Another JaDeD Cyclone copy...

[JLeuck64]

A while back I decided it was time to upgrade my equipment because I wanted to explore using a hop back. So I am using this opportunity to build a new CFC and buy a brew pump. After looking through the other JaDeD clone threads I decided to try and go conservative. It ain't cheap either! I figured if I was recirculating wort that I could get by with just 10 feet of cooling power so I picked up a 10 foot piece of 1/2" copper pipe, a 10 foot piece of 3/4" copper pipe, ordered the tee's and set to figuring out how to cut everything. I have a little over $110 into this chiller, and it cooled 8gal of boiling water down to 75F in about 16 minutes the first time I tried it out. I have pretty cold well water and this was one of the reasons I decided to go conservative on the overall length of this CFC. Oh, and the Rip Tide pump gets 2 thumbs up from me! Very quiet ( ;

This photo is just dry fitting all the pieces for the first time.

 

[JLeuck64]

Where I am pointing in this photo is the corner where I really started getting the hang of sweating copper pipe! LOL, there are 51 solder joints in this CFC!

 

[JLeuck64]

Here I am trying a single pass chilling from the boil kettle directly to the ferment bucket. This style of chiller is not long enough to be effective as a single pass chiller... Had to run the water WFO and really throttle back on the kettle drain... it took forever to chill down to 85F. Unacceptable...

 

[JLeuck64]

Here I am recirculating thru the Riptide and I am VERY satisfied with the performance of both new components! Like I said before, it took 8gal of boiling water down to 75F in about 16 minutes. Can't wait to try it out this weekend for real! ( ;

 

[helterscelter]

looks real nice!

 

[bleme]

Great project! And the beauty of that design is it is completely expandable. You can throw another layer in there any time you want.

 

[passedpawn]

I bought one. I have a torch and I've sweat lots of copper, but that looked like a ton of it when I considered DIY. Even with flux and clean pipes I often have to re-sweat to fix leaks. Just lookes like a ton of time.

 

[passedpawn]

BTW, I had the guy at jaded put four 1/2" camlocks on there. My whole system is connected by camlocks and silicone tubing. Also, it's really useful to put a thermometer in line with the return wort output.

 

[passedpawn]

I should have mentioned, nice job to the OP. That's a lot of work and I toast you for it.

 

[jcav]

Nice job on your chiller, yea you can always add another row or two of pipe if you need to down the road to drop the temp down even quicker!

John

 

[JLeuck64]

Here's an update: I've got three brews on this new chiller so far. The first two I tried using the new hop back and struggled with it plugging up... so those were a bust for determining how well the new chiller performed.

In this pic I am cooling down a 10gal batch of BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde (very good recipe I must say!). This new chiller took it down to 75F in a little over 20 minutes, which is the same performance I used to get from my old immersion chiller made from 25' of 3/8" copper tubing. So I am happy with this new CFC performance. I didn't need to hover over the kettle swirling the IC around. With all the extra free time I decided to use the discharge water to clean up my mash tun while the kettle was cooling down which saved me a little time and water too ( ;