Counterflow staineless steel

[theQ]

I am trying to tap into your knowledge of the knowledgeable ones, that being you!

I am looking for a counterflow chiller made out of stainless steel. Any recommendation where to find one that's good and is not going to ruin my household budget ?

 

[doug293cz]

I am trying to tap into your knowledge of the knowledgeable ones, that being you!

I am looking for a counterflow chiller made out of stainless steel. Any recommendation where to find one that's good and is not going to ruin my household budget ?

1. Stainless steel
2. Good quality
3. Inexpensive

You may pick any two, but only two! Every one I found with a quick Google search was about $200 +/-.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Brew on

 

[LandoLincoln]

I am trying to tap into your knowledge of the knowledgeable ones, that being you!

I am looking for a counterflow chiller made out of stainless steel. Any recommendation where to find one that's good and is not going to ruin my household budget ?

No, there are no good ones designed for homebrewers on the market. There's only one made out of stainless steel currently on the market and that one is (I believe) a 12' coil and it's woefully inadequate due to the short coil length. I would not recommend purchasing it.

 

[vincentAlpha]

Reasons for stainless vs copper? You'd have better luck building/buying a copper CF chiller than stainless. I know my CF chiller changed how cooling my brew went.

 

[Ki-ri-n]

I made one following Tiber_brew's post. My post here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f255/counterflow-wort-chiller-build-use-182236/index29.html#post6731808

Al I did was replace to copper coil with SS and used the soldering SS thread to solder the copper fittings to the SS. Using SS probably added $40-$50 to the cost vs all copper.

I have yet to use it though. Still need to brew to give any kind of feedback on performance.

 

[DMosPickles]

why use stainless? It's got less than half the thermal conductivity of copper. You'll blow through twice the cooling water for the same thermal cooling. Copper is as sanitary as stainless, too.

 

[theQ]

Ok...

I found one, $200 from CHINA, looks ok, can't vouch for it, anyone ?
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Stai...quipment-Garden-Hose-Fittings/1553652140.html

While I know cooper is better at conducting heat I do want it from stainless

1. it's way more durable. I could cook it in the oven so it can burn all built bio mass
2. won't ever corrode
3. it's not toxic. I don't care what some say, cooper oxide is toxic.(the green stuff)

I want to use it as a HERMS to indirectly hear various tanks/wort/water so this is not to chill the wort only - the plan is way bigger

The Man with the big plan here

 

[LandoLincoln]

Ok...

I found one, $200 from CHINA, looks ok, can't vouch for it, anyone ?
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Stai...quipment-Garden-Hose-Fittings/1553652140.html

While I know cooper is better at conducting heat I do want it from stainless

1. it's way more durable. I could cook it in the oven so it can burn all built bio mass
2. won't ever corrode
3. it's not toxic. I don't care what some say, cooper oxide is toxic.(the green stuff)

I want to use it as a HERMS to indirectly hear various tanks/wort/water so this is not to chill the wort only - the plan is way bigger

The Man with the big plan here

Yeah, that's the 12' coil I was talking about. That length just doesn't cut it for homebrewing purposes. And it would be even worse for HERMS coil use.

 

[theQ]

Yeah, that's the 12' coil I was talking about. That length just doesn't cut it for homebrewing purposes. And it would be even worse for HERMS coil use.

Ok so would there be even a copper option ?

 

[Rivenin]

williams brewing has one for 200, it's a short guy as well, the convoluted ones do quite well from what i've seen. But i don't think they sell the convoluted ones in SS

 

[theQ]

williams brewing has one for 200, it's a short guy as well, the convoluted ones do quite well from what i've seen. But i don't think they sell the convoluted ones in SS

They have 2 one copper one SS.
I don't get their connectivity option but I think I can manage that part. Both they claim are convoluted. The SS one looks almost like the one I posted earlier.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/STAINLESS-CONVOLUTED-COUNTERFLOW-CHILLER-P3452.aspx

Anyone can tell me how is the exchange going ? I didn't hear anyone reporting any testing/experiments.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Ok so would there be even a copper option ?

Yes, there are copper options. I've made an incredibly efficient copper counterflow chiller using a 45' coil of 3/8" OD copper and a garden hose. Lots of threads on here that show you how to make one pretty easily.

 

[theQ]

I am building one, something like this. 40 feet of copper. it will be just fine!
http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0194/6553/products/New_JaDeD_CFC_1024x1024.jpg?v=1386072737

 

[Kyled93]

I know this isn't a stainless option but I just bought one of these...

http://zchillers.com/shop/

Can't beat it for the price!