DIY Wort Chiller

[MedicMike]

Hello everyone. Quick question. I'm working on a DIY wort chiller. It's roughly 23' of 1/2" copper tubing with garden hose connections on the ends. All soldered connections. It fits perfectly in my 5 gallon brew pot. It should also be able to expand it to fit a bigger kettle if needed.

It's pretty much done, except I have a few questions.

What kind of hose should I use to connect it to the sink? Would 6 foot washing machine hoses work?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. I'll post pics when it's all done.

MM

 

[hopheaded]

when i made mine i had the hose end be able to hook up to a standard garden hose faucet, and then bought an adapter that could be attached to sink.
my tubing was thinner than your 1/2'' so i just bought some of the clear tubing from the local hardware store to run off of it and have everything attach to. i connected the tubing to the copper with two simple o ring clamps on each end.
worked great and it was nice to be able to attach it both outdoors and to a sink faucet

 

[MedicMike]

Thanks Hopheaded. I was actually thinking about ordering some stuff from Midwest Supplies. They have the high temp tubing and fitting anyway. Here is the final build photos. It's 11" high at the top of the coil and 10" across. It should work pretty well. Not too bad for my first attempt.

 

[mcnewcp]

I also did a DIY wort chiller and I must say, this looks a million times better than mine.

 

[hopheaded]

way prettier than mine was.

 

[jr14]

Holy smokes. That looks snazzy.

 

[MrZ2U]

Mine is a 3/8 tube chiller and I run the simple clear plastic tubing on both in and out with NO issues from the temp. Its not that hot and not for long either. Plain old garden hose is all you need running in and for running out of the chiller...I say plain old garden hose again. The basic tubing I use can take it...cannot imagine garden hose would have any problems.

If you are really concerned get a water heater hose for the output or get a few feet of automotive heater hose and put a garden hose fitting on the one end...that will definitely take any heat you will throw at it.

 

[Frenchy]

Any sugestions what to use to bend the soft copper around to get a consistent spiral, and keep from kinking the tube?

 

[krazydave]

Any sugestions what to use to bend the soft copper around to get a consistent spiral, and keep from kinking the tube?

I wrapped mine around a corny keg. Turned out pretty good and didn't kink.

 

[hopheaded]

Any sugestions what to use to bend the soft copper around to get a consistent spiral, and keep from kinking the tube?

I used a paint bucket...so long as you go slow it shouldn't kink. If it does just use some plyers to pinch in out.