this leads into the question I was going to ask.
is there a mathmatical benifit that you can equate to $$$ spent.
3\8 copper and 5\8 Hose. vs. 1\2 copper and 3\4 hose.
I want to make 2 CF chillers and sell the other but wondered if there was any benifit to going bigger in the grand scheme of most of us only doing 5-10 gallon batches.
love the thread and thanks for all the pics and input. I plan to build system using cam locks.
Cheers!.
I could be wrong, but I think this setup (1/2" copper & 3/4" hose) would increase flow of wort from kettle to fermenter, but would most likely decrease efficiency of the total unit. I dont have the math to follow up my thinking, but logic says the following...
1. the larger the inner circuit the less resistance to flow therefore increased flowrate.
2. by increasing the inner circuit from 3/8 to 1/2 you are increasing the total volume of wort inside the 25foot CFC. Now going from 5/8 to 3/4 will very slightly increase the total volume of the outer circuit, the difference is not as significant total mass as raising the volume of the inner circuit. Essentially you would be using about the same amount of coolant volume inside the CFC to cool a larger amount of wort volume, thus the total efficiency of the chiller would not be as good.
3. With decreased resistance and increased flow rate, your wort would be traveling faster through a less efficient CFC.
Keep in mind, this is all from just logic, and not experience...It may not make that much practical difference, but it might.
If you are set on the 1/2" copper you could make a longer CFC to make up for the inefficiency.
With these things in mind, I have thought about making mine with 3/8" copper and a 3/4" hose. This may be the way to go for people who deal with high ground water temps.
All that said...
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this forum, I have learned a lot. After brewing with my shop owner at the store...and experiencing the difference between cooling times with an IC and a CFC, I'll be building one myself. After talking with him, his experience is that 25' is not enough, but 30' really works well (he has high ground water temps from the city lines). I was going to build 2 25' CFC's and sell one, but he convinced me to buy materials for 3x 30' and sell off the other 2. I had to special order the 100' length of 3/8 copper since no local store carried it, and getting a craftsman rubber hose from Sears. All other parts I was able to pick up from HD or Lowes. (stupid me bought the 1/2-3/8 reducers before thoroughly reviewing this feed, but took them back today and got the right ones.) Total cost was about $215 or about $72 dollars each. I went with 1/2 Brass Tee -->1/2" pipe --> 1/2" MPT adapter --> 1/2' FIP to male and female Garden Hose Thread from my coolant ins and outs so it was a little more expensive. I went with a heavy duty rubber hose too, so that added to the cost, but I wanted more durable than cheap.