Finally Made a Chiller

[bmud0314]

Well I finally did it. The last few times I cooled worked out well but thats because I had an endless supply of snow for the water bath. Its spring now, so cooling is going to get tougher (like last summer). Total build time: maybe 30 min. Man, it was easy. It is 3/8 ID X 50 ft. Will try it out on a SMaSH tomorrow (Vienna/Norther Brewer). Hope it goes well.

 

[ChoochNW]

Looks good! One of the best and easiest DIY investments for home brewing. So much easier and quicker than the ice bath. That 50' should cool the wort in no time, I made one out of 25' (3/8") and it takes about 15 min to get the wort down to 70 degrees.

 

[Chase22]

What did you wrap it around?

 

[Montanaandy]

What did you wrap it around?

You might want tom wrap it a bit tighter (use a corny keg). I have a 50' 3/8" chiller and it barely fits my 10 gal Polar.

 

[bmud0314]

I wrapped around my bottling bucket. I wanted a wider loop because my 10 gal is rather wide making 5 gallon batches shallow. I didn't want it too narrow, and therefore tall, so it would stick up above the wort level, making that extra copper a waste. It does fit in my pot too, I made sure of that.

 

[Ace_Club]

Looks good, the only suggestion I would make is to put it in your kettle and then bend the input and output branches so that the connection points are not above the kettle. That way if there is a leak at the connection, it will drip outside the kettle and not into your wort.

 

[Yukon_Skiers]

When I went to home depot to make mine, all they had was 25' and it works just fine. The 50' should be great. well done!


Just don't get too tipsy while brewing and step on it like i did with mine on wednesday. Luckily, no kinks.

 

[bmud0314]

I have been planning on bending the input/output (that was too much extra work that night, dont want to over do it you know). Thanks for the reminder!

 

[aggiejay06]

Nicely done! You just made your life a lot easier!

 

[bmud0314]

Holy crap you are not kidding. I just put the airlock on (11:30). I am not the exact time I started, but my guess is around 7:45 because I finally rolled out of bed at 7:30. So, 3 hr 45 stovetop all grain in the fermenter.

Oh yeah, the actual cool time: It took *11 min* to get from boiling to 67. My tap water is currently 45 degrees. I am very happy. :rockin:

One last thing. To go along with another current thread I saved all my cooling water. The hottest stuff got split in between two dish pans because I need to wash the dishes. I then saved a couple gallons to help clean up the boil kettle. The last water I used (once it got cool enough) went in to the carboy to mix with star san. No water wasted.

 

[rico567]

Looks good, the only suggestion I would make is to put it in your kettle and then bend the input and output branches so that the connection points are not above the kettle. That way if there is a leak at the connection, it will drip outside the kettle and not into your wort.

This is a VERY good suggestion. Bent out, and down. Ask me how I know....

 

[Conan]

I like it-simpler than soldering connections on. My suggestion, related to the 'bend out and down', is to aim your soft hose connections, especially the out. Once warmed up my out hose collapses on itself very easily. I may and a second 90 elbow to aim the hose down, towards the drain.

Makes life easier, doesn't it? Kyle