Competent Wort Chiller

[petey_c]

I'll sort of second what rkhorn said, but I'm economical in my brew efforts (lazy). 20 minutes before the end of the boil, immerse the immersion chiller to sanitize it. Put the pot in the sink and run tap water through the chiller for about 13 minutes to chill to about 70°F. Pour the cooled wort into the primary. Disconnect the IC and bring it to the shower to rinse off any hops/wort residue. I think an plate chiller would have me worrying if I got all the schist out of it.

 

[kombat]

I am quite happy with the one I purchased from Midwest. It is a stainless steel model and has yet to leak at all. [...] I may buy another and make a ice bath to pre-cool for summer brewing.

If you're going to buy a new chiller anyway, upgrade to a plate chiller, and use your existing IC as you described, as a "pre-chiller" in an ice bath. You'll get from boiling down to lager temperatures in literally seconds.

 

[ko300zx]

This is the critical part....you can kill yourself coming up with a leak-free design or design it so the leak doesn't matter in the first place. Perfect is the enemy of good.

Made this guy a few weeks ago. Kept the inflow end a bit longer so that it would be well outside of the kettle. Outflow is not as lengthy but shouldn't be as risky.

 

[rkorn74]

If you're going to buy a new chiller anyway, upgrade to a plate chiller, and use your existing IC as you described, as a "pre-chiller" in an ice bath. You'll get from boiling down to lager temperatures in literally seconds.

That's a great idea, but I'm still worried about gunk left in the plate chiller.