Stainless Steel Wort Chiller?

I just saw this on ebay. Has anyone ever tried a stainless steel wort chiller? I would think copper would still be a bit better. Thoughts?

I would think copper would have a much better heat transfer rate.

Stainless steel is actually terrible for heat transfer when compared to copper. That's why good stainless steel cookware is clad with aluminum and/or copper.

So how about aluminum tubing? hmmm, aluminum heater core out of a junk car? A copper heater core would pobably be lead solder. Ohhh . transmission oil coolers? Earls Supply?

Use that heater core out of the junk car as a pre-chiller for your immersion wort chiller. I'm not going to talk about how hot it is in Texas because it seems that now everywhere is hotter than all get out but our tap water here in the dead of summer is not what I'd call cool. Last summer I used a pre-chiller and it worked great.

Copper is indeed more efficient, but there's nothing wrong with using stainless - it'll get the job done. For the price, I say go for it.

So, are you bidding on this? If you aren't, I might consider it. I would prefer copper, but this sure is cheaper as long as the price stays about where it is.

But, I'm not bidding against you. So, if you're not bidding, let me know!

Nexus555 said:

I just saw this on ebay. Has anyone ever tried a stainless steel wort chiller? I would think copper would still be a bit better. Thoughts?

Click to expand...

You might want to see what there is for copper chillers on ebay - if you are patient you can get a deal. I just got one (a couple of weeks ago) from ebay for $47.00, including shipping and handling, and it works really good. I just decided on how much I wanted to spend and kept trying until I found one where no one outbid me. It only took a couple of weeks - the copper ones are showing up all the time. Since the stainless steel chiller is already at almost $35, I'm guessing that when the bidding is over, it won't be much cheaper than a copper one that works better. But if you don't want to wait, go for it!

copper~231 Btu/hr-ft-deg. F

aluminum~145 Btu/hr-ft-deg. F

stainless~9.3 Btu/hr-ft-deg. F

Translation - Copper removes energy from the wort about 25 times faster than stainless and 1.6 times faster than aluminum

Now because of the other means of heat transfer going on this doesn't mean that it'll take you over 12 hours to cool the wort if you can do it in half an hour using a copper chiller but it would cool much quicker, which is always best. After all, a copper cooler is only about $20 more than the selling price here

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the design of that stainless chiller either. The coils will be too far down into the wort. The majority of the heat stays near the top, so you want the beef of the coils elevated slightly. You are going to lose even more cooling capacity with just the design of that.

By the way, I am not bidding on this for the one who mentioned it above. Go for it!

How much does it cost for 25' of 3/8'' copper pipe? Between the pipe, connections and hoses (just like those sold on the websites), would it be more cost effective to bend your own pipes? I'm interested in perhaps bending my own immersion chiller, not only for cost effeciency, but just to do it and admire my art!!

This is the deal I found for a 25 ft 3/8 tube immersion chiller:
http://www.breworganic.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=341
60 ft of 3/8 annealed copper tube runs $100 (today).

I used mine last night. Took about 45 minutes to cool a 3 gal or so partial boil to 80F. When I move outside and go to full boils, I'll pick up a Shirron and give my immersion to my brother, who wants to start this madness.

I realize some are on tighter budgets than others, but for what we spend on ingredients, why skimp a few dollars on the equipment?

Nexus555 said:

How much does it cost for 25' of 3/8'' copper pipe? Between the pipe, connections and hoses (just like those sold on the websites), would it be more cost effective to bend your own pipes? I'm interested in perhaps bending my own immersion chiller, not only for cost effeciency, but just to do it and admire my art!!

Click to expand...

I think these prices are probably a bit high but even at the lowes depot stores its not that much more expensive to just buy from the LHBS. I got mine from northern brewer and shipping wasnt all that outrageous. Then again, if you just happen to have copper tubing sitting around maybe making it yourself is the way to go.

Might as well save up and buy one. I just purchased a thermostat for my refrigerator, so I will have to wait a little while for a immersion chiller. Thanks though for all the information!

Doesn't Bobby_M make them? PM him, he'll prolly give you a deal.

mageac said:

copper~231 Btu/hr-ft-deg. F

aluminum~145 Btu/hr-ft-deg. F

stainless~9.3 Btu/hr-ft-deg. F

Click to expand...

There has to be something wrong here surely. 25x difference is more than the difference between the heat transfer rates of water and air (e.g. water will only remove heat from your body about 20x faster than air of the same temperature).

Dude said:

Doesn't Bobby_M make them? PM him, he'll prolly give you a deal.

Click to expand...

He stopped a while back.