Building a simple immersion wort chiller

[Staestc]

I built a fermentation chiller, so I figured why not stick with chiller projects! I see a keezer build in my future!

I bought 50' of 3/8" copper tubing. After watching people on YouTube squeeze out kinks with vice grips, I bought a 3/8" spring bender too.

I plan on a coil in an ice bath and a coil in the kettle, so I measured and cut the tubing in half, then wound up the two coils using the bender and a paint can as a form. So the hardest bit is done!



Travis'n'Texas

 

[estricklin]

Wow, that looks REALLY good, so much better than the chiller I just built haha. I would recommend sweating some fittings on if you have the stuff, the compression fittings and hose clamps are certainly more prone to leaking.

 

[Riggs1]

I assume you put the spring bender on the outside of the copper tubing?

 

[Staestc]

Yes, the spring bender slides easily over the outside of the tubing. Once you bend it however, it is pretty tight, and it takes a little more effort to slide it off.

IMO the bender is a must for the tight bends at the input and outputs. You could probably wrap the tubing around something the size of a paint can with little risk of kinks, but just to be on the safe side I used it for the wrap bends also.

I have just use 3/8" ID hose over the ends of the copper tubing with hose clamps and see if that holds the pressure. If I decide to use fittings, I will likely sweat them on.

Even though they will not contact the wort, should I use silver solder or the lead free plumbers solder for those sweats?

Thanks,

 

[Sudz_Makenzie]

I used a dishwasher elbow on my chiller .... a little teflon tape on the threads and no leaks:
http://www.homedepot.com/s/dishwasher+elbow?NCNI-5

To this , attach a "Y" shutoff valve connected to tap water and a second hose to a pond pump in a 5 gal bucket full of ice water. Once the water is below 90f. switch to the pump and it really chills the wort down quickly. Of course the water pumped thru the chiller is cycled back into the bucket with the pump.

 

[sconsi]

I spent a little more money on the sink hookup for my wort chiller by rigging together a few pieces so that I can directly screw into my sink faucet. I can't remember the exact pieces that I got, but it involved a screw-in piece, an adapter, and a 3/8 in nipple. The folks in blue helped me out with it. It'll cost a little more, but it beats having even more water all over the floor of my kitchen when brewing.

 

[Staestc]

I bought the adapter fitting I would need to screw into a standard faucet in place of the aerator that would allow a standard garden hose fitting to screw on. Unfortunately, I forgot that our kitchen sink does not have a normal faucet. The faucet is also the sprayer, and it pulls out. It does not have a standard aerator. So now I need to figure out what fitting I do need, and take back the one I don't! lol

 

[sconsi]

My vote is for showing up at the hardware store with faucet in hand just to make sure you get the right part.

 

[Staestc]

Agreed. The sprayer comes off easily. I know because I have to tighten it up all the time right after it sprays me! I'll take it to the store, since that is what I need to duplicate.

 

[estricklin]

On my first chiller I tried compression fittings 2 different times and had problems, so when I built one for my 25 gallon pot I went about it a bit different. I flared some pipe fittings on, then connected a stainless braided hose, on the end of each hose is a garden hose fitting. I did it this way because the heat was destroying water hoses. I'd be happy to show a pic if your ever interested.

If you do decide to sweat some fittings on go ahead and use your regular plumber's solder.

 

[Hello]

That is a super nice chiller. Mine looks like I had a brain hemorrhage while making it.

 

[Staestc]

I'm not a big fan of compression fittings for anything that will be removed and be attached over and over. Not a fan of flared fittings either, but I have the stuff to do that because I have done it a bunch. Thanks for the tip on heat degrading the hoses. In that light, except for the expense, the stainless hoses sound like a good idea. But why is there a heat problem? Is it just from the wort heating up the water initially? With a two coil system with one in an ice bath I have no idea if heat on the vinyl will be an issue or not. Once I get it all assembled I will have a better idea. This is all new to me!!

 

[Staestc]

Pressure test at max pressure my hose can deliver has no leaks!


Travis'n'Texas

 

[Staestc]

I still need to put a female garden hose fitting on the discharge so I can get it further away.

I would like to test it with 5 gallons of boiling water. I'm not sure I can outside easily. My burner and the gas bottle are ancient and are basically trash, other than trade in value, but there may be enough gas left to do it so I will give it a try!


Travis'n'Texas

 

[Staestc]

Testing it. Long story. Will post when I get back to a computer!


Travis'n'Texas

 

[mjohnson]

I used a dishwasher elbow on my chiller .... a little teflon tape on the threads and no leaks:
http://www.homedepot.com/s/dishwasher+elbow?NCNI-5

To this , attach a "Y" shutoff valve connected to tap water and a second hose to a pond pump in a 5 gal bucket full of ice water. Once the water is below 90f. switch to the pump and it really chills the wort down quickly. Of course the water pumped thru the chiller is cycled back into the bucket with the pump.

Those dishwasher elbows are really cheap - I recommend them!

On the output side, try to avoid using vinyl if you can. I had a vinyl hose go into a garden hose via barbed fittings. Down stream I had a kink in the garden hose. The pressure of the water, plus the heat made the vinyl hose explode. Happened to be that my face was right next to it. Luckily no permanent damage - but I was messed up for a bit. Now, I'm not using vinyl anywhere there is heat. Garden hoses aren't exactly made for it either, but they are stronger. I also always look for kinks before chilling.

