DIY wort chiller

First step buy the parts, got some copper tube from B&Q. 10m by 10mm.


I separated it out so that the ends were clear of the rest(this will become clear in the next step)


I filled the tube with water & hammered shut both ends. I saw this technique on Youtube and it seemed to work pretty well.


I didn't bother with the welding, simply a hammer was enough to get them closed tight.


With the coil now filled with water & closed at the ends I started wrapping the coils tighter using a demijohn for sizing. Take your time here as it is still possible to kink the metal despite it being filled with water.


The coiling seemed to go pretty well and I had some pretty neat and even coils


The next part was pretty hard as I had to get the longer end from the bottom worked back up through the centre. To do this I made a tight coil at the bottom then pulled it back through, straightening as best I could.


Heres wow it looked after "straightening" out


I bent the ends so that they formed a crude "L" shape then using the hacksaw cut off those hammered ends & emptied the water. I also sanded down the ends so that there were no sharp bits.


I cut two 1m lengths of pvc tubing ready to attach to the copper. As my wort chiller will be attached to a garden hose I fitted a Hose End Connector to it


I attached the PVC tubes onto the ends of the wort chiller and secured with hose clips.


And there we have it, the finished wort chiller. It's a bit wonky here and there but it should do the job nicely. I'll probably cut shorter that long end but for now its fine. I'll see how well it works on it maiden chill next week.



Parts & Equipment:
10m * 10mm copper coil £22
2 x Hose Clips 13-20mm £1.45
2 x 1m * 10mm Tubing (10m at £16.99)
Hose End Connector £2
Double Male Hose Connector £1
Hammer
Hacksaw
Screwdriver
Sand paper

Congratulations, your coil looks good. Nice job!

I have a stainless steel coil right now, i wonder if there would be any difference if it were made out of copper.

doomy86 said:

Congratulations, your coil looks good. Nice job!

I have a stainless steel coil right now, i wonder if there would be any difference if it were made out of copper.

Click to expand...

Copper transfers heat/cold better (not that big of difference in this size tube) but I think it is more for looks and cleaning.

Would be great to have a bigger chiller. Im just a little bit worried using copper, a brewer friend of mine had his beer checked by a lab and copper was over the allowed limit. Turns out it was from his chiller, the low ph of the wort washed of the oxided copper layer.

Looks good. A brake line tubing bender from any automotive store will help you get that "L" bend without it kinking that much, they can usually be found for $5-10.

doomy86 said:

Would be great to have a bigger chiller. Im just a little bit worried using copper, a brewer friend of mine had his beer checked by a lab and copper was over the allowed limit. Turns out it was from his chiller, the low ph of the wort washed of the oxided copper layer.

Click to expand...

I'm fairly new and most of the articles & videos I've seen all use copper so I went with that. I'm guessing a lot of people use starsan which has a low pH too so wouldn't that also be causing a lot of problems for those using copper chillers?

Nice.
The ends need to point down so when you have a leak the cooling water wont run down into your wort.

I keep seeing people using hack saws to cut their copper tubing and then have burrs to sand off or misshapen tubing ends .. Buy a tubing cutter and you'll have a nice clean end .
Right tool for the job.

Pkrd said:

Nice.
The ends need to point down so when you have a leak the cooling water wont run down into your wort.

Click to expand...

This is true. I ended up with a gallon extra when I wasn't paying attention because the pipe doesn't bend over the kettle

A few thing to add
A, tubing benders are cheap and save the chance of kinks and you can bend the leads down at a tight angle
B, sharkbite fittings are awesome if you can solder and get rid of the leaky hoses. Depending on the side of tubing you use, getting sharkbite hoses may be cheaper. I noticed yesterday that thier water heater hoses are cheaper than the fittings.
C, if I could do it all over, I would go with the longest stainless coil I could afford. No worries with oxide on stainless.
D, don't starsan your coils. It removes the oxide layer. Just spray them off and invert them to drain. It's getting boiled.
E, if you noticed any green pitting or black pitting on your coil, don't use it until it is removed. Barkeeper's friend on the area and a good rinse. If that won't do it, scrap it.

Stainless seems to be the better choice, it just not as easy to bend as copper. I wonder if the "fill up with water" solution also works with stainless.

Pkrd said:

Nice.
The ends need to point down so when you have a leak the cooling water wont run down into your wort.

Click to expand...

Soulshine2 said:

I keep seeing people using hack saws to cut their copper tubing and then have burrs to sand off or misshapen tubing ends .. Buy a tubing cutter and you'll have a nice clean end .
Right tool for the job.

Click to expand...

Jwin said:

A few thing to add
A, tubing benders are cheap and save the chance of kinks and you can bend the leads down at a tight angle
B, sharkbite fittings are awesome if you can solder and get rid of the leaky hoses. Depending on the side of tubing you use, getting sharkbite hoses may be cheaper. I noticed yesterday that thier water heater hoses are cheaper than the fittings.
C, if I could do it all over, I would go with the longest stainless coil I could afford. No worries with oxide on stainless.
D, don't starsan your coils. It removes the oxide layer. Just spray them off and invert them to drain. It's getting boiled.
E, if you noticed any green pitting or black pitting on your coil, don't use it until it is removed. Barkeeper's friend on the area and a good rinse. If that won't do it, scrap it.

Click to expand...

Some great tips, thanks.
I wouldn't have known about the starsan :/ so have probably dodged a bullet there or at the very least another trip to the hardware store!
in regards to the additional equipment like tubing benders & cutters.....I was being cheap