending the same thing. I couldn't find something to go from Hose-to-barb in a small enough hose barb to be effective. I'm concerned the weight of the hose will bend the copper down over time with the angle it's got.

mjmac85 said:

Was thinking of just getting a pump to circulate ice water. Think it will be roughly the same price for the pump as a roll of tubing.

Click to expand...

This is what I do. I used to use a sump pump from harbor freight. Now I use a small pond pump that I bought from....Lowes.

MikeMMM said:

Now just trying to figure out the best place to put the run off. I don't want to flood the yard and I don't want 40 gallons of water running down the street either.

Click to expand...

looks great. I have heard that the water comes out vey hot and it could kill the grass. I'm ready to make (or hopefully find one on Craig's list). I would also like to know where you will be dumping it. some dump into the washing machine but that's not an option for me.[/QUOTE]

I run it into a 55gal drum to water the garden when it cools.

Run it into another pot and use the hot water for cleanup.