so i started my chiller build today

i guess it was going well. it was frustrating coiling the copper, but i hope it does a good job.



i used a piece of square aluminum for the support and then ran 2 different sized coils through it. i havent decided yet if i am just going to connect the two at the bottom or if i am going to extend them and make it 2 completely separate coils giving each a cold water feed or just make it all one big coil.

ideas?

if i make it all one piece should i have the cold go to the inner coil first or the outer

wait, are you going to stick that big ass rod in with the chiller too?

I think you'd be best to have to cold water in go to the bottom on the outer edge first. If you want to maximize heat transfer, you need to keep the temperature delta as high as possible. The outer edges should be cooler than the center due to heat lost through the walls of the kettle, and wort will be warmer at the top than the bottom since cold sinks and heat rises... though the effects of this my be negligible. The biggest thing I've found to speeding up cooling with an IC is to move it around in the wort... the effects of that will be much more noticable than whether you run the water in to the middle/top or outside/bottom.

i am going to cut down the aluminum pole to be just about 5 inches above the copper for a handle

It's been a while since I was up on all the metal interactions, but I'm thinking aluminum and copper aren't the best of friends.

where could i get more info on the aluminum copper reactions? is this something i should be worried about?

I found this on Google but it's by no means any kind of scientific study.

Never Mix Metals Copper Aluminum Flashings

I'd think you'd also need to know if the makeup of wort had any influence for it to really matter.

My experience in all this was also from a roofing metals perspective. It might not apply here.

crap, now you have me all nervous. i was so excited about my idea. now i might just scrap it and start over.

Yup, it's called the Galvanic Scale. If two metals are going to be in contact for a long period of time, you want them as close to each other on the Galvanic Scale as possible. Aluminum and Copper are pretty far apart so you'll see the Aluminum corrode and coat the copper.

i really want this to work, but i guess i shouldnt take the chance.

jonp9576 said:

i really want this to work, but i guess i shouldnt take the chance.

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If you can get Stainless (304/316 Passive), Copper, or Brass (closest to Copper on the Galvanic Scale) for your handle-thingy it should be OK.

i think i have a brass pole around here somewhere

copper coils will hold up well without any support , just let them hang , occasionally you need to bend it here or there to keep it's shape.
Nothing major.

I like the idea though.
If you must, i think a piece of copper pipe would look cool.
(might be a pain to clean)

i was looking at other designs on here with hard copper supports and it looked great but it seemed like too much work

so if this is true.....then you shouldnt use copper chillers in aluminum brew pots?????

i think its for prolonged contact, like with the copper resting in my aluminum pipe forever

jonp9576 said:

i think i have a brass pole around here somewhere

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If you have a brass pole laying around you really need to erect it, install some lights, and invite some "friends" over.

mrfurlly said:

so if this is true.....then you shouldnt use copper chillers in aluminum brew pots?????

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It's completely different. You'd only have the chiller sitting in the aluminum pot for 30 minutes at a time. He has his coils permanently touching.

edit... duh.. jon already said that.

You could use copper wire to hold that chiller together, and to separate the coils. I'm about to do that on my stainless chiller because the tubing is stacked together and has some spring tension holding it that way.

JVD_X said:

If you have a brass pole laying around you really need to erect it, install some lights, and invite some "friends" over.

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they would have to be some pretty short "friends" its only about a 2' pole

jonp9576 said:

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My suggestion would be to bend your outer coil around the large tank in the background, and bend your small coil around the smaller tank in the background. Then sweat connections as needed. That would eliminate the need for the brass pole.

then i need to buy a very large brew pot. that larget tank is 15" diameter and the smaller one is around 9

Then use the Oxy/Acetalyne tank for the large coil and the fire extinguisher for the smaller one. Problem solved

By the way, is this in any way inspired by my dual coil design?

i used the fire extinguisher for the inner and a bucket for the outer and then threaded it into the bar.

i am not sure. it was insipired by someone's on here. which one is yours

The Rib-cage chiller design of interwoven coils.

i just noticed a bunch of people who had 50' of copper were doing 2 coils. i also saw some people had they going through stuff like rigid copper pipes and such. so i found something for it to coil through. i wish i would have known about the reactions and such, now it all has to come apart. oh well. at least building stuff is fun.

yeah, you want to take those apart, the genius who put my water softener in clamped the copper pipes with an aluminum bracket for support. After two years, maybe three, the copper looks like it was disintegrating under the bracket. I pulled it apart, cleaned it and padded the bracket with some thick cardboard. I would not want any of that copper crap in my beer! (not the tube, the gunk)

+1 on some copper wire to support the coils.

I used the copper to support itself. A little lead-free solder and Bob's your uncle.



Clicky clicky for biggie biggie.

-Joe

JVD_X said:

If you have a brass pole laying around you really need to erect it, install some lights, and invite some "friends" over.

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CRAP!!! You beat me to it!

I wouldn't worry about the aluminum personally. Alzheimers isn't as bad as everyone thinks.... (Sorry, just an old wives tale, but I had to throw it in anyway!)

well...i started taking it apart. this is a pain in my A$$.

i'll post a picture when i get it done

I used rigid copper for support and it works great and was easy to deal with.

Derrin said:

I used rigid copper for support and it works great and was easy to deal with.

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THAT is sexy...

wow, that is really sexy. possibly on my next attempt i will try something more advanced like that.

so i got it apart from the aluminum pole. the coild werent in too bad shape, so i made the connectyion, a few bends and tied it together with stainless welding wire.

not as pretty as calaslucas' but its a start.

jonp9576 said:

not as pretty as calaslucas' but its a start.

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Well, at least you won't be lugging around that 47 lb chunk of aluminum with a chiller attached to it trying to wrestle it in and out of your wort.

yup..ok, off for a test run. i am gonna boil 10 gallons and see how well it does.

oh crap. i hope my hose isnt frozen

jonp9576 said:

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You know what it needs? More propane.

so i learned a few things.....my turkey fryer takes FOREVER (well over an hour) to boil 10 gallons of water.

my chiller will get me from boiling to about 80 in 25 min of just sitting in there, so i am sure it will be a little faster if i move the chiller around

yea, that last pic was taken in our office i finished my project at work today.