Awesome new wort chiller design. Pics

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TheCarnie

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I'm sure I'm not the very first to do this, but i haven't seen it yet. I simply put a copper coil from Lowes, and stuck it in a bucket.

Something had to be done, it was taking almost an hour to chill 5 gallons with my old chiller, and i just got an aluminum 80 quart kettle for 1/2bbl batches. (a steal from the local restaurant supply at $60) I setup it up in my bathroom hot water in the kettle and it worked awesome.


My old immersion chiller
59569_159831337367269_100000212109375_562892_7276362_n.jpg


New one i just made for less that $40 in all. (tubing too)
60362_159831310700605_100000212109375_562890_4396700_n.jpg


59569_159831334033936_100000212109375_562891_4515693_n.jpg
 
I think you're going to run into problems if you hope to use this alone to chill a batch from boiling to pitching temp. You'll have hot spots pretty quickly if you don't stir, but even if you do you'll have a bucket full of warm water in short order. If you slow your wort flow rate down and blast fresh cold water into the bucket as fast as you can you might get a decent outlet temperature, but the flow rate might be pretty slow at that point, not to mention the huge amount of water wasted.

If you use it as a post-chiller with ice water to knock off the last few degrees that the IC couldn't, it would probably do fine...
 
I'm not that concerned with wasting water, whatever amount i use will be better than before (a straight hour of the garden hose going.) I'm probably gonna put the hose in the bucket (not wide open) and open the spout to keep it cool.

Basically i didn't want to spend $100+ on a cfc, so I thought of the most basic way to make one without having to do any soldering. Any simple additions or thoughts for improvement would be appreciated.
 
Funkenjaeger said:
I think you're going to run into problems if you hope to use this alone to chill a batch from boiling to pitching temp. You'll have hot spots pretty quickly if you don't stir, but even if you do you'll have a bucket full of warm water in short order. If you slow your wort flow rate down and blast fresh cold water into the bucket as fast as you can you might get a decent outlet temperature, but the flow rate might be pretty slow at that point, not to mention the huge amount of water wasted.

If you use it as a post-chiller with ice water to knock off the last few degrees that the IC couldn't, it would probably do fine...
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm with you on this. it looks like 3/8x25'. Ice & water in the tub would make a fair post chiller
 
I'd be most concerned with getting that tubing clean after every session. What's your plan for that?

FYI
Copper + Oxyclean = pitted copper
 
mosquitocontrol said:
I'd be most concerned with getting that tubing clean after every session. What's your plan for that?

FYI
Copper + Oxyclean = pitted copper
Click to expand...

That's good to know. I usually fill my cfc with oxy and let it soak for about 10 minutes, then starsan for another 10 minutes before each use. After I'm done it gets flushed with boiled water. I may have to rethink the oxy soak if what you say is true.
 
If your IC is 3/8" copper you can straighten it and make a CFC out of it. That's what I did. Screw 2 2x4's together and pull the copper thru it. It was a bit tough in spots, but it worked.

$10 for some rubber hose and a few dollars for some fittings and you're done. Here's mine.

I used a 25' IC for a while doing 5 gallon batches and it worked fine, but took a solid 35-40 minutes to get to 70 or 75. Now I'm getting 10 gallons down in less than 30 minutes. You can really make a CFC easy to use and clean with a few quick connects. I'm still a bit amazed at how well mine works, though I know everyone has their preferences.
 

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