I'm fairly new to brewing and have made some capital investment into some decent brewing equipment for 5 gallon batches including a 40 qt stainless kettle, glass carboys, etc. However, having a fabrication and machining background I couldn't stomach paying for something that I could build myself. Also, I was underwhelmed by most of the chillers I saw online. I'm not a big fan of the loose "slinky" feel of most chillers. I understand that they can be stretched or compressed to fit various brew pots and volumes of wort, but I wanted to make a more rigid design to fit my pot. Similar to most designs, I used 1/4" ID (3/8" OD) copper tubing to make the coil but also added an inner coil to increase total coil length and to distribute the cooling surface a to the interior of the pot as well. The coils are soldered (silver solder, no lead) to the inlet and outlet runs to make the chiller rigid. I also added a handle for easier handling.
I also knew that I would likely need a pre chiller coil especially in the summer months when my tap water is warmer. I used a similar strategy to make a pre chiller using 1/2" ID copper to fit a standard 32 qt cooler. Filled the cooler with water and ice (no salt needed) and turned on faucet while very gently swirling the chiller in a circular motion in the boil pot to increase flow across the tubing. Chilled 5.5 gallon batch of boiling wort to room temperature in just under 5 min. Needless to say I was very pleased with the result. If I make some in the future I would replace the wooden handle with a plastic or composite one as it does take on moisture and heat during boiling. Also will likely replace the hose barbs with some type of quick connect but this should be easy as the inlet and outlet tubes have 1/4" NPT threaded fittings.
Sorry about the fuzzy pics.
I also knew that I would likely need a pre chiller coil especially in the summer months when my tap water is warmer. I used a similar strategy to make a pre chiller using 1/2" ID copper to fit a standard 32 qt cooler. Filled the cooler with water and ice (no salt needed) and turned on faucet while very gently swirling the chiller in a circular motion in the boil pot to increase flow across the tubing. Chilled 5.5 gallon batch of boiling wort to room temperature in just under 5 min. Needless to say I was very pleased with the result. If I make some in the future I would replace the wooden handle with a plastic or composite one as it does take on moisture and heat during boiling. Also will likely replace the hose barbs with some type of quick connect but this should be easy as the inlet and outlet tubes have 1/4" NPT threaded fittings.
Sorry about the fuzzy pics.
