How to expand on existing chiller?

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Lodovico

Lodovico

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My brain doesn't work very well when it comes to DIY stuff so I'm looking for some help.

I have a 25' wort chiller and it works great for my 7.5 gallon pot. I just ordered a 10 gallon pot and my current chiller will sit futher down in the pot and the tubes will have to hang down INTO the pot, and I don't like that for obvious sanitation reasons.

What types of fittings or design would I need to expand some copper upward so that I can get the tubes out of the kettle, and not have to buy a new chiller??

I'm sure there is a really simple solution but I'm not coming up with it.:) I can picture it but I don't know what I would need for parts and fittings. Thanks.
 
Depending on the design you could unwind it a bit and make the upward arms longer.

Just be very careful straightening and bending the copper.

Working the copper will harden it. Then you would need to anneal it with heat to make it bendable again.
 
you could solder some couplings on and add more copper to it or do the same with compression fittings. I think BargainFittings idea would be easier though
 
I am in the same boat. I made a 20 foot 5/8" OD chiller that fit my 5 gallon pot perfectly.
Now I am moving to a keggle. I am going to buy 20 more feet of 5/8 OD copper tubing, and just solder a straight couplings and a new 90* to add on to it. I hope it will work. It should.
 
I too started with a smaller imersion chiller made for 5g batches. Upon switching to a keggle and 10g batches I did a 50ft. DIY imersion chiller made from 1/2" copper and used my old IC as a pre chiller in a cooler with ice water. Cools 10g batches down great. When I get my rig built, I am going to recirculate through the pre chiller.:mug:
 
Take a look at mine.
http://s1002.photobucket.com/home/zydaco/index

Crude but very,very, very effective.

I had a 25 footer in the beginning but it was too slow for me. So I added two T compression fittings. Which I use to provide both coils with cold water independently. I soldered the compression fittings to ensure that they couldn't harbor any bacteria in the cracks and crevices.

I have the whole thing soldered together using 1" pipe for support, to keep it rigid and up on little legs to keep it high in the wort.
The little feet put a lot of cooling action high up in the word which then falls to the bottom of the pot. The result is I don't have to stir to cool the whole volume.

I've since added a 1" copper pipe "handle" to it that comes up out of the pot over the lip and down several inches. The intent was to make handling the thing easier no more pulling and pushing on the soft 1/4" tubing which seemed to me a terribly design flaw. So now I can tie my bundled tubing to the handle manipulate it with the handle and even stir the wort using the handle

Cleaning it is a breeze. I fill a sink or tub with Oxy hot & water and soak it for a few minutes while I'm busy doing other things. When it's done soaking I hose it down and that's it.
 
Cliff897 said:
Take a look at mine.
http://s1002.photobucket.com/home/zydaco/index

Crude but very,very, very effective.

I had a 25 footer in the beginning but it was too slow for me. So I added two T compression fittings. Which I use to provide both coils with cold water independently. I soldered the compression fittings to ensure that they couldn't harbor any bacteria in the cracks and crevices.

I have the whole thing soldered together using 1" pipe for support, to keep it rigid and up on little legs to keep it high in the wort.
The little feet put a lot of cooling action high up in the word which then falls to the bottom of the pot. The result is I don't have to stir to cool the whole volume.

I've since added a 1" copper pipe "handle" to it that comes up out of the pot over the lip and down several inches. The intent was to make handling the thing easier no more pulling and pushing on the soft 1/4" tubing which seemed to me a terribly design flaw. So now I can tie my bundled tubing to the handle manipulate it with the handle and even stir the wort using the handle

Cleaning it is a breeze. I fill a sink or tub with Oxy hot & water and soak it for a few minutes while I'm busy doing other things. When it's done soaking I hose it down and that's it.
Click to expand...

Wow. I don't even know what to say about that contraption. It looks like something you would see in a Homebrew Horror Flick, lol.

Very cool though and I'll have to think about it. I might not be skilled enough to pull that off but thanks for the good idea.
 
cut the up arms on the bends add couplers and some more to raise the arms.
 

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