Wort Chiller Help

[motleybrews]

A few months back, I built (cheaply) an immersion wort chiller using 20 feet of 3/8 copper. I didn't purchase a tubing bender, and so i got a bunch of kink, and the damn thing spewed all over my first all grain wort. It had so many kinks, it was unusable and i threw it out.

Fast forward to today, after being indisposed for the better part of the last 2 weeks, I was finally able to take a break for a few hours so I decided to finish building my kegerator, and buy the stuff to make a new wort chiller.

I had been preparing to rebuild it, so a few weeks ago I bought 50 feet of 3/8 copper, a tubing bender set, 10 feet of 3/8 INNER heavy duty hose (the kind with the net in the plastic), and several pipe clamps. Wrap the tubing around my corny, get it how i want it, bend it appropriately, and slide the hose onto the ends (pretty far), and used 2 clamps each on both the water in and water out lines. tightened them down as far as they would go

THE WATER IN LINE KEEPS LEAKING!!!! Can someone point me in the right direction? Should I caulk some silicone or something on the ends where the hose meets the copper? more clamps? Please help!!!

 

[DarkPhyre]

I have heard of few options. Flare the tube ends a bit. or use Teflon tape. Using the tape will increase the OD of the copper making it better to tighten to. Also, make sure you have the right size hose clamps. too large and they won't tighten as well.
You could also go the more common route of pipe and house fittings.

 

[lgilmore]

Use pressure fittings or bend the tubes so they sit well outside of your pot. If it sprays, put a rag over it to knock down the spray.

 

[motleybrews]

thanks for the quick responses! ended up going out to the brewhouse and using both of your ideas. Unfortunately, i do not have the means to flare the copper, or the funds for pressure fittings at the moment. Like I said, i bought this stuff a few weeks ago, and then had some things happen that diverted a lot of my money. anyroads...

took the hoses off, bent the tubing to where it won't sit near the wort, and wrapped one end of the copper in teflon, reconnected the hose and clamps, and it worked like a champ, so i did the other side. ran water thru it for about 4 minutes, and didn't have so much as a drop leak out. but thats how my last chiller was...tested it 4 times before putting it to use, and it didn't leak any of those times. so i'm not getting my hopes up, but i'm pretty confident. I'll keep a rag near by just in case.

Thanks again. Both of your ideas combined worked awesome. Hopefully it'll work next brewday. if it doesn't, i'll try to divert some funds back to brewing and get some pressure fittings.

 

[petey_c]

Before you test it in your wort try heat testing it in a pot of boiling water first. If it leaks, at least it won't be in your beer. Then you can fix it and start chillin'.

 

[ETCS]

Here is a good thread/video about building a IC.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/immersion-chiller-tutorial-video-60522/

 

[birvine]

I used a washing machine hose and cut it in half, slipping one half on either end. The inner diameter of the hose allowed it to slip quite snugly onto the end of the copper. I tightened a hose clamp to make sure. No leaking at all.

So, try this hose instead.

 

[Number68]

I had some trouble with mine leaking, I used an old garden hose for the inlet, and some vinyl tubing for the outlet. assuming you have "soft" copper, you can "flare" it with a pair of pliers, just needs to made a small lip, without cracking it. I put a small amount of silicone on the ID of the hose, and tightened the clamp as tight as i could get it, got a bigger tool, and made it tighter. I went so tight on the first one, I snapped the clamp in half... but everything is super water tight now

 

[motleybrews]

Thanks guys. I'll test as is with heat, and make changes as needed

 

[motleybrews]

Worked awesome. Cooled from boiling to 66 degrees in about 15 min