Looking to buy/make a wort chiller

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jasonclick

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I've done a few extract brews and I'd like to start putting together equipment for all grain. I'm looking @ wort chillers. The pot I'll be using is a turkey fryer pot. What type of wort chiller is recommended? I'm looking on eBay and I see some made from copper and some from stainless steel. Some with 25' and some with 50' of tubing. Some with 3/8" tubing and some with 1/2". I assume the largest diameter and the longest length would cool wort faster. What about the materials? Copper and Stainless? Is there a big difference there? Thanks!
 
Copper does cool about 10times faster than ss. What size pot do you have? Do you ever think you might move to a Herms system? If you are doing 5 gallon batchs and you are going to stick with that for a few years, 25ft of 3/8 copper will do the trick. if you might move to 10 gallons, then get a 50 ft. If you are going to build a herms someday, get 1/2 ss or copper(I use copper, most people like SS). You could repurpoe you ic into the herm coil.

When I did 5 gallon batchs, I used a 3/8 25ft IC that I hooked to a sump pump, this way I could recirc ice water.

obviously is money is no issue, go 1/2 ss 50ft
 
FWIW here's a link to a post I put up about making my own chiller. I only use it in a 3 gallon pot, so it is on the small side (but works perfectly for my setup). I can chill my wort down to pitching temps in 15 minutes. In the winter I need to be careful I don't drop the temp too far! You definitely want to go with copper. For the turkey fryer you'd just need to step up the size. Also, as pointed out in the my post by others, if I were to remake this, I'd get the ends further up and bent over and out of the pot.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/home-built-immersion-wort-chiller-109530/
 
My turkey pot is 6-7 gallons. Not really sure. I've read other threads and I may need to invest in a larger pot as well. I don't see myself going to 10 gallon brews.

So a 50' coil wouldn't be necessary for 5 gallon brews? If not, that would save me a little money.
 
jasonclick said:
My turkey pot is 6-7 gallons. Not really sure. I've read other threads and I may need to invest in a larger pot as well. I don't see myself going to 10 gallon brews.

So a 50' coil wouldn't be necessary for 5 gallon brews? If not, that would save me a little money.

I don't think so for 5 gallon batches. 25ft copper will do it. You could get the 1/2 for more flow and surface area, but 3/8s should be fine.
 
I actually found the price difference between 1/2" and 3/8" to be not much. I just started my chiller last night... I got a 50' roll of 1/2" from HD for $56.

I just measured the pot depth and made it to fit the pot VS some standard length. It's probably close to 40'.

chill1.jpg


chill 2.jpg
 
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