Question about Homebrew Wort Chiller.

First of all, I'm new to the forums so Hi!

But anyways, I've been brewing for 3 or 4 months now and I decided, as most do, to make the jump to all grain brewing. I've always been a DIY kinda guy and I'm in the process of making my counterflow wort chiller and a concern came to mind. Has anyone had any problems with the copper tubing kinking when coiling around a keg?

I didn't see any dicussion of it but I figured I'd rather ask than learn later and waste perfectally good copper tubing. Thanks in advance!

TheFuzzyGiggler said:

First of all, I'm new to the forums so Hi!

But anyways, I've been brewing for 3 or 4 months now and I decided, as most do, to make the jump to all grain brewing. I've always been a DIY kinda guy and I'm in the process of making my counterflow wort chiller and a concern came to mind. Has anyone had any problems with the copper tubing kinking when coiling around a keg?

I didn't see any dicussion of it but I figured I'd rather ask than learn later and waste perfectally good copper tubing. Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Welcome!

I bought mine ready-made, but yes, I think kinking can be a problem if you try to rush the bending.

Also - you will probably be using soft copper which is less likely to kink. If you are concerned use a spring tube bender. When you build the counterflow get a piece of nylon string and knot it up every six inches or so. Then try and wrap it around the copper before sticking it inside the hose. Use some duct tape to keep it attached. The kinks will help break up the smooth flow of the water and increase your cooling rate.

I built a counterflow chiller a while back using 25' of 3/8" copper and 3/4" butyl rubber garden hose. The basic steps I followed were:

1.) Unroll the copper as straight as possible.

2.) Wrap the copper in aluminum fencing wire (used for high voltage containment and available at Lowes) to provide a turbulent water flow for higher efficiency. The spiral wraps were approximately 6 inches apart.

3.) Mix up a solution of detergent and water. Pour the solution down the rubber hose to lubricate.

4.) Thread the aluminum-wire-wrapped-copper through the hose. Don't attempt without the lubricant.

5.) Bend around a keg or paint bucket applying continuous, even pressure to avoid kinks.

6.) Solder joints and end caps.

7.) Enjoy rapidly cooled wort!

#2 - that's GREAT! Much better than my contraption.

One thing thats REALLY important when handling soft copper is to bend it in the same direction it was already bent. I always straighten the copper as best I can by holding the coil in one hand, and rolling it down towards the floor to straighten it. If you provide steady and light pressure while you roll it along the floor, it should straighten fairly easily. Once you have your straight piece, I put some tape with a mark on the inside of the bend so I know where to start re-coiling. Copper tubing will kink and thats definitely a huge PITA if it does mid-way through the outer hose.

A trick I've learned is that you can fill the tube with sand before you bend it (put a temp cap on one end). This will let you bend it, but the sand won't let the tube collapse/kink.

Thanks guys, Yeah, I got 50' of soft tubing for $45 locally and decided now I have no excuse not to make a counterflow chiller. I have a ton of 10ga and 14ga solid copper wire laying around in the garage I was going to solder it in a spiral pattern over the length of the tubing to make a more turbulant flow. Thanks for the tips on making sure to coil it in the same direction that I uncoiled it and I think I will fill it with sand first since it already has end caps. I'll let you guys know how it goes. =D