50' of 3/8 soft copper tubing for $60 shipped?
- Thread starter StrmStlkr
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Lil' Sparky
Cowboys EAC
50' chillers go for $95 + shipping from morebeer.com. They do include water hose fittings, but you could add those cheap if you want.
I'd say it's a fairly good deal.
I'd say it's a fairly good deal.
5 Is Not Enough
Well-Known Member
These are probably the same people you're buying from @ ebay, but as I recall, it was just a little cheaper to order direct:
http://coppertubingsales.com
http://coppertubingsales.com
Is there a right kind? I would think as long as it's soft enough that you could coil it around something without having to torch it, and as long as it's not so thick walled that it would impairer the heat transfer, that any copper tubing would work.StrmStlkr said:
Just a noob here, and curious.
abracadabra
Well-Known Member
IMHO 3/8" OD is too small for an IC. But it's a good choice if you want to make a counter flow chiller. I think 1/2" tubing is a better choice for an IC. I'm making this recommendation based on conversations with my LHBS who has built several for himself. And the fact that all of the commercial IC's I've seen are 1/2".
I'm not saying 50' of 3/8" won't work but that's a lot of pipe and you'd get about the same surface area or more out of 25' of 1/2".
Just my $0.02
I'm not saying 50' of 3/8" won't work but that's a lot of pipe and you'd get about the same surface area or more out of 25' of 1/2".
Just my $0.02
PseudoChef
Well-Known Member
abracadabra said:
Actually, 50' 3/8" OD is around 707 sq inches and 25' 1/2" OD is around 472 square inches. So there's substantially more in the 3/8"
abracadabra
Well-Known Member
PseudoChef said:
You are right I didn't bother to do the math, I just guessed. When I did do the math I came up with 706.5 sq.in. for 50' of 3/8" vs 471 sq. in. for 25' of the 1/2".
Still I think trying to coil up 50' and get it in a boil pot is going to be tricky. But I could be wrong about that too.
PseudoChef
Well-Known Member
abracadabra said:
There's also something that I forgot about the first time through. 25' is going to have a quicker flow cycle while I would imagine a lot of the water going through the 50' is going to heat up quicker and be useless at some point through the chiller.
I don't know exact ramifications on this, though, I bastard chill for the time being. Santa's elves are busy making my Shirron
To directly answer the OP's question, this pipe is exactly the kind of pipe you need. Most chillers these days are in fact made out of this very same material. The fact that it's soft will allow you to bend it into a chiller shape, and since it's refrigeration tubing it should be completely spotless on the inside.
Personally my 25', 3/8" chiller cools 5 gallons of wort to pitching temps in about 7 minutes if I actively whirlpool, for what it's worth.
Personally my 25', 3/8" chiller cools 5 gallons of wort to pitching temps in about 7 minutes if I actively whirlpool, for what it's worth.
50 feet of 3/8" would make a fine chiller. Go for it. People talk about the last half or so being useless but it's actually not. It is true that for the most part, as the coolant reaches the latter half of the coil that it's closer to equilibrium temp (or the temp delta between the coolant and wort is very small), but it adds to the efficiency of your cooling (maximizing the cooling for how much water you're using). Sure, that last 20 feet of coil might only cool the wort another 1 degree F, but it's water you already have committed to the effort and would waste otherwise.
That's a great price too by the way. The big box stores are getting about $2 a foot on the 3/8".
I will caution you that 3/8" is very nice to work with (bends easily without kinking) but it makes for a wobbly coil too once your chiller is formed. I used some 14 gauge copper wire to create some rigidity by coiling it around each coil of tubing. I also did this to create a 1/2" gap between coils to maximize wort flow past the chiller. You can also stablize the coil against the upright tube with wire.
That's a great price too by the way. The big box stores are getting about $2 a foot on the 3/8".
I will caution you that 3/8" is very nice to work with (bends easily without kinking) but it makes for a wobbly coil too once your chiller is formed. I used some 14 gauge copper wire to create some rigidity by coiling it around each coil of tubing. I also did this to create a 1/2" gap between coils to maximize wort flow past the chiller. You can also stablize the coil against the upright tube with wire.
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