DIY Interwoven "Rib-Cage" Immersion Chiller

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RedIrocZ-28

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Guys, I have gotten some pretty good results with this new chiller design I made last week. I have done 2 brews with it thus far and the results are better than expected.

I used 22' of 3/8" Refrigeration tubing. I don't have pictures to show how I made it, so I will be as descript as possible.

I began by marking the center of the length of tubing. I then wrapped the tubing using a paint can to make the coils. I started at each end of the tubing and wrapped toward the marked center point. When I was done I had 2 opposing coils and 12" of straight tubing at the beginning end of each of the coils. Next I spread the coils apart a little and then meshed them together much in the same way you would do with your fingers like you are taught to pray when you are a little kid. After that I bent the straight ends so they went vertical and then bent the downturns so they would reach up, out of, and over the side of the pot.

Here is the finished product.
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This will stand up high enough to reach out of a 7.5gal turkey fryer.

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The results are kind of hard to believe but this was done with a timer last night so I have to just accept that I have created a fantastic chiller for next to nothing.

I chilled 5gal of wort from a boil to under 70* (67* to be exact) in just shy of13 minutes. I did immerse the pot in my sink, using the "spent" water to circulate a cold water bath around the pot. I also raised and lowered the cooler in the wort every few minutes to make sure that everything was stirred up nicely.
 
I stuck a pic of mine in another thread, but it seems like it fits better in the DIY section. I pretty much took your design and made an ugly version. The design is great because it only uses 20 feet of 3/8" copper tubing. I bent it by hand and used a gallon jug of wine to make the coils.

I cooled 5 gallons of wort down to pitching temp in about 10 minutes yesterday. I had a great cold break left in my kettle after I whirlpooled and siphoned.

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Awesome, my first field tester! About 10 minutes? Awesome.

I also had a fantastic cold break yesterday, there was a good inch left in the bottom of the pot.

You can't beat the cost outlay for this thing. I spent $11 on hose and fittings to connect to this old faucet without standard size threads. How much did you spend for the tubing?
 
The tubing was $37 at Lowes. I could have saved a few bucks buy buying online and waiting for delivery, but I'm an "I-gotta-have-it-now" type of person.

I don't know why I didn't make one of these sooner, it really beats the hell out of sticking the kettle in an ice bath. I have a 15 gallon pot, so the less I have to pick it up and move it around, the better.

If anybody is thinking about making one of these, just do it. You will be satisfied with the results.
 
Its Michigan in early March, so "Friggin' freezing" would be accurate. Exact temperature of the water coming in has to be between 45-55* I will check when I get home.

word, it's damn cold. On my brews yesterday I kept turning the chilling water on and off the whole time.

The chiller looks like it will work well.
 
FSR402, I was outside until 8pm last night completing my first full boil in my new turkey fryer I scored on craigslist! Talk about cold! The wind was something yesterday huh? I wish my Camaro wasn't in the garage so I could have brewed in there.

By the way, off topic for a minute, do you know what Sicilianos charges for hops? I swear they only charge $1.99/pkg because every time I go there i expect to pay $XX based on online prices and I usually walk out for cheaper than the online prices.

Back on topic, if anyone has any questions on how to do this I'd be more than willing to be more specific. My reasoning behind this cooler design was so that there is always a nearby coil, spaced pretty evenly throughout the wort, BUT the coils aren't right on top of eachother; in effect, you're not trying to cool the wort that the coil above or below just cooled as I imagine it works with the standard single stack of coils. Build one of these and let me know how it works.You won't be disappointed and neither will your wallet!

P.S. If anyone wants one but isn't mechanically inclined enough to build one, I'd happily make one for just the cost of parts and shipping, no labor cost
 
FSR402, I was outside until 8pm last night completing my first full boil in my new turkey fryer I scored on craigslist! Talk about cold! The wind was something yesterday huh? I wish my Camaro wasn't in the garage so I could have brewed in there.

By the way, off topic for a minute, do you know what Sicilianos charges for hops? I swear they only charge $1.99/pkg because every time I go there i expect to pay $XX based on online prices and I usually walk out for cheaper than the online prices.

Back on topic, if anyone has any questions on how to do this I'd be more than willing to be more specific. My reasoning behind this cooler design was so that there is always a nearby coil, spaced pretty evenly throughout the wort, BUT the coils aren't right on top of eachother; in effect, you're not trying to cool the wort that the coil above or below just cooled as I imagine it works with the standard single stack of coils. Build one of these and let me know how it works.You won't be disappointed and neither will your wallet!

