Another Chiller build question thread

[attyindaburgh]

So I inherited some rolls of copper tubing, a couple 50' boxes of 3/8" and a couple of boxes of 60' 5/8 ". I want to build a chiller to use for 5 and 10 gallon batches in a 15 gallon blichman. I live in SW PA so my water stays fairly cool. The 5/8" tubing is type k if that matters. So my question is: should I use the 3/8 or 5/8 to make a cooler?

 

[grathan]

type K is thicker wall and 5/8 is pretty large meaning you would use more water, it would be tougher to bend, take up more space, and the fittings would be more expensive (unless your planning on just using hose-clamps).


I use 25' of 3/8 which is plenty for 10 gallons if stirring the wort while chilling. 50' would have been my choice if I had access to free copper though.




I would make a dual flow chiller with that much copper if I could do it all again. And make a herms coil out of the 5/8 stuff. BUt that would take a fair bit of time/effort/money.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I just built one with 120Ft of 1/2" k type copper.Its actually 2 separate lines with 2 pond pumps.Chills real quick.