dpittard
Well-Known Member
I want to give a big heads-up to all my fellow newbie homebrewers (I only have 1 batch so far).
I decided to get a full boil setup for Christmas and picked up a turkey fryer, 9-gallon pot, and propane tank last night. Of course, trying to cool 5 gallons of wort in a ice water bath is (nearly) impossible. So, along with my turkey fryer setup, I purchased 50 feet of refrigeration grade, 3/8" OD soft copper tubing and a few fitting to make my own immersion wort chiller.
Let me tell you, I cannot believe how EASY it was to make this and how WELL IT WORKS!!! It took about 15 minutes to build and I didn't use any tools but my hands. I'll tell you, it may not be as pretty as the "commercial" ones you can buy but it works like a charm and was significantly cheaper.
As a test (and to clean/sanitize), I brought 6 gallons of water to boil in the fryer. I dunked the chiller and waited ~5 minutes. I hooked up a garden hose to the chiller and the spigot on the outside of my house, cut off the flame and turned on the water. The temp went from 212* to 72* in about 7 minutes. I was amazed! And it so much easier than the water bath too!
All in all, I'm really satisfied with my homemade wort chiller and would recommned this over a water bath any day. You can't beat 50' of copper and some fittings for $50. Norther Brewer has copper chillers for $70, but they're only 25' of copper. Plus, you gotta pay for shipping.
I decided to get a full boil setup for Christmas and picked up a turkey fryer, 9-gallon pot, and propane tank last night. Of course, trying to cool 5 gallons of wort in a ice water bath is (nearly) impossible. So, along with my turkey fryer setup, I purchased 50 feet of refrigeration grade, 3/8" OD soft copper tubing and a few fitting to make my own immersion wort chiller.
Let me tell you, I cannot believe how EASY it was to make this and how WELL IT WORKS!!! It took about 15 minutes to build and I didn't use any tools but my hands. I'll tell you, it may not be as pretty as the "commercial" ones you can buy but it works like a charm and was significantly cheaper.
As a test (and to clean/sanitize), I brought 6 gallons of water to boil in the fryer. I dunked the chiller and waited ~5 minutes. I hooked up a garden hose to the chiller and the spigot on the outside of my house, cut off the flame and turned on the water. The temp went from 212* to 72* in about 7 minutes. I was amazed! And it so much easier than the water bath too!
All in all, I'm really satisfied with my homemade wort chiller and would recommned this over a water bath any day. You can't beat 50' of copper and some fittings for $50. Norther Brewer has copper chillers for $70, but they're only 25' of copper. Plus, you gotta pay for shipping.
, not that what it looks like makes ANY diff
