Alternatives to copper tubing for immersion chiller?

Hey all,

I'm about ready to brew my second batch, but I'd like to have some kind of wort chiller first. In my first batch, I basically had to air cool the wort, and that's just not... cool. I could just drop the pot into a sink full of cold water, but I'd like an immersion chiller in the long run. 3/8" copper is way expensive, though, and I'm looking for cheaper alternatives. A friend suggested buying a new heater core at an auto parts place. Any thoughts on how this would work, or other ideas for reducing the cost?

Don't go with the heater core, it is not food grade and the solder used to stick it together may have lead in it. Go with http://www.coppertubingsales.com/copper_tubing_prices.php for copper needs. Or you can buy one pre-assembled online, they have stainless ones now. The stainless work just as well as the copper since the tubing walls are so thin (Heat conductivity is virtually the same at those thicknesses)

Johnstone Supply here in metro Atlanta had 3/8" copper refrigeration tubing, 50' for $35.... The 1/2" was $52 for 50 feet... At least that was the quote the other day...

Johnstone Supply

Here mine. I did a break down on the parts on another thread, but couldn't find it off hand (this was on like the 11th page on my search). For partial volume boils, it's worked great, and wasn't that costly to make. Hope you figure out something that works for you

Thanks for the replies! I ended up going with 20' of copper from Home Depot, but the pro tips were very welcome. Either way, no more waiting several hours for water/wort to cool.

Glad you found something that will work; I forget if I have it on the other thread, but I used a corny to coil my copper around. Good size for my brew kettle, it has a happy median between the center and the outside of the kettle to cool efficiently. Just be careful bending soft copper; I broke off a couple inches bending a J for the outtake on mine.