DIY Cost-Effective Immersion Wort Chiller

[Robar]

Love the write up and the pics help for those who have never made one before. I made mine 6 years ago and have never regretted it.
For those who do smaller batches and can get their brew pot into the sink and use an ice water bath to chill it keep doing it! But don't let it stop you from making your immersion chiller. In summer when it was hot and I was still using a small enough pot I did BOTH at the same time to cool down quickly.
Plate Chiller: My other hobby is Blacksmithing so I catch a lot of things on youtube related to heat and metal. I watched a few videos on back yard foundry projects. As I watched a guy melting down aluminum cans to make things with, I immediately thought of a chiller plate. I'm thinking it would be easy to make if you are handy in that way. Once I get some of my more pressing projects done I might give it a go.

 

[lifefermented]

I recently made a wort chiller using much thinner copper tubing to improve heat transfer efficiency. I used three parallel coiled tubes to ensure my coolant flow was about the same as a a larger tubing diameter. With so much more copper surface area in the pot, it cools faster than a single larger tube. I did a write up about it here: http://lifefermented.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/diy-immersion-chiller-the-hydra/

 

[mdennytoo]

How do you get 25' of 3/8" for $20? Best price I can see is $60 for 50' and $40 for 20'. This will still be less expensive than a pre-made one, but after fittings, driving to Lowes/ Home Depot, and an hour of your time they are about equal. My LHBS has a short 20' chiller for $89. Mine was free because Mrs. mdennytoo's mom thought of me on my birthday.

 

[ClemTiger0408]

How in the world did you get 3/8" hose around the pipe? I spent nearly 30 minutes and destroyed my hands trying to get it around the pipe and eventually gave up. The pipe opening and the hose are the exact same size around, and with the thickness of the hose it is utterly impossible!

 

[tone_s]

Mdennytoo, I just waited for a sale at a big box store.
Clem, heat the hose end under hot water first to soften it. It does take some work, but a it does go on

 

[jmaple4]

Thanks for writing this up. I used your instructions and built one of my own. You can see it here: http://imgur.com/a/id4T7

 

[golson3]

@Peteambrose
If you cool gradually, you're missing out on the "cold break" that happens when you rapidly chill the wort. This is another opportunity to knock more of that gunk out of your beer. Just rapidly cool and then let settle. I mean, you're "probably" going to have to aggravate the wort again to aerate it after cooling anyhow, unless you're using some kind of aeration contraption like the aquarium pumps to get the O2 into your wort.

 

[150kwh]

Cheap DIY upgrade to prevent leaks ruining wort: compression to garden hose in one $4 part, a "dishwasher elbow"
http://i1290.photobucket.com/albums/b538/150kWh/Home%20Brew/7330a146-69b8-4b16-8939-d85362c2a346_zpsf1d13080.jpg
My intention: Hose in (through window), barb + tubing out. No sink mods required.

 

[Wvbrewer77]

Thank for the info... I will have to make one soon...

 

[Ronf]

We buy milk in 1 gal plastic jugs. I fill with water and freeze. I break up the ice with an ice pick thru the wall of the jug and cut open to dump ice into the sink. I've cooled in under 30 min

 

[phillip]

I have the same setup only thing I do different is instead of putting the pre chiller in a ice bath I freeze the pre chiller in a pot of water so it's one solid block of ice. The fastest I've cooled is 18mins but mostly steady at 20min.

 

[Joseph Mead]

I’ve been thinking about doing this for sometime now. Looks pretty easy!