Cheyco's CFC

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Chairman Cheyco

***DRAMATIZATION***
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This is nothing ground-shattering as far as CFC's go, but I think it's an improvment on the BYO design. There is a slight increase in cost but I think it's easily offset by the increase in durability and ease of assembly (no JB weld.)

The difference is in how the tees are built, where they used rigid copper tees I swapped them out for threaded tees and hose barbs instead:

2639-Teedetail.jpg


BOM:
25' 5/8" garden hose
25' 3/8"OD copper tubing
2- 1/2" NPT female brass tees
2- 3/8"compression x 1/2"male NPT fittings
4- 5/8"hose barb x 1/2" male NPT fittings
4- 5/8" Hose clamps

Tools:
Teflon tape
25/64" drill (you can use 3/8" but that extra 1/64" makes putting it together much easier)
Knuckle-busters (wrenches for the fittings)
Homebrew

Start by cutting about 8" off both ends of the garden hose. Use your guile and get the copper tubing insde the garden hose, it's easier if you straighten both out first.
Next drill out the centers of the compression fittings so the tubing will slide through them. Drill from the 1/2" threaded side to avoid damaging the ferrule seat.
Once you're done that, put thread tape on all the threads and make it look like the picture (don't forget to put the hose clamps on the hoses before you put the barbs in the hoses!)
Tighten everything until there are no leaks and you're done. :rockin:

2639-cfcwhole.jpg


With this configuration I can run it under full, shut-in hose pressure with nary a leak, BYO's would blow up if you did that. Since I built it, I have added a ball valve to the cooling water inlet to control the wort temp more accurately (my hose water was running at 35F(!) yesterday so running it wide open is out of the question, just a trickle suffices.)

I hope this is helpful, like I said, nothing groundbreaking, but I feel it's more simple than many of the designs I've seen. Let me know if I missed anything.

:mug:

Update:
I was going to build a through-mometer the other day out of one of those liquid crystal sticker thermometers, and then I just thought 'why not stick the thermometer right to the discharge side of the CFC coil?' So I did. I had to trim the thermometer down by cutting off the Celcius scale (antiquated system that it is) and then to ensure it stayed-put, I wrapped it with a layer of clear packing-tape.
 
Thanks for the info. It looks simple enough to make. You did a great job of explaning the the counterflow. Thanks again.
 
Thanks Cheyco. I too plan on building one of these soon and appreciate it.

Dude said:
That looks awesome, as does the new avatar!

I've just learned that May is International Cleavage Month! I think we all need to do our part and change up our avatars to show our support! Oh, this is not a politically correct event and only includes females. Plumber cleavage is out of the question.
 
Would it be possible to see pictures of how you attached the ball valve? That's a great idea!
 
Actually, the one I used was from a broken watering wand of SWMBO's so it is simply a 3/4" hose connection and you just put it in-line after the hose and before the chiller. I can take a pic tomorrow if you want.
 
Very nice, CC!

If I ever build one of these contraptions, it will be just like yours.

I assume that there is enough clearance for water to flow between the outside of the copper tubing and the hose nipples?
 
Lounge Lizard said:
I assume that there is enough clearance for water to flow between the outside of the copper tubing and the hose nipples?

There is plenty, tubing sizes are outer diameter (OD) and hose sizes are interior diameter (ID). If you're worried about it you could always go to 3/4" hose and barbs. This may not be a bad idea for those of us who's coolant water isn't near freezing as it would increase the cooling capacity significantly.
 
It still won't matter what size tubing you use, people in hot climates like ours with 80-85 degree ground water in the summer time. Well be forced to use some kind of pre-chiller (or post-chiller) to get anywhere near good pitching temps.

I am actually going to start that project in the next couple of weeks before it heats up here. I have an old immersion chiller that I need to put garden hose fittings on.
 
