1st chiller

[3puttduf]

Got my hands on a roll of 3/8" od x 50' soft copper. Going to make a chiller.
Question is should the diameter be as large as possible or is it more effective to have it a few inches smaller than dia. of brew kettle?
Only my second 5 gal batch and looking forward to eliminating the "ice" bath process. Was going to wing it but assumed that someone here has, most likely, "ran the numbers" and figured out the most efficient formula.
Also is there anything other than sanatize that may needs to be done to "condition" the new copper before putting in my kettle?
For inlet have a compression fitting to 1/2" thread and 2 couplers. one 1/2" to garden hose thread and one 1/2" to faucet thread pending weather if i'm outside or in. on outlet just hane tubing with s.s. worm drive clamp to drain

Thanks in advance and any tips are appreciated.

 

[BobbyNado9]

I have found some great videos on YouTube, I made one for about $45 which included fittings for a garden hose. Google how to make a wort chiller and a bunch of good videos come up. Good luck!

 

[guinness10]

I don't know how effective a double-coil chiller would be (small coil inside larger), but this was a build that I thought was pretty cool and was thinking of doing myself. I too just got 50' of 3/8" copper tubing, so an immersion chiller build is in my near future...

 

[tektonjp]

I'm not a thermo-dynamist, but I would think having it a bit smaller is good. If you leave it stationary, you should get decent thermo flow through and up. Most of us find that helping out makes it faster, that is, swirling the coil around. When you do this, you can actually feel the coil picking up the heat more efficiently. And some dunk it up and down, this helps to aerate the wort too. Finally, at the end, I give it all a mighty swirl before pulling it out so I get my trub left in the center of the kettle.

Make sure you have your hoses connect well away from the kettle. One, that keeps them out of the heat from the burner. Second, if one comes off, it won't splash into the wort.

You can soak it in a warm/hot mild vinegar bath before first use.

As for which end for inlet and outlet: I send the cold water into the bottom of the coil.

 

[Setesh]

That really depends on how much movement of the wort you will have. If you have a pump and can recirculate your wort back into the coil wall (Jamil Zainasheff chiller) then it doesn't really matter a lot as you are mechanically moving the liquid where it needs to be in order to be chilled. If your wort will be static then you need the largest possible coverage of the inside volume of your pot. A common method of obtaining both ease of production and coverage of volume is the rib cage chiller.

Jamil's chiller:
http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php

Ribcage chiller:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/diy-interwoven-rib-cage-immersion-chiller-106415/

I have used a single coil, ribcage, 2 ribcages in parallel (4 coils), and the whirlpool chiller. the whirlpool chiller wins hands down, but it requires a pump, which can be a major drawback depending on your setup. I will say that a pump is one of the most useful bits of kit you will ever buy. It will come in handy more than you think. It is useful for much more than just chilling. No more lifting pots full of scalding liquid either!

 

[3puttduf]

Thanks for all the info. I have not progressed to pump status yet. Still doing kits till basement bar is finished. So probably will try dbl coil. Should have enough with 50'. Then on to bigger and better things as I experiment and know exactly how i want my set up. Pretty sure i'm obsessed since after first batch found a freezer that will hold about 8 kegs and redoing basement to accommodate.