Finished my Counterflow Chiller

Thanks to all for the advice and guidance on how to build a Counterflow Wort Chiller. For someone that has NO mechanical aptitude or plumbing skills, I can say that I am happy that it is done. I even have a few burns from hot copper during the sweat/solder process.

In all, I started with a 50' hose and 50' x 3/8 refridgeration tubing. THe end product is a 42' CFC. Still need to zip tie it up and run a leak check on it. I used a 5 gallon bucket for the coiling and there are 13 coils.

Wish I had time this coming weekend to pressure test and run a first batch of brew through it.

Many wonderful brews ahead!
That sounds great I got all my Ideas from HBT to build my CFC and it works Great, I gravity feed the wort through it and run 65-68deg water through the chiller, wort comes out at 68deg!!
same or similar dimensions
hopefully the leak check doesn't disappoint !

I'm definitely looking forward to a very fast cool down. I've used an Immersion Chiller and it took about 30 minutes to cool. I'm hoping that the CFC will provide a 'NO WAIT' chill.

I too am using gravity to move liquid through the system.

It works great, I have actually gone from the CFC to a immersion chiller...it does take about 30-35 minutes, but at the time that I had the CFC I had no way to recirculate the water...so I was Wasting TONS of water (all went into the pool) but still didnt feel like it was worth it...Now that I have a way to recirculate the cold water (pond pump from home depot and a few fittings) I will probably bring out the CFC again and enjoy the fast cool down.

I've been thinking of building one of these lately, when you're coiling the chiller do you simply run the copper tubing through the hose then muscle it around a bucket?

I uncoiled the 3/8 refridgerant line tubing. Cut about 4' off each end of a 50' length of 1/2' I/D hose from Target. Pushed the copper tubing through the hose. Some say to lube it with dish soap - I didn't have to. After the copper is inside the hose, YES, I coiled it around a 5 gallon bucket. There was only me so it was a one person job. It would have been MUCH easier with a second set of hands. Even if the coild is not perfect, you will be able to straighten it up when using the zip ties to keep it all together. When putting the zip ties on, I was able to manipulate the coils a bit to straighten them up and make for a better finished look.

Easiness scale : (1 being easy and 10 being extremely difficult)
Cutting the hose: 1
Uncoiling the copper tubing: 1
Inserting the tubing into the cut hose: 3
Coiling the hose around 5 gallon bucket by myself: 3 (if I had help :1)
Cutting the hard copper tubing into 3" lengths: 2
Sweating the copper joint together: 6
Zip tying the CFC together: 2
Installing the hose clamps: 2

Overall: 3 (only because I had no experience with solder/sweating copper joint together).

Total Time to complete: 3 beers (including water testing for leaks at hose clamps)
Would I attempt this project again: YES

the Counterflow works just plain awesome. I have used it now to drain a boil pot that was at a full rolling boil. Hooked up the flow and the output was 206 then turned on the counterflow (tap water was at 75). With less than 5 seconds of counterflow chilling, the output temp from the boil pot dropped to 75 degrees. UNBELIEVABLE. If I hadn't witnessed it in person, I would not have believed it.

I have a friend that uses an immersion chiller. I don't want to make him feel bad. The immersion takes almost 20 minutes to cool a 6 gallon batch then the time to drain. With the CFC, it is only the time it takes to drain. Just saved 20+ minutes!!!

and where the feck is the picture?

I think most cfc's look the same, I'm wondering how much more effective a 40 plate chiller is then a 25' cfc. I think a plate chiller from keg cowboy and a CDC would cost the same and a plate chiller is way smaller and way more space efficient.

@ LOF, you are probably correct about the cost between a 40 plate and CFC. Most CFC's are 25' but mine is 42' (not like that really matters). For me, it was more about the fun of making it rather than buying one off the shelf. The other issue is the connections from pot to plate chiller. This adds some costs. Overall, mine was about $30 cheaper than a plate chiller EVEN WITH THE REDICULOUS PRICE OF COPPER!

Nothing works better than a Counter Flow Cooler..... Here is pic of the one I built using 1/2" Soft Copper and 7/8 id dishwasher hose.

How do you get the inner piece of tubing through the fitting for the outer hose? Isn't there usually a stop so you can't over insert the pipe?

You ream out the stop with an appropriately sized drill bit

Only drawback i see with plate coolers is how do you clean them if they get gunked up on inside............must be some pretty tight passageways in those things.

We made a 40' CFC works fantastic.

I ran a batch through the CFC today and it worked PERFECT and was very easy to clean! Rinsed, PBW & starsan after touching wort then dust caps placed on until the next usage .

I plan to make one soon, but my plan is to put a 15' coil of 3/8 copper in a five gallon bucket that I'll fill with an ice water and possibly salt solution depending on how cold I'd like to get the wort. Inlet for the wort on top with an outlet about two or three inches up from the bottom since it will be gravity fed. Has anyone made something like that yet?