Wort chiller question

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rjolin01

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I am in process of going from one gallon to five gallons. I have been looking at wort chillers and see there are copper and stainless. 25ft and 50ft! I was wondering if there is a benefit of one over other? I would imaging 50ft is better than 25ft in that more surface area and longer time in wort equals more heat being taken out. But I am not sure if I should go stainless or copper. I know copper and aluminum don't like each other so I most likely will get a stainless kettle. Looking for suggestions.

Thanks and cheers!
 
I used a 25foot copper one for my first 15 months or so of brewing. Made it through over 100 5gal batches and its still in good shape.
 
Of those options 50ft copper is best. Copper conducts heat better so it's more efficient and faster. In actually what you'd rather have is usually a dual circuit (two 25footers in parallel). Once the water is coming out hot it's no longer cooling so the same water through 2 shorter coils is better.
 
I am in process of going from one gallon to five gallons. I have been looking at wort chillers and see there are copper and stainless. 25ft and 50ft! I was wondering if there is a benefit of one over other? I would imaging 50ft is better than 25ft in that more surface area and longer time in wort equals more heat being taken out. But I am not sure if I should go stainless or copper. I know copper and aluminum don't like each other so I most likely will get a stainless kettle. Looking for suggestions.

Thanks and cheers!

25ft copper chiller is good for most scenarios. They are really easy to build. BTW it will be fine in an aluminum pot. Just don't store it inside the pot while it's full of salt water. :)

Look into counterflow chillers as well. I really love my counterflow chiller and it really doesn't take a lot of skill to build one. Mine is here.
 
If you don't mind the expense of going 50ft, I'd say do it.


I would also advise if you are going to go forward with an IC, to strongly consider a cheap submersible pump + bucket of ice water to go along with it (recirculating the water) vs. just running lots of hose water through.


These two things combined will allow you to get to whatever pitch temp you want, and quickly.
 
I like my 50ft chiller better than my 25ft chiller.

Here are two other things to think about:
1. If you plan to hook a pump up to it for recirculating your chill water, 1/2" diameter is better than 1/4" diameter. But you can make 1/4" work with a strong enough pump.
2. If you want to make it a future HEX coil for a HERMS, stainless is better than copper.
3. An IC can only cool your wort to your tap water temperature unless you have a prechiller (a second IC in a bucket of ice water). A 25' IC makes a great prechiller.
4. A copper IC is just about the easiest build project. Price a build out vs. buying one.
 
I seen the parallel setup before but usually just going in one end and out the other without reusing water. I was considering this and running the out part into my washing machine and reuse it that way to do a load of laundry. But I do have an old school pump from an old computer water cool build that may work also for recirculating
 
I seen the parallel setup before but usually just going in one end and out the other without reusing water. I was considering this and running the out part into my washing machine and reuse it that way to do a load of laundry. But I do have an old school pump from an old computer water cool build that may work also for recirculating


I think some people get away with like an $18 pump from Harbor Freight. Ours was a bit more beefy but still less than $30 if I remember. Made a night and day difference vs. normal tap water.
 
I have a 50" copper 1/2 inch coil and I use a pump in an ice water bath. 15 minutes to 58 degree wort
 
I would recommend a 50' copper chiller, if you decide to make more than 5 gallon batches you are already set up and there is more surface area to cool your wort.

I have a 50' 1/2" IC and can chill 10+ gallons to pitching temps in about 20 mins.
 
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