Anyone Made a Homemade Wort Chiller?

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abonzer

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I am thinking of making my own wort chiller. Has anyone tried this? It appears all they are made of is 1/2-inch copper tube rolled into a spiral and hose adapters sweated on the ends. I suppose the hardest part would be to spiral the copper without kinking it. Any pointers would be great.
 
Ya, a bunch of people have done the. Check out the DIY subsection of Equipment/Sanitation
 
Bobby_M's YouTube:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8EolKTDZUQ]YouTube - Immersion Chiller (IC) Build[/ame]
 
actually its a lot easier to use a smaller diameter copper tube because:
a) its cheaper
b) it bends easier
c) you can use compression fittings if you like
d) the greater surface to volume ratio actually means faster cooling

the only downside is that you have to be a little more gentle with handling it on brew day.
 
My biggest issue was sharp bends. Now that it's done, it's not fragile. I used 3/8' tubing. Checkout DIY as posted above. Follow up if you have questions!
 
giligson said:
actually its a lot easier to use a smaller diameter copper tube . . . the only downside is that you have to be a little more gentle with handling it on brew day.
Click to expand...
Beefed my 3/8" x 50' up with some copper wire braided around in three places.
The other benefit is that it spaces the coils for better cooling.

7180d1218714349-building-wort-chiller-ideas-new-ic.jpg


Works a bit better than the old one ;)
 
I just made one yesterday actually - had alot of fun with the blowtorch - which didn't turn out nearly as neat as the rest on this thread but hopefully it works out. I will be adding some 14 or larger gauge copper wire to get a uniform spacing between tubes, which will also help stiffen up the structure of the thing anyway.
 
I agree part of the fun of home brewing is building and doing things on my own, that is why I want to build one and not just buy one. The video was very helpful. I will probably stick with the 1/2-inch copper in lieu of 3/8-inch so the flow rate does not decrease.
 

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