Cooper Immersion Chillers

I want to give a big heads-up to all my fellow newbie homebrewers (I only have 1 batch so far).

I decided to get a full boil setup for Christmas and picked up a turkey fryer, 9-gallon pot, and propane tank last night. Of course, trying to cool 5 gallons of wort in a ice water bath is (nearly) impossible. So, along with my turkey fryer setup, I purchased 50 feet of refrigeration grade, 3/8" OD soft copper tubing and a few fitting to make my own immersion wort chiller.

Let me tell you, I cannot believe how EASY it was to make this and how WELL IT WORKS!!! It took about 15 minutes to build and I didn't use any tools but my hands. I'll tell you, it may not be as pretty as the "commercial" ones you can buy but it works like a charm and was significantly cheaper.

As a test (and to clean/sanitize), I brought 6 gallons of water to boil in the fryer. I dunked the chiller and waited ~5 minutes. I hooked up a garden hose to the chiller and the spigot on the outside of my house, cut off the flame and turned on the water. The temp went from 212* to 72* in about 7 minutes. I was amazed! And it so much easier than the water bath too!

All in all, I'm really satisfied with my homemade wort chiller and would recommned this over a water bath any day. You can't beat 50' of copper and some fittings for $50. Norther Brewer has copper chillers for $70, but they're only 25' of copper. Plus, you gotta pay for shipping.

 

Do you have any pictures?

 

IM Chillers are one of the best investments I've made on the brewing front, for sure.

 

Nice work, but i'd like to see a picture too , not that what it looks like makes ANY diff

 

I'll see what I can do. It certainly doesn't look pretty, and really all it is is 50' of copper tubing coiled up.

IMO: functionality > aesthetics

 

HAHA - and as I have learned -> Form follows Function

I am looking to make a IC soon, so thanks for the confidence booster.

 

Do it! Again, they are SO EASY to make and you save a fair amount of money.