Coil Wort Chillers what to buy?

[SnowRaven]

It's been a while since I've brewed. Roommate had all the equipment years ago and I

I have an 8 gallon mega pot 1.2 from Northern Brewer

I'm debating between a 50 foot stainless chiller versus a 25 foot copper chiller with vinyl hoses.

Other equipment I also have a 5 gallon and 6 gallon glass carboy and a 5 gallon Cornelius as well.

Thanks

Jeff
Milwaukee WI

 

[bobby4]

This is a religious debate, but I have had fantastic luck with a 25 foot copper line inside a hose. I have two left thumbs, but had no problem building a counterflow chiller. The only thing that some of us do is we counterflow back into the kettle for a nice cold break.

 

[iparks81]

Jaded brewing supply has some awesome chillers. there best chiller claims it can drop 200 deg wort to pitching temps in 3 minutes...I have no first hand experience with them, but if I was to drop some cash on a new one it would be theirs
cheers

 

[SnowRaven]

Jaded brewing supply has some awesome chillers. there best chiller claims it can drop 200 deg wort to pitching temps in 3 minutes...I have no first hand experience with them, but if I was to drop some cash on a new one it would be theirs
cheers

I want to avoid spending too much on it as I can get a plate HEX for $200

As I found a 50 foot stainless coil from NYbrewing for 80$ delivered.

 

[SnowRaven]

Jaded looks interesting

I would think if you plan to drill stir the wort while cooling a 50 foot coil is still better than a 25 foot clover leaf shape

But I do like the hydra with 3x the flow but it may be overkill for 5-6 gallons

 

[BigFloyd]

What's your chill water source? If you plan to use a garden hose, get a chiller with garden hose connections. The vinyl hose on some can cause leakage problems as the tubing doesn't handle hot temps very well. Remember, you're going to sanitize it by putting it in the boiling wort for the last 15 minutes.

You can always build one. This one is my first chiller. 22ft of 1/2" ID copper tubing (formed around the inside of a 5 gallon bucket), 1/2" copper hard pipe, soldered slip joints and garden hose connectors. The thing chilled very well, never leaked a drop and was rock solid. I'd still be using it today if I hadn't built a recirculating E-BIAB rig with a plate chiller.

 

[petrolSpice]

I got a 25' x 3/8" stainless one, haven't tried it yet but I've read it should work just fine for 5 gallon batches.

 

[SnowRaven]

Wisconsin well artesian so it is always cold

I am leaning toward 1/2" copper 50 feet (hose connections) at $95
It looks like 3/8" at 50 feet is not efficient from the Jaded charts

And stainless 1/2" is near $150

V.S. a steelhead pump and 30 plate is near $290

 

[TANSTAAFB]

"Copper Coil Immersion Chiller 50 Feet Length" from Learn To Brew LLC on Amazon $85 shipped with soldered hose fittings and risers tall enough for a keggle. Love this thing!

 

[Queequeg]

This is a religious debate, but I have had fantastic luck with a 25 foot copper line inside a hose. I have two left thumbs, but had no problem building a counterflow chiller. The only thing that some of us do is we counterflow back into the kettle for a nice cold break.

Never thought of doing that. Then you could whirlpool the cold break material.

 

[SnowRaven]

"Copper Coil Immersion Chiller 50 Feet Length" from Learn To Brew LLC on Amazon $85 shipped with soldered hose fittings and risers tall enough for a keggle. Love this thing!

For $25 more I was going to go 1/2" copper

And I would then add a paddle drill mixer rather than agitate the coil up and down

 

[bobby4]

Queequeg - exactly!

 

[SnowRaven]

Queequeg - exactly!

Can you elaborate on what you did to your coil?

I assume you are passing product (beer) through the coil and cold ice water on the outside via a hose?

Not sure how end connections would work on this

 

[SnowRaven]

Never thought of doing that. Then you could whirlpool the cold break material.

Whirlpool how?

 

[bobby4]

I built the counterflow from the many plans on the net. I just let tap water run through it, but it is cold and cheap here. The counterflow outlet (sanitized) goes back into the boiler. It coincides with a gentle stir, and the whole pot whirlpools nicely. When down to pitching temperature I detach the counterflow, and drain it like normal into my carboys. It leaves the cold break behind pretty well.
Counter-flowing back into the pot was one of those face-palm moments, no idea why I didn't think of it earlier.

 

[skuhn2004]

I got a 50' stainless 3/8" for xmas from SWMBO. I can go from boil to 80F in 11 minutes on a 5 gal batch. It goes from garden hose to vinyl tubing. The intake tube doesn't get hot at all so it's not a concern. The output gets real hot at first and the water coming out steams for the first 5 minutes. I don't know how long the output tubing is going to last but it's cheap to replace.

I'm a noob but I wanted stainless because it just seems like it will last forever.

Anyone have a good trick for draining the water between uses? There is always a little bit left in there.

 

[bobby4]

I just hang it up, but I did freeze it closed last week by not draining it completely - that added some fun to the winter brew day.

 

[davygoat2]

I've got a 25' stainless 3/8" coil, I gently stir with the coil and I get to pitch in under 15min. the vinyl hoses kinked from the heat in the boil pot but it still rocks the cold break.

 

[Newsman]

<snip>

Anyone have a good trick for draining the water between uses? There is always a little bit left in there.

Yep. Sure do... I just blow through it until the water is mostly gone.

 

[SnowRaven]

I built the counterflow from the many plans on the net. I just let tap water run through it, but it is cold and cheap here. The counterflow outlet (sanitized) goes back into the boiler. It coincides with a gentle stir, and the whole pot whirlpools nicely. When down to pitching temperature I detach the counterflow, and drain it like normal into my carboys. It leaves the cold break behind pretty well.
Counter-flowing back into the pot was one of those face-palm moments, no idea why I didn't think of it earlier.

is there a link to an example you can share please

 

[hunter306]

I used this one, fairly inexpensive, with a ton of success when I was doing single pot extract batches. Worked great, hooked it up to the tap or garden hose and just dunked it in the brew pot. 5 minutes and wort was at pitching temp.

http://www.homebrewing.org/25-38-Economy-Copper-Wort-Chiller_p_2734.html

Recently upgraded my setup to a counterflow, but I'd highly recommend the above.

 

[freisste]

is there a link to an example you can share please

This is what I did (copied, I'm not the original). Worked really well.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/counterflow-chiller-tutorial-51793/

Good luck. I think my total price was about $70, but I already had some copper pipe (1ft x 1/2") and everything to solder.

 

[bobby4]

This is the site I used, but I only put in 10 feet of wire - it was too hard to get more in.
http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/homebrewing/wort_chiller/

 

[SnowRaven]

Went with this
98$ + shipping
Heavy Duty 1/2" x 50' Copper Immersion Wort Chiller
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004D4MTZI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Based my choice on Data From Jaded Brewing (love the hydra idea)

going 50 feet on 3/8 just slows you down, you need 1/2" with 50 feet of coil length to get the flow to exchange that much heat before it leaves.

So I'll take 5 mins or less to chill for now. (other choice is a pair of 25 foot 3/8's but that is still more than this)

$100 for this vs $300 for a pump & 30 plate setup is what won me over and the results are near the same
($150 for a stainess version was not worth the upgrade from copper IMHO)

Thanks for the info

 

[bobby4]

I think you really can't go wrong, it looks like a great product.