P.S. If anyone wants one but isn't mechanically inclined enough to build one, I'd happily make one for just the cost of parts and shipping, no labor cost


Yes it was damn cold. I brew in the garage so I was warm until I had to clean up. I got done around 9pm and started at 11am. 20 gallons of beer and 5 gallons of wine made.

As for the hops I don't know for sure but I "think" it's 2.99 for pellet and 3.99 for leaf. But like I said, I don't know.
I get a discount for being a Primetime Brewer and I'm always getting a bunch of stuff at a time so I never really know what I'm paying. lol
 
OT: FSR, How does one become a Primetime Brewer?

OT-2: 25 gallons in one day? Nice work. I wish I could have brewdays like that, just don't have large enough equipment. I've been planning a 2brewday for a while. This Immersion chiller I made will easily shave an hour off each brew because I won't have to wait almost an hour from flameout to Primary transfer before I free up my brewpot again for the second batch.

LakeErie, thanks again for trying my design. Hope it serves you well. :)
 
OT: FSR, How does one become a Primetime Brewer?

OT-2: 25 gallons in one day? Nice work. I wish I could have brewdays like that, just don't have large enough equipment. I've been planning a 2brewday for a while. This Immersion chiller I made will easily shave an hour off each brew because I won't have to wait almost an hour from flameout to Primary transfer before I free up my brewpot again for the second batch.

LakeErie, thanks again for trying my design. Hope it serves you well. :)

Just come to one of our meetings and join. Primetimebrewers Home Page

The 20 gallons was two 10 gallon batchs, I can brew up to a 40 gallon batch at one time.
 
Cool design, my only qualm is that one side will have much cooler water flowing through it than the other side, but that is pretty minor and it should mix somewhat
 
Cool design, my only qualm is that one side will have much cooler water flowing through it than the other side, but that is pretty minor and it should mix somewhat

Well, here is my thinking, cold water enters at the top where the wort is hottest due to heat rising and cold sinking. The water then heats up as it passes down and back up through the coils and then the hot water is expelled from the top of the coil on the other side after having passed through the hottest part of the wort at the top, twice. In effect trying to create falling wort on one side (cold water in), and rising wort on the other (Hot water out), so it stirs itself due to temperature gradient.

The data points I remember are these:

At 3 minutes the temp had fallen from 212 to 160
At 6 minutes temp was 120
At 9 minutes temp was 90
at 12 minutes temp was 70

Kinda neat the way the temp fell at those integers. This is of course due to the Delta wort temperature vs input water. Law of diminishing returns if you will. To cool to Lager pitching temps of what 50* it would then stand to reason it would take 33-36 minutes.
 
Its Michigan in early March, so "Friggin' freezing" would be accurate. Exact temperature of the water coming in has to be between 45-55* I will check when I get home.



No doubt. Across the lake over here in WI, my water is cold enough to give me an ice cream headache right outta the tap.
 
Kind of funny my first post on a homebrew site and its not about beer.

I made my IC out of 40' of 1/4" ice maker tubing. I used 20' for one coil and 20' for a second coil. One coil was big and I used a corny keg to wrap it around and the other tube I made smaller by wrapping around some PVC pipe. I used a "T" fitting to have the same temp of water entering both coils at the same time. The inlet for the coils starts at the top and flows down through the wort to take advantage of the natural current of the heated water. I tested it with boiling water first and it was interesting as you could see the cool copper interacting with the hot water. Kind of a mirage effect. You can't see that in wort.

I don't recall exact times, it was more than 13 minutes, I had it to pitch temp well under 30 minutes tho. My water was much warmer than low 40's, I seem to recall in the upper 50's. I'll ahve to take a reading tonight when I get home I'm curious now.

Similar concept is why I posted. My original thought was to make a very tight wound IC to place in the middle of the pot and use water bath for walls. It worked well though as the outside coils are further apart than the tighter wound inside coil. I'll have to water bath next time.
 
can anyone tell me what pieces i need to attach tubing? Ill get 25' of copper 3/8" tubing... now im so new at building anything from pieces i buy at lowes or depot. So anyway, i guess ill order the copper online if its cheapest, i can wait. HOW did you only pay $11??? What kind of tubing and clamps do i need? what sizes? what kind of attachment for the hose? Seems easier to just drop it in the sink of ice, i cant afford to buy one for 60 bucks im laid off right now
 
I only paid $11 because my friend had this copper tubing laying around.

What do you need? I'd say 1/2" hose clamps from Autozone for a few bucks, and the necessary barbed fitting to hook to a garden hose faucet (they are clearly marked in the fittings aisle in Home Depot or Lowes) if you plan to go that route. Or you'll need to unscrew the diffuser on your sink and bring it with you so you can get the right threaded barb adapter if you want to hook it to your sink kitchen faucet. Then just find the 20' of clear hose or whatever you want thats 3/8" ID or OD. doesn't matter it'll stretch. I got the cheapest stuff I could find, it was $4.16 for 20'.

