Doc Robinson
Well-Known Member
Chillzilla, Shirron Plate Chiller, or the Therminator...I'm moving to 10 gallon batches.
man, I dont know if your a DIY-er or not but I just made myself a counter flow chiller out of 30' 3\8 copper tubbing inside 30' of garden hose with the fittings found here
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_33_145&products_id=10644
wow... to test it out I put 198 ded water through it gravity feeding with 62 deg tap water and when the heated water came out the bottom it was the same as the tap water going in (62 deg)...very cool
The totall cost was $80 (if you use those fittings) if you go to home-depot or lowes you can do better
Or you could make a 50' IC, easy and cheap, and one less thing you beer has to run through. Mine cools 11 gallons as fast as 6 gallons.
Or you could make a 50' IC, easy and cheap, and one less thing you beer has to run through. Mine cools 11 gallons as fast as 6 gallons.
$75 got me the materials to make 2. I sold the other one on ebay for $70.
That's better!
how thick is ur copper?
I got the 50' ghetto ass 1/4 inch immersion chiller from brewster brown (I got got). Would that work for 10 gallons?
So, this may be a stupid question, but you HAVE to have a pump to run one of these, right? No other way?
They will gravity feed.
And dude, I may as well just buy this one if it cost you $80 to build the same thing...it's only $70.
They will gravity feed.
But pump is way easier.
Those are a great way to chill - only problem is that if you puncture that outside garden hose, you pretty much have a lump of copper you can't use. That being said, how often does that happen?
I say make your own at that point.
But pump is way easier.
why do they put the copper inside garden hoses?
So faster chilling, YES, Easier to use, I'd say nope.
I've been using my CFC with gravity all summer. It cools to <70 in one pass from the boil kettle to the fermenter. I have bought a pump though that I'm going to integrate into a stand sometime soon (hopefully) and recirculate. This allows you to cool the whole volume faster because you're mixing the cooled wort into the non cooled stuff constantly. Where as gravity some wort sits there near 200 still until it gets its chance to run through the CFC.
I would say technically the pump is one more piece of equipment that requires fudging with. Not to mention the common 809 is not self priming and has a learning curve to use.
So faster chilling, YES, Easier to use, I'd say nope.
what is the JZ whirlpool cooler>?
Not real sure how you'd puncture the outside hose. You would have to try to puncture it on purpose I believe.
You are probably right, garden hoses are pretty durable. I was just pointing out what could happen. After all, I have never wanted to break a carboy with a carboy brush, but I did.
My issue with CFCs are that I can't see the inside, so I can never be 100% certain it's clean.
I've used all three types of chillers and never had an contamination that I know of.
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