IC to CFC Question

[cranium213]

I currently have a 50' 3/8" IC (DIY) that I am considering cannibalizing and turning it into a 30' CFC...I already have a 50' high temp rubber hose that is not being used so the cost is very minimal to convert it ( just the copper tee's and reducers as I already have extra 1/2" pipe). I am hoping to save on both water and cooling time by converting it as it currently takes 45-75 minutes to cool a we gallon batch and well over 60 gallons of water (I am capturing 60 in a rain barrel for cleanup and the rest for a down the drain). I have a pump so am not at all concerned about cleaning/sanitizing the chiller.

Does anyone have any comments on things to watch out for doing this, I searched the forums but didn't find much about people converting? It seems I should be able to drastically reduce my cooling time and water usage, right now water temps are right around 50 and stay fairly consistent throughout the year.

Thanks,
Eliyah

 

[Frogger42]

I did it this weekend, it was a breeze. Just follow Bobby_M's tutorial and you'll have no problems

 

[rekoob]

have you tried recirculating during cooling? you said you have a pump. I started to do this and it dropped my cooling times in half. I get to pitching temps in about 15-20 minutes
However, I still think about doing this same thing...

 

[Shaggyt]

Agreed w/Bobby M's instructions...really a breeze, just be mindful of which joints you sweat first so as not to have to re-sweat a fitting/joint due to flame overlap.

Using the CFC vs the IC will present some challenges as far as dialing in the correct flow for both wort & h2o...i tried using a my pond pump to recirculate standing cooling water i had from previous batches (equivalent to your rain h2o), but the 40+ft of tubing was too much for my pond pump. I also use an inline prechiller (included in the 40+ft).

Good luck! In my area, the winter temps make my CFC :rockin:!

 

[SBC]

In Maryland, our summer temps are too high to use just the municipal water and my CFC. I use my old IC as a prechiller. I would think that you may have issues unbending the current coil in order to insert into hose and then rebend for CFC.

 

[Homercidal]

It may be useful to add some soapy water to the hose before trying to slide 50' of it around your copper. It can get sticky pretty quick.

 

[cranium213]

have you tried recirculating during cooling? you said you have a pump. I started to do this and it dropped my cooling times in half. I get to pitching temps in about 15-20 minutes.
However, I still think about doing this same thing...

I actually do recirculate during the entire time I am cooling and it doesn't make much difference actually, although my chilled was originally made for a keggle and I am now using a 20 gallon Polarware kettle so it doesn't have near the amount of contact it used to with the wiry (although it was still slower to cool than I would like).

 

[cranium213]

It may be useful to add some soapy water to the hose before trying to slide 50' of it around your copper. It can get sticky pretty quick.

Thanks Homercidal, I only plan on using about 30' since research seems to confirm that 25-30 is ideal for a CFC, but I will definitely still use the soap.

 

[cranium213]

In Maryland, our summer temps are too high to use just the municipal water and my CFC. I use my old IC as a prechiller. I would think that you may have issues unbending the current coil in order to insert into hose and then rebend for CFC.

I probably should have asked this initially, by do I even need to straighten it or can I simply slide the hose on with the coils opened up slightly? If I have to un-coil it then it may be much trickier than I am anticipating.

 

[cranium213]

Agreed w/Bobby M's instructions...really a breeze, just be mindful of which joints you sweat first so as not to have to re-sweat a fitting/joint due to flame overlap.

Using the CFC vs the IC will present some challenges as far as dialing in the correct flow for both wort & h2o...i tried using a my pond pump to recirculate standing cooling water i had from previous batches (equivalent to your rain h2o), but the 40+ft of tubing was too much for my pond pump. I also use an inline prechiller (included in the 40+ft).

Good luck! In my area, the winter temps make my CFC :rockin:!

I will definitely keep a clear idea of which to sweat first...I know from a couple years working as a plumbers apprentice (back after high school), taking apart and re-sweating joints can be a PITA.

In reading different instructions it seems that sweating together one entire end first is the ideal approach, and then slidding the hose on from the other end, but that may be more difficult in my situation if I am trying to this without entirely uncoilling the tubing.

 

[cranium213]

I scored a 50' roll of 3/8" copper today from someone on CL for $20...now there's no need to dismantle my IC and I can now make 2 25' CFC's and either give one to my brewing partner or sell the second and my IC once I'm done!

:rockin:

Thanks for all the advice everyone...I can't wait to get this built and give it a test run.