Homemade wart chiller problems

So, after some discussion with a friend, I picked up 50' of 1/4" soft copper for building a wort chiller. After a few attempts I've got it shaped, and looking like a coil of copper but I've ended up with two issues.

The first is stability/wobbliness. I doubt it's really an issue and more of me comparing myself to well-built ones by experienced people. Basically, it's not very "solid". It kind of reminds me of ET's neck. Is this even a real issue?

The second is a leak where I connect to the hose. I used a washing machine hose, cut off the end, and then clamped it to the 1/4" pipe. No matter how hard I've tightened the clamp I'm still getting the leak. I've angled this connection downward so it should leak outside the pot, but I'd generally feel better if it didn't leak at all.

Any advice in either of these areas?

i could never get the leak problem solved using hose clamps. In the end, the solution for me was to solder brass hose fittings on it. There is a thread on here somewhere that I followed for the info. Many people use copper wire or a flattened piece of soft copper to stabilize the chiller. I will add this to mine one of these days. until then mine is also kinda slinky-like.

You can reduce the slinky effect by threading and crossing copper wire up the sides of the chiller. When I used a IM I had a hose come loose and spray murky well water into the wort. After that, I soldered some elbows and extensions to get the hose connection out and over the kettle just in case it happened again.

I'll ask around to see if I've got any friends who have experience soldering pipes because it's completely outside my area of comfort.

Then check this video out:


And also, be careful! As your wart can be contagious!

Cacaman said:

And also, be careful! As your wart can be contagious!

Click to expand...

Oi, it has been one of those days. The video looks "simple" so I'm going to give it a bit more of the college try and add more clamps. Failing that, I think I might take my chances with the torch.

Thanks for the video.

CCericola said:

Oi, it has been one of those days. The video looks "simple" so I'm going to give it a bit more of the college try and add more clamps. Failing that, I think I might take my chances with the torch.

Thanks for the video.

Click to expand...

You bet! Those torches are not expensive and are easy to use. Good luck!

Use the proper sized vinyl tubing and stainless steel hose clamps and you should have no leaking.

I made mine out of 3/8 inch tubing and got the vinyl tubing that fit quite snugly.

I laced the copper ground wire from a short piece of romex wiring in 3 places around the coil. It is very solid.

you can also use compression fittings.. No torches or solder needed that way.

Thanks for everyone's help. Stopped down at Home Depot today and they had a compression fitting exactly for what I need (1/4" to garden hose). And it works perfectly.

It doesn't look good and it can wobble when it stands by itself but I did myself and it seems to work.