Cheap copper wort chiller

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Superman3278

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After much searcing for the best deal (penny saved is a pint brewed), I found Home Depot to be the cheapest, 20' 3/8 soft copper $11.96. Add a few more dollars for hose clamps and 3/8 vinal tubing and male/female garden hose end repair kit and "volla"!!
A friend asked for help making one and the end result was two chillers for 36 bucks, so for those of you who need one, make two.

Cheers
 
Is that 3/8" OD or ID? I'm getting ready to build one but I want at least 50' of the tubing so I would want to get 3 lengths of this if it's the right size....
 
I think I'm gonna build mine with 50' of 1/2" (3/8" ID) tubing. The tubing is a little more expensive but it will give me better and faster heat transfer. You did get an excellent price on the 3/8" tubing though. Thats' almost cheap enough to make me consider using it and building a double-coil chiller. I guess I'm gonna have to get the calculator out and do a little math and see if I could build a double-coil chiller with smaller tubing and get more effective heat transfer than I could with a single-coil of the larger tubing.

That should be boring enough... :)
 
Home depot screwed up there is no way it's that cheap. Go buy all they have.
 
A double-coil chiller using the smaller tubing would be a good bit more efficient than a single coil of the next size up...

Splitting the incoming water feed into two separate tube coils increases the water volume and surface contact area quite a bit. It would be a pain in the ass to build it and it would also cost more.

However...

Two 25' coils instead of a single 50' coil wouldn't cost much more to put together and it would be a good bit more efficient than a single 50' coil... It would still be a pain in the ass to put together...
 
A double-coil chiller using the smaller tubing would be a good bit more efficient than a single coil of the next size up...

Splitting the incoming water feed into two separate tube coils increases the water volume and surface contact area quite a bit. It would be a pain in the ass to build it and it would also cost more.

However...

Two 25' coils instead of a single 50' coil wouldn't cost much more to put together and it would be a good bit more efficient than a single 50' coil... It would still be a pain in the ass to put together...

why is it a pain in the a$$?
 
I think the price of copper has been dropping since the summer 08.

20' 3/8 OD for $11 is a good deal, but not a dirt cheap, buy and sell on ebay price.

I got 50' of 1/2 at lowes for only $7 more than I could find online (w/shipping), but the $7 was good insurance that the rest of the pieces would fit, and I didn't want to wait a week.

I'm just saying that copper prices have been falling a bit, and you can get reasonable buys from the box stores now.
 
20' 3/8 OD for $11 is a good deal, but not a dirt cheap, buy and sell on ebay price.

I got 50' of 1/2 at lowes for only $7 more than I could find online (w/shipping), but the $7 was good insurance that the rest of the pieces would fit, and I didn't want to wait a week.

I agree with Hammer with this being a screw up on their end pricing-wise. $18 for 50' is far off from this link...

Cerro at Lowe's: 1/2" ODx50' Copper Refrigeration Tubing
 
I made mine from 50' of 1/2" refrigeration tubing. It cools 6 gallons of wort in under 10 minutes no problem. The whole set up cost me just under a hundred bucks. $18 is really cheap.
 
Yes, my 50' IC with fittings and all was about 75.

I don't see the $18 for 50', when I put in my zip, it returns $55 for that.
and the OP was getting 20' for $11. That's a reasonable price.

But yes. If you found 50' 1/2 inch for $18, you should buy several of them and make some money with resale.
 
I think I'm gonna build mine with 50' of 1/2" (3/8" ID) tubing. The tubing is a little more expensive but it will give me better and faster heat transfer. You did get an excellent price on the 3/8" tubing though. Thats' almost cheap enough to make me consider using it and building a double-coil chiller. I guess I'm gonna have to get the calculator out and do a little math and see if I could build a double-coil chiller with smaller tubing and get more effective heat transfer than I could with a single-coil of the larger tubing.

That should be boring enough... :)

the smaller the diameter of the tubing, the faster the heat transfer.
 
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