I bought a ball valve in thre garden hose department at Menards which is like Home Depot. It cost less than $3.00. It has male and female fittings and screws unto a standard size garden hose. One end screws unto the hose the male end will screw intp a spray nozzle or an immersion or counterflow wort cooler. Works perfectly
 
Well, I built this excellent project yesterday and made a few observations:

1. It's super easy and works really well.
2. I screwed up one compression fitting and have a small leak that I can work around, but I'll try and solder it up or just replace the fitting.
3. Discovered that it's pretty easy to straight a coil of 3/8" copper tubing by pushing it through 4' of 1/2" copper pipe!
4. I taped up the end of the copper pipe with masking tape making a 'bullet' shape and it pushed through the soapy garden hose in about 15 seconds with no fuss.
5. Agree with Dude that a prechiller is needed to drop below 80F as our groundwater here is already warm.

I sure won't be screwing around with the immersion chiller anymore (other than as a prechiller).
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
2. I screwed up one compression fitting and have a small leak that I can work around, but I'll try and solder it up or just replace the fitting.

MY CFC leaked at one time, so I patched the joints with JB weld. The stuff is really messy but it did the trick. That stuff is food grade once it cures, so it is a nice solder-less solution, and darn cheap.
 
One minor design improvement that I could offer up to this: use plastic snap clamps for the garden hose to barb connections instead of worm drive type hose clamps. I tried the worm drive ones first, but could not tighten enough to get rid of water leaks. The plastic snap ones don't allow any leaks, even with the thin, cheap garden hose that I used.

I got mine here:

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/pr...=USPlastic&category_name=2659&product_id=8236
 
Appreciate the design you shared Cheyco. Ended up costing about $70. Not bad IMO. That's what they sell for at NB less shipping but mines longer :) . need to shorten up the connectors so it's not so wide and I tossed the barbs on the end as I had them hanging around. Question, do you need to have a higher heat resistant beer line for keg to CFC?

574-cfc1.JPG


574-cfc2.JPG
 
ha HA! I used those fancy plastic cinch binders. I also used the hose from HD with the reinfoced webbing in it for keggle->CFC and haven't had any issues. I would like to find some 'official' high-temp line, though.
 
How do you guys sanitize the chiller? Been thinkning of makingone of these very soon. Trying to streamline my brewing practices. :)

I now use 1/2" id 5/8" od beer line for siphoning my 13 gallon carboys. Nice and fast. Plus it hooks up to my filter easier.

Any way back to the CPC. Any issues with beer stone etc clogging these things up over time?
 
OK. BTW Cheyco, I was in Calgary a few day ago. Should have asked you where the HB stores are as I can only find diversol sani and dry yeast here. Should have picked up some liquid yeast and starsan or onestep.
 
Denny's Brew said:
OK. BTW Cheyco, I was in Calgary a few day ago. Should have asked you where the HB stores are as I can only find diversol sani and dry yeast here. Should have picked up some liquid yeast and starsan or onestep.


Yes, you should have... I'm in Africa right now, but I would have told you to go to The Vineyard. It's the only place in town where you can get liquid yeast. The only good sanitizer they have is Iodophore, which I know you can get where you are (specifically the brew your own in Winfield has it.)

As far as the CFC goes, I also flush it after use and then store it with sanitizer in it, then flush it again with water before use. Once it's hooked up to the kettle, I also run a pint or so of hot wort through it untill it is too hot to touch (and discard that wort of course) then turn on the water and let'er buck, as they say.
 
Do you just pass the copper tubing through the newly drilled out compression fittings? What makes this water tight? Or is that here Solder/ JB weld comes into play? I've got all the pieces for this, probably make it up in time for my next batch.
 
Yup, the copper goes through the drilled compression fittings. They still work the same way as they did before, it's just that now instead of the copper butting up against the shoulder inside the fitting it goes right through. Perfectly watertight if you didn't damage the ferrule seat on the fitting.
 
Thanks for the quick respopnse, I'll get some pictures of mine up in a little bit. Everything went fine, and I learned how compression fittings worked in the process...
 
