Floppy wort chiller

[Carrollyn]

I made a copper wort chiller out of 50' 3/8" soft copper tubing. I've been using it, but my problem that is finally annoying me enough to either fix it or buy one is that it is floppy. Especially when it gets full of water, the coils just collapse down and sort of pile up. I can lift and jiggle it to make it work better, but the majority of the coil just hangs out on the bottom of the kettle. Suggestions?

 

[hezagenius]

Got a pic of it?

I made one out of 50' of 1/2" OD copper pipe. You need to wrap it good and tight around something like a paint can or a corney keg or something with about 10-12" diameter. Then what I did was solder 90 degree elbows on each end of the coil and I added vertical riser pipes. Then another set of 90 degree elbows at the top of the riser pipes that have the fittings to hook up the water in and out.

And to make it very stable, I added some clamps on the riser pipes. It's pretty solid now, even when full of water.

Post #3 in this thread shows what mine looks like.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=540770

 

[Carrollyn]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1445871835.514724.jpg
I'm sure that if I had 1/2 copper, my issues would be different. Once the tubing gets full of water you can see that it would just falls down. I can form it back up, but why bother? I don't have much trouble with the uprights, but I do need to secure them together.

 

[Genghis]

Use some solid (not stranded) bare copper wire to tie the coils together. Leave some space between the coils so the wort can flow freely between them.

Kind of like this:

 

[Carrollyn]

Whqt gauge wire?

 

[Genghis]

12 or 14. 14 would be easier, but 12 would be more stable.

 

[heckels]

Not sure if you're handy with solder but you can just as easily solder single strands of 12 ga wire across the coils or solder something like this to really give it some rigidity. http://www.menards.com/main/p-1444442677750-c-19446.htm?freeFormRowId=

 

[Carrollyn]

What about the metal that the solder is. Would that not be good for being in the wort?

 

[thereverendmaynard]

I would probably not solder and just use the 14ga wire that Genghis mentioned. Will do the trick with no worries about lead.

 

[heckels]

What about the metal that the solder is. Would that not be good for being in the wort?

Most of the big box stores carry silver (lead-free) solder for sweating copper in the plumbing section. No worries with that.

My only issue with the twisted copper wire is that it's tough to thoroughly clean. Leaves places for nastiest to hide and contaminate your chilling wort.

 

[augiedoggy]

What about the metal that the solder is. Would that not be good for being in the wort?

The copper is more toxic than the solder sold in stores today...its all lead free or extremely low in lead content like all the brass now being sold for plumbing use.
The short contact time the copper chiller has with the beer makes it ok but there is a good reason bare copper utensils and pots/pans are not allowed to be sold in the united states or Canada for use with cooking. You will find that all modern copper pots are lined with either stainless or Tin which is basically solder...
all modern copper brewing kettles used in the breweries are now lined with stainless on the inside as well even stella artois has abandon the use of copper in their breweries. Copper dissolves in acidic liquid. A little is ok but too much is toxic over time since your body can not get rid of it easily.

I believe the yeast consume the copper but Im not sure how much is left in the beer after fermentation is complete... obviously not enough to be a concern but for those who may leave the copper chiller in the boil kettle for the full boil there may be some concerns if you brew and consume a lot of this brew..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_toxicity

 

[mbbransc]

I did what Genghis did. I had some spare romax cable I used, whatever gauge that is.

 

[Jiffster]

Here's my 3/8" 60 footer.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446666976.546670.jpg

 

[helterscelter]

My only issue with the twisted copper wire is that it's tough to thoroughly clean. Leaves places for nastiest to hide and contaminate your chilling wort.

if cleaned right after use, (mostly just a thorough rinse), then when you place the chiller in the kettle (approx 10 minutes) prior to flame-out , the boiling wort will sanitize the whole thing -- wire, coil, nooks and crannies.. all of it.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Like anything else afflicted by gravity and weight, you gotta provide some underwire support to keep them from going floppy.

 

[thereverendmaynard]

Here's my 3/8" 60 footer.

View attachment 313878

Wow. Im an idiot. I have been wondering how to connect my immersion chiller to my faucet... then I see your picture! THANKS!

 

[Jiffster]

Wow. Im an idiot. I have been wondering how to connect my immersion chiller to my faucet... then I see your picture! THANKS!

I use a cooler with water and frozen gallon jugs along with that pond pump on brew day.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446687354.863005.jpg

This was my test video after building it.

http://youtu.be/0GKcHMplv1M

 

[Carrollyn]

Thanks for all the advice! I would like to have soldered it to a bar, but I needed to do something quicker so I tried the wire idea. I bought about a dozen feet of 12g copper wire and wove and twisted it up along the coils at the vertical section and directly across from it. It seems very stable with about a half inch or so between coils. I think it will work well!