deyoung
Active Member
Finally got sick of dunking my kettle in an ice bath and built a wort chiller. Thought I would share the results here.
After going back and forth I decided to build only by bending the tube and not soldering. Here is the result:
For the intake I got a short garden hose. This connects to an adapter that brings the size down. That connects to another adapter: one side is threaded and the other is shaped to grab onto a hose that is slipped on. The vinyl hose I used is sized so that it was a snug fit on that adapter as well as the 3/8" copper pipe I used (it's 1/2" outer / 3/8" inner vinyl). For the vinyl hose/copper connections I did use small hose clamps which worked really well.
The copper is 25 feet long. For the main coil I wrapped it around a paint can. Going slowly this was pretty easy. For the other bends I used a tube bender tool. This tool was not readily available in my local hardware stores--I had to go to a large car parts retailer to get one. They actually had a number of styles available and some were quite expensive. I got a mid-priced one which was only $13. Make sure it is made for the size pipe you're using and that you figure out how to use it first. I suppose inadvertently crimping the pipe could blow the whole project.
I haven't used this for brewing yet so I can't vouch for its performance. It has a single leak on one of the adapters, but I'm pretty confident that will be easily fixed with a standard sized rubber gasket.
After going back and forth I decided to build only by bending the tube and not soldering. Here is the result:
For the intake I got a short garden hose. This connects to an adapter that brings the size down. That connects to another adapter: one side is threaded and the other is shaped to grab onto a hose that is slipped on. The vinyl hose I used is sized so that it was a snug fit on that adapter as well as the 3/8" copper pipe I used (it's 1/2" outer / 3/8" inner vinyl). For the vinyl hose/copper connections I did use small hose clamps which worked really well.
The copper is 25 feet long. For the main coil I wrapped it around a paint can. Going slowly this was pretty easy. For the other bends I used a tube bender tool. This tool was not readily available in my local hardware stores--I had to go to a large car parts retailer to get one. They actually had a number of styles available and some were quite expensive. I got a mid-priced one which was only $13. Make sure it is made for the size pipe you're using and that you figure out how to use it first. I suppose inadvertently crimping the pipe could blow the whole project.
I haven't used this for brewing yet so I can't vouch for its performance. It has a single leak on one of the adapters, but I'm pretty confident that will be easily fixed with a standard sized rubber gasket.