 

[COEBRA]

I use two chillers as well. Now I don't really see much difference time wise, but it does help get the wort to about 76-80° here in Fl. The pre-chiller in a cooler is definitely a good way to melt ice though! Lol

 

[Staestc]

You described it well enough that I don't need a picture. Thanks!

 

[Staestc]

I tested out the new wort chiller and it was fantastic. Brought a 5 gallon water boil down below 100 degrees F in about 15 minutes! No leaks.

The old burner that I have from my dad just sucks though, It's a old torch burner. The regulator and the tank are so old that they are now illegal. But there was enough gas to get the 5 gallons up to a boil.

I'm going to have to fix my burner situation before I can do full boils of 5 gallon batches. I'm thinking of just buying a banjo burner and welding up a stand to support it. It's probably been done here a lot, but I have not searched yet. If anybody has a link to a burner build I would appreciate seeing it!
Thanks,

 

[Staestc]

Those dishwasher elbows are really cheap - I recommend them!

On the output side, try to avoid using vinyl if you can. I had a vinyl hose go into a garden hose via barbed fittings. Down stream I had a kink in the garden hose. The pressure of the water, plus the heat made the vinyl hose explode. Happened to be that my face was right next to it. Luckily no permanent damage - but I was messed up for a bit. Now, I'm not using vinyl anywhere there is heat. Garden hoses aren't exactly made for it either, but they are stronger. I also always look for kinks before chilling.

Never thought of a potential kinked hose, and if brewing inside that would be even worse. Not to mention the potential danger! I like estricklin's idea to use something much more solid to lead from the chillers to the hose fittings. I doubt that my vinyl would explode, since they are not on hose barbs but just on the tubing with hose clamps, but they might. If not they would certainly come apart and make a mess at whichever clamp was the least tightened!

Thanks for all the inputs! Much appreciated!

 

[estricklin]

I use two chillers as well. Now I don't really see much difference time wise, but it does help get the wort to about 76-80° here in Fl. The pre-chiller in a cooler is definitely a good way to melt ice though! Lol

Not trying to hijack the thread here but I am thinking of building a pre chiller myself. I have an old IC that has a few cracks from being left outside this past winter. I was thinking of cutting the bad spots out, sweating the ends back together and using it as a pre chiller. It's only 1/4 ID and 25 ft I think. I make my own ice in tubs in my stand up deep freeze, so I always have access to 20 lbs of ice easy. I was thinking of only using the pre chiller after the wort is down to 80F or so.

What has your experience been?

 

[COEBRA]

I use both right from the start to get my tap water below 72°. The wort goes well under 100° in about 15 minutes but it's the last 30° that take forever. I usually pull it, rack it to my buckets, and throw it in the ferm chamber until it's to pitching temp. (2-3 hrs) You might be able to solder the cracks if they aren't to big. That way your not wasting any chiller length.

I also use vinyl hose without any issue. The heat does make the hose clamps cut into the vinyl after awhile but I just cut an inch or so off and reattach the clamps.

 

[estricklin]

I use both right from the start to get my tap water below 72°. The wort goes well under 100° in about 15 minutes but it's the last 30° that take forever. I usually pull it, rack it to my buckets, and throw it in the ferm chamber until it's to pitching temp. (2-3 hrs) You might be able to solder the cracks if they aren't to big. That way your not wasting any chiller length.

I also use vinyl hose without any issue. The heat does make the hose clamps cut into the vinyl after awhile but I just cut an inch or so off and reattach the clamps.

Ya I always get it as close as I can to pitching temp and let the ferm chamber handle the rest. My 60 footer is getting it down in 15 mins or less pretty easy though, so I'm hoping adding the prechiller will help me get to actual pitch temps at least with ales but hopefully with lagers. That's with 5 gallon batches, when I do 10-20 I'm sure even with the prechiller I'd be lucky to get down to pitching temps at all.

 

[Staestc]

Based on my test, run it with just water to get the initial temp down, then put the coil in the ice bath. This thing melts ice faster than it cools wort! Lol


Travis'n'Texas

 

[COEBRA]

Based on my test, run it with just water to get the initial temp down, then put the coil in the ice bath. This thing melts ice faster than it cools wort! Lol


Travis'n'Texas

Yup! Told ya lol. I'm thinking of just putting the pre chiller inside the actual IC since I made it smaller in diameter and run them both at the same time. I'll see how that does on my next brew day.

 

[Staestc]

That's a great idea! I wish I had thought of that before I built mine. I would have had the benefit of a 50' chiller initially, then could pull the center part out and ice it after the temp is down! That's just a great idea! I have not seen that done anywhere either.


Travis'n'Texas

 

[Staestc]

Well I actually got to try out my prechiller wort chiller on actual wort Saturday, and I must say I love it. I did not keep track of exact times, and it was only a slightly more than 3 gallon boil, but it chilled it down in under 15 minutes from boil to 65 degrees! Just ran water through it initially then added ice to the pre-chiller. Building this was time well spent I believe!

 

[COEBRA]

I brewed Saturday and put my two chillers together to make a 60' chiller, and got a 5.5 gallon batch down from 214 to 120 in 5 minutes and then 120 to 72 in 15 more. It worked well.