I was thinking about making my own wort chiller. I read online Mr Palmer's instructions on how to do this, but I cannot find any copper tubing in 30-50' lengths like he describes. I went to my lowe's and home depot and they only sold either 10' lengths or sold refrigiration tubing. Besides this, everyone I have seen making them says you can make them for about $25, but the 50' refridge tubing itself was almost $30. I am totally confused and could use some direction here........Thanks so much!!
Wort Chiller?
- Thread starter GABrewboy
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Baron von BeeGee
Beer Bully
Refrigeration tubing is copper tubing...you should be able to find a 25' length. I got 3/8" od tubing, some 3/8" id plastic tubing, a garden hose adapter, and some mini hose clamps for ~$35.
sudsmonkey
Well-Known Member
Glad you mentioned the corrosion issue. I've been thinking about building one and had wondered about that. Anybody ever priced stainless tubing ? Is there such a thing?
PT Ray
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Copper is/was at a premium so your build cost will more than likely be more than those posted. Big box homecenters stock type L 1/4 i.d (3/8 o.d.) tubing in 10, 20 and 50 foot lengths and everthing else needed to build a cfc. It just might take as long to pick out everything you need as it will to actually build one depending on your knowledge of the harware.
sudsmonkey said:
Don't do it man, stainless is a poor conductor of heat and the whole purpose of the wort chiller is to transfer the heat from the wort to the water that's leaving the chiller and the conductor between the two is the metal tubing. Copper is the way to go.
If you really feel that you need to clean your wort chiller, just dump a quart of vinegar in a 5 gallon bucket and add water. Soak the ciller in there for a short while and it will be bright and shiny.
Heck I just rinse mine after each brewing secession and store it on a shelf in the house. When I need to use it, I just rinse it off and put it in the brew pot during the last minute of the boil. She comes out bright and shiny each and every time. Yes, I know where the oxidation went. Hey, I've been drinking and bathing with water from copper tubing all my life. I ain't dead yet.
sudsmonkey
Well-Known Member
Good point. I'm the first to confess that I brew with well water and don't even give it a second thought. What was I worried about ? Is 3/8 inch tubing fine ? Is 1/2 inch better ? I know more flow = more cooling, but is there a point where efficiency stops and water waste begins? Will this make me a more sophisticated brewer, or just mo' better, since I won't be cooling my wort for an hour in the bathtub?
Heat transfer surface is probably more important in this application. Even with quarter, you can push enough water through the line that it's hard to tell that the water is warming up at all. Going to half inch only doubles the surface, even though it can handle four times as much flow. It's also a pain to bend.
DeRoux's Broux
Well-Known Member
just buy one. you can get one for 5 gallons, shipped and all for $50 bucks. time is money right?????GABrewboy said:
sudsmonkey said:
I suppose that smaller tubing would be more effecient giving more surface area in a more compact area. You'd be able to flow faster and probably chill faster.
I used 30 feet of 3/8" for mine and am able to chill in about 20 minutes. At 15 minutes, I hook up a 20 foot pre-chiller and slow the flow down to a trickle as seen here:
bikebryan
Well-Known Member
I hope you have it in the boil for more than "the last minute of the boil." Even autoclaves, using high pressure steam that is hotter than your boil, hold the items in them for a longer period than that!ScottT said:
Everywhere I have read mentions you need to boil the IC for 15 to 20 minutes to get the level of sanitation you need.
ScottT said:
Whats the difference between the 30 feet chiller and a 20 pre-chiller?
(Please don't say 10 foot)
Baron von BeeGee
Beer Bully
orfy said:
Looks like the pre-chiller is set in a bucket of ice water to pre-cool the water below normal tapwater temperature before it hits the wort thereby increasing the cooling capacity. Pretty slick idea, especially in the summer when tapwater's not all that cool.
You've got it. I purchased 50' of copper tubing at Home Depot. Already had a flare tool and attached flare fittings to each end to which i attached a drain tupe and an infeed tub with a female garden hose swivel fitting on it.
I made my chiller coil with 30' and my pre-chiller with the other 20 feet. In the summer, my water temps are not cool enough to chill below 100 degrees. I run the water from the tap for the first 15 to 20 minutes and then detach the garden hose and attach to the male garden hose fitting that's on my pre-chiller and attach the garden hose to the female garden hose swivel fitting on my prechiller, slow it down to a trickle and this drops it down to 75-80 degrees in about another 10 minutes or so.
As to 1 minute of boiling not sanatizing my imersion chiller. I say bunk.
It only take 160 degrees to kill off bacteria. 200 will get it done in a hurry. The coil is clean, it conducts heats immediately, water isn't flowing through it when I first put it in. I challange anyone to take a clean piece of copper, imerse it in a boiling acidic soulution for 60 seconds than take a culture swab off the copper and see if you can grow anything. Then come and tell me that I'm contaminating my batches with my imersion chiller.
I made my chiller coil with 30' and my pre-chiller with the other 20 feet. In the summer, my water temps are not cool enough to chill below 100 degrees. I run the water from the tap for the first 15 to 20 minutes and then detach the garden hose and attach to the male garden hose fitting that's on my pre-chiller and attach the garden hose to the female garden hose swivel fitting on my prechiller, slow it down to a trickle and this drops it down to 75-80 degrees in about another 10 minutes or so.
As to 1 minute of boiling not sanatizing my imersion chiller. I say bunk.
It only take 160 degrees to kill off bacteria. 200 will get it done in a hurry. The coil is clean, it conducts heats immediately, water isn't flowing through it when I first put it in. I challange anyone to take a clean piece of copper, imerse it in a boiling acidic soulution for 60 seconds than take a culture swab off the copper and see if you can grow anything. Then come and tell me that I'm contaminating my batches with my imersion chiller.
Okay so here's my wort chiller for a total cost of £3 and some scrounged bits.
10mm tubing, A length of clear tubing, 4 jubilee clips and a tap connector.
10mm tubing, A length of clear tubing, 4 jubilee clips and a tap connector.
Does any one have any idea what volume of water is used on the average wort chill?
And does anyone recycle the water are is it all just dumped? I was thinking of maybe using it for cleaning equipment afterwards.
And does anyone recycle the water are is it all just dumped? I was thinking of maybe using it for cleaning equipment afterwards.
Baron von BeeGee
Beer Bully
orfy said:
Mine fills up a 5g pot in a few minutes (maybe 4-5?). I imagine I go through 15-20g of water. Note that the first several gallons to come out of an effective wort chiller will be scalding hot, as in peeling skin off of sandaled feet or killing grass/plants.
Truble
Well-Known Member
I think ScottT mentioned that he collects the initial hot water to do his cleanup with. That is a great idea.
Brewsmith
Home brewing moogerfooger
Built mine from 50 ft of 3/8'' copper from home depot. Copper was already in a coil, just tightened the coil around a pot I had and added compression fittings attatched to 3/8'' barbs for vinyl tubing and a garden hose attatchment with same 3/8'' barb on the ''in'' side. Copper - $30, Fittings - $7, The whole thing cost around $40. You could build it in less than an hour having all the right pieces. - My 2 cents
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