My faucet has weird threads so I needed to get an adapter to screw into my adapter, hence the $11 cost.
 
You have to bend it around a large enough form AND get a pipe bender for brake/fuel lines for automotive use to make the tight bends. I used a paint can as the form. I placed the paint can on the floor, stepped on the end of the tube, and started to bend the initial coil. After that you just hold the end of the tube tightly to the paint can, and start spinning the paint can, keeping constant pressure on the copper with your foot holding it in place and spinning the paint can towards your foot (thats holding the copper in place). I could do a video I guess if thats not any clearer than mud.
 
OOOOOOOOH I get it now... ... Two paint cans instead of one. A few hundred of your tax payer dollars was spent today at work trying to figure out how to do this and we were unable to grasp the concept. (not the plumbers fault.. .. they are union) :).
 
For those of you recirculating from the ice bath, what type of pump are you using? I need to get one, but I want to find a good deal. Suggestions?
 
I just finished building the rib cage immersion chiller. 50ft of 1/2 inch. This thing is MASSIVE. I cant wait to try it out. Monday might be the day.
 
I just looked through the post and i think i have made the biggest one so far:rockin:, so i have to post some pic's.

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And, yes. Those zip ties are coming off when i am satisfied with it's shape & size. then i'll solder the vertical runners together.
 
Hopefully doing this tonight or tomorrow morning. I am making the coils a little larger due to my pot dimensions but I have 50' so that should be cool. This should go a little easier than the last attempt since I know how not to screw it up one way.
 
I just finished a rib-cage chiller.:ban:

I made it out of 20' of 3/8 ID, 1/2' OD tubing.
I put hose fittings on instead of tubing.

It cooled 5 gal of cleaning water, (boiling) to 65* in less than 15 min. ( I no longer trust my usual thermometer below 80*. The cooling kinda "stuck" at 80*, when I checked with two others, them temp had dropped to 65*:D)

Nice design. As I think about it with the rib-cage approach there are fewer largish pockets of wort where you don't take advantage of a temp gradient.

I think I would do better with more turns of smaller tube. I think 3/8" OD might be the sweet spot.

Regards and thanks for the design it will work great for me.:mug:
 
i don't have a keggle yet, but i hope to have one someday and this is not something you want to build twice. The coils do come out of my turkey fryer, but i can king of smush them tighter if i need to.
 
I just looked through the post and i think i have made the biggest one so far:rockin:, so i have to post some pic's.

IMG_0075.jpg


IMG_0074.jpg



And, yes. Those zip ties are coming off when i am satisfied with it's shape & size. then i'll solder the vertical runners together.

I wouldn't solder the vertical runners together. It will reduce the efficiency of the cooler as the hot water in the outlet will heat up your cold water coming through the inlet. Its not much but it could add up to some extra cooling time. If you want to make it sturdier, put a piece of pvc pipe in between and zip tie the runners to that. Just make sure you insulate them from each other.
 
cant you get a patent on it dude? cost like 30 bucks or something. Dont let them make a million dollars using your design without cutting you in on 10% or SOMETHING at least. 100,000.00 beans nooga. Or why dont you just make em on the side and sell for a huge profit... whatever your price would be will be cheaper than some commercial maker will charge... and it shouldnt be cuz handmade is always more.
 
I have been contemplating it actually, Patent/building them. Not that I have the first clue on how to do this patent thing. I'll look into it today though. Building them on the other hand... thats the easy part. Anyone who has built one already can attest its rather simple.
 
not really, i built two because my first sucked @ss. I unbent it to a straight line in order to make it a ribcage one and circle from both sides... guess that was the wrong way, it kinked and broke in about 25 places. I then got a new 50 ft coil and LEFT it coiled. I dont know how you got 2 separate coils... id pay for one from you if i didnt have my good one. Also, i patented 32 songs I wrote thru the library of congress in washington DC. It was 30 bucks. All you have to do is send in your idea and pay for the patent. Then when someone sells it, sue their a$$
 
Wait what?! It can't be that easy to patent something can it? I'll have to post a video of how to build one. Anyone want to buy one off me? :D I'll give you a killer deal.

For something like this, a patent would require a decent amount of writing and diagramming. You also have to really understand the prior art.

Anyways, I need a chiller! How much do you think one of these would set me back? I have a 40qt giant stovetop pot that is pretty tall.
 
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