1/2" wort chiller from straight copper pipe?

Hey everyone,

Well I think its about time I made a wort chiller. I have been brewing off and on for about 20 years now. Anyway I was thinking of making a wort chiller from 1/2 straight pipe (not the soft copper) and using elbows, elbows are only $6.39 for a 10 pack at lowes and I have 4 new sticks of 1/2" in my garage.

I'm sure someone along the way has done this but I cant seem to find any pictures. If anyone has some ideas or pictures pleas post them.

Thanks

 

Sure it can be done but you'll use a lot of elbows. I'm pretty good at sweating joints but I wouldn't want to prep 30 joints. Figure 12 pieces cut to 10" per stick for 3 "coils" and if you want to use all four stick, that's 48 elbows and 96 joints. No thanks. I've be all over a 1/2 x 50' coil.

 

If you want something that no one else has then do it. It does seem like a lot of extra work but, to each their own.

 

More work than it's worth. And probably more expensive once you factor in the cost of solder, flux, brushes, propane, etc.

 

:rockin:do it i really want to see it,all kidding aside its not hell to sweat that many joints,and youre right,would be way stronger than any soft copper chiller

 

I think user biermuncher built one exactly as described. Rigid copper tubing is thicker so the heat transfer won't be as good as the thinner soft tubing. The labor involved alone makes it not worth it. If you've got an inner/outer tubing wirebrush setup for a cordless drill it would be a little better but you're still making 48 cuts.

bigbopper, no one mentioned strength of the chiller. I don't think anyone is having trouble with their fragile chillers.

 

I think the OP didnt ask if he "should" build this, hes asking if anyone has pics of a past build..
that being said, strait copper 1/2" tube is Thinner than annealed copper 1/2" .028" and .032 respectively

why bash this guy for making it...nothing wrong with this at all and it will be a sturdy chiller
build it!

 

It depends on whether the stick is Type L or M.

M: .028" wall
L: .040" wall
AC annealed: .035" wall

I don't think anyone is bashing the guy. I'm simply providing my opinion of the practicality of moving forward with the original plans and I think that's a completely appropriate response.

A common argument I see around here is nit picking of what an OP is specifically asking as if mildly tangent discussions are taboo. It is safe to assume that a question like "has anyone ever xxx?" is equally regarding the practicality of doing something as it is whether someone has ever done it. If this forum was limited to carefully answering literal questions with no subtext allowed, it would be lame.

 

Word

 

something to consider: the head loss in a hydraulic circuit is made of 2 components: static and dynamic losses. Static loses are things like pipe resistance due to wall roughness while dynamic losses are primarily due to joints and the like. If you use a lot of elbows, you're going to generate a significant head loss. If you already suffer low water pressure, this could be an issue. As mentioned, you'll have a lot less work if you use the soft tubing and have less risk of leak.

All that said: you absolutely could still make a functional chiller of straight tubing and elbows.

 

I was just thinking this... since I converted from copper in my house to one piece PEX homeruns and eliminated all those elbows I have way better water flow now...

 

Well I figured I would just go ahead and do it. It cost me about $10 since I had the pipe, a couple fittings, the flux and solder. So this is whats in it.

1/2" X 19' copper pipe schedule M
20 elbows
2 Tee's

 

Looks like something out of a science fiction movie. Have you had a chance to run water through it yet? Does it matter which part of the chiller you use for inlet or outlet? Looking at the photos again I suppose it doesn't really matter. I like the idea that instead of running to one inlet and one outlet the water in your chiller is split so spends less time getting heated before exiting the chiller. I've always wondered how many feet into a standard chiller the water has already reached the wort temp and is just passing through without much cooling effect.

Sorry if my post doesn't make sense.. it's 3:14am and can' sleep.

 

I haven't had a chance to run it yet. I need to pick up some 1/2 tube and an adapter for my faucet. I don't think it would matter what way you run it but I will probably boil up some water in the next few days and see what she can do

 

I think you might be on to something with your split input and output plumbing!

 

Looks good! Something that wasn't mentioned that should be is that pipe is measured I. D. not O. D. like most soft tubing. 1/2" pipe is comparable to 5/8" tubing 1/16 wall. So flow through this chiller should be overkill and a non issue. In fact you will probably have better results slowing the flow even with the elbows. The time it takes to cut and sweat this together is Nothing compared to the time we spend in this hobby and making use of pipe on hand is a bonus. Test it out and post results..

 

Trying to visualize the dynamics of this split method. I have nothing to back it up, but what I'm seeing is water taking the path of least resistance and mostly going through only one side of the chiller. Seems like if the pipe size had been reduced down when branched the volume in each section would be constant, but the way it is wouldn't one side be relatively stagnant while the bulk of the water went the other way? It looks like the two sections aren't equal lengths, so that would contribute to lack of efficiency in the longer section. I really don't know. Any plumbers or engineers care to chime in?

 

I think your right..

Like the pipe not sure about the split design even with equal lengths.

 

IMO I don't think there will be any issue with one side becoming "stagnate", I think this design is genius and will work well for the guy. I give him props for thinking out side the box ... that's what DIY is all about using what you have and developing a way to do the same thing cheaper or even better. Just a thought!!!

 

Yeah. I think that IC efficiency is about the volume of water going through the pipe and the surface area. If those two things are the same, I don't think that splitting or a single run would change the end result.

 

I was kind of thinking the same thing myself but I don't think it will make much difference in the end. The two sides are within about 3" of each other. I was actually thinking of making 2 outlets so you could actually measure the output of each side. Its easy enough to solder / unsolder them so I will probably play around with it a little and see how it works best.

 

Ok, the results are in on test #1 keep in mind this was done with water, not wort. I think chillers work better in wort? I started out by testing my flow rate off my faucet.

Water temp 48F
1.4gpm open faucet
1.4gpm through chiller and about 12ft of 1/2" hose
4.6 gallons measured after chilled

This kind of surprised me, I knew my pipes where bad but wow.

From boil to....
100F 9:45
80F 14:00
70F 17.30

This test was done with the cold water entering the bottom of the chiller and exiting the top. From about 150F down it was stirred most of the time. I don't know how these results stack up but for $30 including 25' of hose and fittings i'm happy.

 

For rigid pipe, I thought about making a shell and tube heat exchanger. Less bends and pretty cool looking. I went with a chillzilla instead though.

 

Good results and for the money a big winner!! Even though your water flow is poor I would be curious to know the temps of the tap water leaving the chiller. You could adjust the flow to see how much more heat you could take out. Under certain circumstances the water passing through the chiller moves two quickly and less heat is removed. Ideally you would adjust the flow until the water exiting is at its peak high temp. Try the same test with the water at ½ or ¾ flow and record your results. Sometimes less is more.

 

I always adjust the flow rate of my wort chiller to make sure the water is flowing through my chiller slow enough to absorb some of the wort temperature. I simply use my finger to test the water temperature coming out of my chiller; if it's cold, I slow the flow. If it's hot, I dial the water input up a little. Plus, this saves me a little on my water bill as well.