Advice picking an IC

[Beer Viking]

Should I go with stainless steel or with copper? Does it make a difference? I'm going to be making 5 G and 2.5 G batches, would a 25' IC be enough or should I grab a 50' one? Thanks!

 

[McKnuckle]

Copper is more efficient. Another important detail you need to consider is the depth of your wort in the kettle(s) you’ll use. It’s no good having 50’ of coil if less than half of it is submerged.

 

[Knightshade]

I guess if you're looking into Low Oxygen brewing, you'll want to stick with stainless based on some reading I've come across. But I'll second @McKnuckle, get the biggest one that will fit the kettle that you're using, as appropriate for your batch size.

 

[mcmeador]

I used a copper chiller when I was doing partial boil extract batches and now a stainless steel chiller with full boil all-grain. Both work perfectly fine. From what I understand, though copper is much more conductive than steel, the walls of the chiller are so thin that it really doesn’t end up making much of a difference.

 

[Beer Viking]

Thanks everyone, the only 50' one I can seem to find is stainless steel but it comes with female hose attachments on it so that will save me some time. Does anyone know of a good homebrew supply company that is based in Canada?

 

[Knightshade]

I've used a too small stainless in a kettle and that was frustrating because I had to constantly move it up and down and it TOOK FOREVER to chill a 5G batch in a 7.5G kettle. Got it in a parts buy with a cooler mash tun and some other stuff. Ended up with a even smaller copper one in another parts buy and that wasn't much better.

I ended up with a 10G Anvil Foundry not long after that, and while I was skeptical of the included stainless IC, I used it anyways on 1 batch..and it was as I expected a frustrating experience. Was looking into a Hydra chiller and stumbled upon CUSS Brewing being referenced on this board somewhere. Chilling procedure has been pretty much the same with all 4 chillers, but I've been extremely happy with cooling times w/their Tricoil. Maybe reach out to them and see if they have something that would fit your needs and if they'll ship to Canada.

 

[KeizerBrewr]

I built my own IC with 25', 3/8" copper to chill down my 5-6 gallon batches. It does just fine for what I do.

 

[mcmeador]

I've used a too small stainless in a kettle and that was frustrating because I had to constantly move it up and down and it TOOK FOREVER to chill a 5G batch in a 7.5G kettle. Got it in a parts buy with a cooler mash tun and some other stuff. Ended up with a even smaller copper one in another parts buy and that wasn't much better.

I ended up with a 10G Anvil Foundry not long after that, and while I was skeptical of the included stainless IC, I used it anyways on 1 batch..and it was as I expected a frustrating experience. Was looking into a Hydra chiller and stumbled upon CUSS Brewing being referenced on this board somewhere. Chilling procedure has been pretty much the same with all 4 chillers, but I've been extremely happy with cooling times w/their Tricoil. Maybe reach out to them and see if they have something that would fit your needs and if they'll ship to Canada.

What was your experience with the Anvil Foundry? I have the same system and chiller, and it chills very well. I was having some issues with the temp reading on the Foundry showing much higher than the actual temperature of the wort during chilling, and I found out that was due to trub settling around and insulating the temp probe on the floor of the Foundry which caused it to read much higher than the wort temperature. Giving the wort a good stir periodically all the way down to the floor of the kettle during chilling clears that issue right up.

If you are having the same issue, I can see how it would appear that the immersion chiller isn’t chilling sufficiently.

 

[Knightshade]

What was your experience with the Anvil Foundry? I have the same system and chiller, and it chills very well. I was having some issues with the temp reading on the Foundry showing much higher than the actual temperature of the wort during chilling, and I found out that was due to trub settling around and insulating the temp probe on the floor of the Foundry which caused it to read much higher than the wort temperature. Giving the wort a good stir periodically all the way down to the floor of the kettle during chilling clears that issue right up.

If you are having the same issue, I can see how it would appear that the immersion chiller isn’t chilling sufficiently.

I was, or am more apt to place blame on inadequate coverage of the wort w/the standard included chiller being the culprit to longer cooling times. I've also got a whirlpool going while I'm chilling, so that keeps junk from collecting on the temp probe. I collect 10 gallons of hot water for cleaning, then re-direct the flow back into my old Igloo mash tun where I've got big chunks of ice and frozen water bottles pushing water with an aquarium pump. I just let it run while I'm cleaning stuff. By the time I was done cleaning the malt basket, hop bags, collecting some grains to be dried, burying the rest in my compost, and prepping the fermenter for transfer I was down to 65.

 

[bwible]

From what I gather, the immersion chillers that are included with the Foundrys are designed to hang on the side of the kettle and not reach the bottom, in order to avoid the temp probe or something on the bottom they don’t want it to hit.

I own the 6.5 and I primarily make 3 gallon batches with it, starting with 4 gallons, boil down to 3.5 so that i actually get 3 gallons into the fermenter after accounting for trub, waste, and dead space. My 6.5 seems to have significant dead space and stuff left behind, considering a small batch.

I have found the chiller hanging on the side is only half submerged or less than half in a 3 gallon batch by the end of my boil. That being what it is, it does not cool efficiently as it should

 

[TBA]

Ground water in Florida is never cool enough. I have a 50’ stainless and a 25’ copper that I got used off Craigslist in package deal with kegs, etc. neither works good enough. I tried using the 25 in ice bucket as a pre-chiller but found using both is series in the kettle works a little better. Once I break 90 I change to pumping ice water through them. I can get into the 60s but it takes nearly an hour. Dont worry I dont waste the water, it goes into the pool. I have a JaDeD Hydra on my Christmas list! Even if I get it I will probably have to use the old 2 as pre-chillers in ice.

 

[bracconiere]

i use copper, i just baught a roll of i think 3/8" and wrapped it around a 5 gallon bucket to form it, then used a washer supply line cut in half for the hose connector.

i also have a double coil, one large, one smaller that fits inside that..basically had this thing since 1997 or so...cools 10 gallon in about 20 minutes so no complaints...