Concentric immersion chiller build

Just thought I'd post up my build and parts in case anyone is interested in replicating...

I decided to do concentric circles (instead of single coil or ribcage) to maximize the coverage of the chiller in the wort at the same time as making it possible to submerge the whole thing in the 3-4 gallon volumes I end up with doing partial boils in my cheapo 6g. pot.

• $52.88 50 ft. 3/8 OD copper refrigeration tubing from coppertubingsales.com (shipped, but this was stupid, I could have gotten it from Home Depot for $46)
• $7.99 10 ft. braided vinyl
• $1.90 2x SS clamp
• $4.16 faucet to 3/4 male hose thread adapter
• $7.07 brass 3/4 female hose thread to 3/8 barb
• grand total: $74

I could have probably bought it pre-made for cheaper.

The 3/8 OD stuff isn't too hard to bend by hand. I started by winding 15 coils around one of those metal espresso cans you can buy at the grocery store to make the inner ring, leaving enough pipe before the coils to poke up out of the pot. Then, I flipped a 2g HDPE bucket (one of those you can find in the paint aisle) upside down on the coils, and wound the rest from the bottom up to make the outer ring. Done.

I could have definitely saved some money if I didn't have to buy such expensive faucet to chiller adapters, if you are planning on connecting this to your hose faucet outside, there are really cheapo options that will do the trick. However, this was the best I could do to connect it to my sink.

I haven't tried it yet so I can't speak to it's performance, but I'm sure it's on par with all the other 3/8 chillers out there.

It looks good. Do you plan on stiring while chilling or do you plan on just letting it do its thing?

GreenMonti said:

It looks good. Do you plan on stiring while chilling or do you plan on just letting it do its thing?

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Thanks.

Do you mean stir to whirlpool (and collect cold break in the middle of the pot), or stir for faster chilling? I've been using a nylon paint straining bag to hold the hop pellets during the boil, so I really don't have much crud in the cold break. I'm probably going to stir gently once or twice during the chilling process just to get the wort moving around a bit, but not to whirlpool. I assume it would be hard to use the whirlpool technique with so much chiller in place blocking the flow of water...

I was in reference to stiring while chilling. I guess your right it would be kinda hard to stir with that much chiller.

When do you plan to use it? I am interested in how it performs.

looks great!

Does it hold its shape pretty well? I see you purchased braided vinyl, but I didn't see it in your pics. I was just curious if you were going to fasten the chiller so it would be a littler sturdier and hold its shape. Looks great though.

On another note, anyone ever bought scrap copper tubing?

Ah yes, the braided vinyl is actually the hose that connects the faucet to the chiller, and the chiller back to the drain. I don't have anything structural that's not shown in the picture. The chiller holds it's shape pretty well (I was surprised) without additional support, I think the tight coils in the middle really help. It's a bit floppy if you hold it by the top so you have to be gentle.

I've SEEN scrap copper, never even considered a purchase.

brewmonk said:

I've SEEN scrap copper, never even considered a purchase.

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I'd be curious to see what the price/ft difference is with brand new tubing.

I would think that scrap copper would be hard to find in lengths of 50 continuous feet, or anything approaching that really. You would probably have to connect several short runs together to make anything like a chiller. Also, once bent, copper gets progressively harder to bend again. I'm sure the scrap stuff would be in all sorts of shapes and to get it re-bent, you might have to anneal the length of it to get any pliability.

Cool! It doesn't matter if you could buy it cheaper. You made it and it'll be worth it the first time you use it

That's actually very similar to what I did, except instead of one long, 50' coil, I split mine into two separate coils. I figure it's more efficient than using one long coil. It may or may not be true, but it works real well and that's about all I can ask for.



-Joe

How do you get the 90+ degree bends at the necks not to crimp?

Looks good buy the way.

With two separate lines you should be more efficient.

Comparing to electricity, you are running 2-25' parallel circuits and they are running a 50' series. (I hate electricity)

The only thing that may reduce effienency would be a slow down in the water flow.

I'm way over my head here. Don't listen to me. Have a beer instead.

I used a tubing bender. Looks like a big pair or pliers with radiused channels for different diameter tubing.

-Joe