home-built immersion wort chiller

[JLem]

I know this has been done a billion times before, but I just wanted to share the newest addition to my brew set-up. I got all the parts at Lowe's for a grand total of $27.09 (excluding tax).

20' of 1/4" (ID) x 3/8" (OD) flexible copper tubing - $15.01
10' of vinyl tubing - $3.68
2 hose clamps - $0.97
faucet adapter - $7.43

I used an asparagus steamer to help coil the copper.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

Pretty cool, let us know how she works

 

[Hophazard]

Awesome. I think you just inspired me to stop by Lowes/HD before brewing tomorrow.

 

[Hugh_Jass]

Looks great.

Maybe consider bending the ends of the IC toward the outside. When the flexible tubing gets hot, it may kink and restrict water flow. Overall, nice clean job.

 

[jldc]

Looks great.

Maybe consider bending the ends of the IC toward the outside. When the flexible tubing gets hot, it may kink and restrict water flow. Overall, nice clean job.

Or melt. Don't ask me how I know this. I also think it's worthwhile to put two tubing clamps on each end of the IC.

 

[Kuglehaus]

+1 on melt... get that tubing 1 ft away from the pot and you can forget worrying about drip or melting...

 

[JLem]

hmmm....never considered melting...I'll see what I can do about that - thanks for the head's up. I'll go splurge for another set of clamps too. Can't wait to try this baby out!

 

[Kuglehaus]

by the way, you have one hell of a camera, those might be the nicest pics I've seen on the site.

 

[JLem]

by the way, you have one hell of a camera, those might be the nicest pics I've seen on the site.

Thanks. Before I began brewing beer, photography was my favorite hobby

 

[MikeG]

Very nice, thank for posting. Definitely let us know how it turns out.

 

[dontman]

To reinforce what everyone else has been saying. You NEED to get the copper out of the pot. You need about 8 more inches of copper on each end to reach the top of the pot plus 4 inches to turn at a right angle out of it. Do this before you try it out for real.

The very hot wort will soften that tubing to the point where you can get drips around the edges and the last thing you want is for any hosewater at all dripping into your wort.

Also as it cools you will need to move the coil around inside the pot to circulate the wort. The bent copper at the top will serve as handles for this purpose. The last reason is that if you have a total mishap where the tubing falls off while hosewater is running through it your batch can survive.

 

[Jkane101]

Looks great! I'm about to make one myself which leads me to a question. What did everyone do to make thier new copper IC ready for the first use. How did you clean\prep it?

 

[kirscp]

From the pic, it looks like it is a mini IC, looks to be 4" tall.

Like others have said, bend then end of the tubes or the HOT water will cause the hoses to get very pliable and kink off.

I just washed mine, no other prepping.

 

[SeeGeeBee]

noticed you went with the 1/4" instead of the usual 3/8". Is there a reason why? Which is more efficient in cooling? I plan on doing full 5gal boils. I just got back from Lowe's with 20' of 3/8".

 

[davebl]

by the way, you have one hell of a camera, those might be the nicest pics I've seen on the site.

I was just thinking that.


What kind of camera are you using?

 

[Tech211]

To reinforce the other comments, good pictures. I would go one step beyond just getting the vinyl outside of the pot. I went with silicone tubing eventually. The vinyl will get nasty around boiling liquid. There are no two ways about it.

 

[pen25]

solder some hose fittings on the ends and do away with the tubing and clamps..

 

[wilserbrewer]

I would add to keep tightening your hose clamps after the first few uses as they will tend to leak from the softening of the hot water. In the future, i would try using undersize hose and warming it to get on the chiller.

 

[harley03]

Nice job! I am sure it will work just fine

 

[JLem]

From the pic, it looks like it is a mini IC, looks to be 4" tall.

Like others have said, bend then end of the tubes or the HOT water will cause the hoses to get very pliable and kink off.

I just washed mine, no other prepping.

Don't let the wide-angle lens fool you - this is closer to 10" tall. I only do partial mashes with partial boils, so it is big enough for my set-up.

 

[JLem]

I was just thinking that.


What kind of camera are you using?

here, I used the Pentax K100D - a 6.1 MP DSLR

 

[JLem]

Just wanted to update everyone. I used the chiller for the first time today and it worked like a charm - took 2.5 gallons of wort down to 90 degrees in about 10 minutes (maybe 15 - I forgot to time it). The size was perfect for my pot too - the vinyl tubing was out of the wort (the lower side, just barely, but it was out). Nothing leaked either!

 

[BrewBeemer]

Or melt. Don't ask me how I know this. I also think it's worthwhile to put two tubing clamps on each end of the IC.

Just use a metal tubing set for double flares and use only the first step in making a double flare to make the bulb in the copper tubing preventing your flexible hose from coming off.
The bulb at the copper IC ends will then look and operate like your radiator stub ends on your cars radiator. It's there for a reason, a simple fix. Other issues about longer copper away from the heat should also be applied for a hot kink free hose system.

 

[ArizonaDB]

Great tutorial JLem! I might just have to make one of these now! Great photos too, the DoF you used really makes the chiller pop out of the photo.

Dustin
Flagstaff Daily Photo
Flagstaff Daily Photo

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Nice and easy. Thanks for posting. I'm going to take my old CFC and convert it to IC and do something like this.

 

[spin02]

here, I used the Pentax K100D - a 6.1 MP DSLR

What lens did you use?

 

[JLem]

What lens did you use?

Sigma 24mm f/1.8 EX DG Macro

 

[aeonderdonk]

Looks like a nice chiller. I'm thinking of building one too and will use some of your plans.

 

[dpeanut7]

Bought the supplies for this build last night. Going to put it together tomorrow, I'll try to incorporate everyone's comments.

pics on Saturday

 

[dpeanut7]

What do you guys think, do you think it would be better to run the exit tube through the inside of the chiller instead of on the outside like in this build? I'm sure it doesn't matter, just seeing what the general consensus is. I feel like going through the internal the chiller could be closer to the perimiter, heating the outside wort, allowing you to whirlpool on the inside.