Wort Chiller Faucet Connection Help?

Just built myself a wort chiller and now I can't figure how to connect to my faucet. I have one of those pull out spray faucets. Which I'm able to remove ok. But I can't seem to find a hose barb that will connect to the female thread. I've tried the 1/4 MIP which is too small and the 3/8 Mip is too big. Don't seem to able to get anything in between. Any suggestions. I'm trying to hook to a tube with a 3/8 id. I'm certainly no plumming expert, any advice would be appreciated.

I could be wrong but I think you may need an adapter from sink to garden hose. Then you can use standard garden hose fittings, such as 3/4" MIP.

It may be a compression connection. Bring the hose in to your plumbing source and find something that fits.
or
Many/most faucets have a nozzle on the end that can be unscrewed. You may have better luck converting the actual faucet to a garden hose connection and using a garden hose to hose barb adapter.

raouliii said:

It may be a compression connection. Bring the hose in to your plumbing source and find something that fits.
or
Many/most faucets have a nozzle on the end that can be unscrewed. You may have better luck converting the actual faucet to a garden hose connection and using a garden hose to hose barb adapter.

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Or just buy a $30 immersion pump with garden hose fittings and drop it in a cooler of ice water. Works much better than tap water....

I stole this picture off of HBT... A few months ago. I cant remember who did this, but they bought an adapter that splits the water to the faucet and a ball valve, neat little DIY project. You can go to HD and buy the adapter and the ball valve, plus some other attachment. I bet it



would be less than $20, maybe $30 at the most.
I am going to try this for my winter brewing, the Colorado water that comes out of the tap is very cold! I actually have everything from various home improvement projects, I just need to put it together.

Thanks for the tips guys, plenty of options to ponder.

ThatGeekGuy said:

Or just buy a $30 immersion pump with garden hose fittings and drop it in a cooler of ice water. Works much better than tap water....

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I've used a 2nd chiller in a bucket of ice to pre-chill my tap water prior to running it through my immersion chiller and it reduced my wort temperature drop time by maybe 25%.

What you're proposing, unless I misunderstand, is to continuously pump ice water through the immersion chiller? Would you be re-circulating or continuously adding ice and tap water to the cooler. Either way, its seems like you would go through a LOT of ice.

raouliii said:

I've used a 2nd chiller in a bucket of ice to pre-chill my tap water prior to running it through my immersion chiller and it reduced my wort temperature drop time by maybe 25%.

What you're proposing, unless I misunderstand, is to continuously pump ice water through the immersion chiller? Would you be re-circulating or continuously adding ice and tap water to the cooler. Either way, its seems like you would go through a LOT of ice.

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It's recirculating through the chiller and back to the cooler. I start with about two inches of water and a five pound bag of ice, and add a second bag after the first one completely melts. Not much ice or expense, and hit pitching temp fast.