zanemoseley
Well-Known Member
Wanting to get into full or near full boils on the stove top I needed a better way of cooling. My first batch (3 gallon boil) took a bath in the sink and seemed like it took forever to cool 30-45 minutes. Doing this with 5 gallons of water would take probably an hour at least and probably start effecting the beer.
I bought a 20' box of 3/8" copper tubing for $33 and 8ft of 1/2" ID vinyl tubing for a total cost of about $40 with tax. I already had a Maxijet 900 aquarium powerhead Maxi-Jet Powerhead which was perfect.
The 1/2" ID tubing slipped over the 3/8" copper great without clamps, tight enough to not leak a drop but loose enough for easy removal for storage. The cool thing too about the powerhead above is that the tubing also slips over the pump output easily and holds firm without clamps but removes for storage.
I pumped ice water through the chiller and the cooling was tremendous, I did a test boil of a hair shy of 3 gallons. It cooled from 212 to 130 in about 3 minutes. I didn't have a thermometer that went below 120 but the temperature felt at or below 70 in about 8 minutes. I think I'll be able to cool 5 gallons in 12 minutes or so.
Hope this helps someone. I like it over the faucet hookup for many reasons. One is that you don't have to mess with removing parts from your faucet every time you brew. You can also pump ice water through any time of the year, tap water in TN in the middle of summer gets pretty high.
I bought a 20' box of 3/8" copper tubing for $33 and 8ft of 1/2" ID vinyl tubing for a total cost of about $40 with tax. I already had a Maxijet 900 aquarium powerhead Maxi-Jet Powerhead which was perfect.
The 1/2" ID tubing slipped over the 3/8" copper great without clamps, tight enough to not leak a drop but loose enough for easy removal for storage. The cool thing too about the powerhead above is that the tubing also slips over the pump output easily and holds firm without clamps but removes for storage.
I pumped ice water through the chiller and the cooling was tremendous, I did a test boil of a hair shy of 3 gallons. It cooled from 212 to 130 in about 3 minutes. I didn't have a thermometer that went below 120 but the temperature felt at or below 70 in about 8 minutes. I think I'll be able to cool 5 gallons in 12 minutes or so.
Hope this helps someone. I like it over the faucet hookup for many reasons. One is that you don't have to mess with removing parts from your faucet every time you brew. You can also pump ice water through any time of the year, tap water in TN in the middle of summer gets pretty high.