Hate to revive an old thread, but after looking at the wort wizard threads popping around, I'm going to build one of these. One problem though...Lowes and the Depot only sell 3/8" copper in 20' lengths for $30! However, I have an old...I mean about 15 years old..immersion chiller that is 3/8" and about 25' long.

Anything special I'd need to do to use it? I'm thinking blow it our with compressed air, then submerge and boil it, then run some star san or PBW through it and let it soak. Would this work ok, or should I opt for new copper?
 
Run hot vinigar thru it. Since it was an imersion chiller there really shouldn't be build-up in there.

If the vinigar turns blue-green, run some new stuff thru there. Do this untill it runs clear. (a funnel and short piece of tubing helps)

Or try the plumming supply store. Tell the guy/girl you are putting a project together for your homebrewing and need some 3/8 soft copper tubing. If you don't already have a friend working there and get it for cost, the mentioning of homebrewing may help to get a contractor's discount.
 
Jester4176 said:
Anything special I'd need to do to use it? I'm thinking blow it our with compressed air, then submerge and boil it, then run some star san or PBW through it and let it soak. Would this work ok, or should I opt for new copper?


That sounds good to me. With the potential cost savings, you can't help but give it a shot. Be careful though, Star-san will eat the copper (maybe what you want a little of anyway - a VERY little.)
 
If you know how to solder, you can build the Tees cheaper with copper and you don't have to worry about compression fittings leaking. Maybe it's not an issue, but I used copper anyway. Each end requires: one 1/2" copper tee, 3 short pieces of 1/2" copper pipe (about 1" long) and one 1/2 to 1/4" reducer. This reducer is for the end where the 3/8" tubing exits the Tee.

You solder this whole assembly together first. Use a 3/8" drill to drill the stop out of the reducer so the tubing can pass though. After you push these assemblies on to the coiled copper to the point where the outer hose can be clamped on, you solder the 3/8" tubing to the reducer. I put a wet rag on the outer hose to keep it from getting too hot.

I've made a few of these and they work great. Your soldering just has to be pretty good. Most people have problems because they don't clean the copper well enough (sandpaper and wirebrushes).
 
How do you get the beer flowing through this unit? I would imagine you siphon it or something, but the idea of sucking on super hot wort doesn't really appeal to me...
 
Due mostly to recent name-calling by certain Farve-Loving moderators, I'm adding a design update to the CFC. It's nothing too complicated, and I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine does.

I was going to build a through-mometer the other day, and then I just thought 'why not stick the thermometer right to the discharge side of the CFC coil?' So I did. I had to trim the thermometer down by cutting off the Celcius scale (antiquated system that it is) and then to ensure it stayed-put, I wrapped it with a layer of clear packing-tape.
I've ran about 6 brews through it and it's holding up fine.

There! ;)
 
Here is another creation born of the Chairmans ideas. Built to the mans specs minus the tape and add wire ties. Also used High temp garden hose because it was cheep a the local hardware store. This is a pretty sweet design, only took me about an hour and a half and five beers :drunk: :rockin: I really like the fact that you can easily take it apart if you need to and modify, unlike the soldered versions. Hoping to get to test it out on sunday. I am curently working on my all grain set up as you can see in the back ground (hooray for SWMBO being out of town!) Check out my gallery for more pics of the, new to me, kettles that I picked up today.

Cheers :D
 
I'm not sure the ability to take it apart is worth the extra money for those brass T's. Aren't they like $7 each?

The soldered parts all together are about $5 and there's nothing to modify anyway. It either leaks or it doesn't.

Looks good though!
 
I picked up the brass t's for 2.35 each and the compression fittings were the same the hose barbs I belive were 2 bucks even, from what I saw at the local lowes the solder pieces wouldn't be that much cheaper. As for taking it apart I meant for cleaning if you needed to, or to adapt it to a specific set-up. But you are right I don't see a need to take it apart that often, i just like having the ability to if need be.

Cheers
 
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