Immersion Chiller Calculator

[stpug]

I'm looking at coiling up some copper I recently picked up at the HD clearance sale and thought I'd quickly put something together to help myself dial-in the coil height, uprights, bends, width, etc. I **think** this works fairly well and thought I'd pass it along. If there are any glaring mistakes, please let me know. It's not protected in any way so feel free to make changes as you wish. (I aimed for that all familiar look of Bru'N Water ).

The Excel spreadsheets can be downloaded below (pick whichever format best suits your needs; xls/xlsx). You will need to remove the bsm/bsmx extension so that your computer recognizes them as Excel documents. Sorry, I couldn't figure an easier way to provide them

View attachment ChillerCalculator.xls.bsm

View attachment ChillerCalculator.xlsx.bsmx

 

[revansCAAD8]

Neato! Thanks for sharing it! I too got in on the HD copper sale and was looking for a calculator for my IC build! I have only played with it for a few minutes but so far looks to work very well. My only request would be to have an option for multiple coils, as I plan to build a dual (inner & outer) coil chiller. ie. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/what-have-you-built-hd-copper-tubing-442814/
Also plan to solder/sweat elbows/t's instead of 'bends'.

Thanks again!
Robert

 

[stpug]

Neato! Thanks for sharing it! I too got in on the HD copper sale and was looking for a calculator for my IC build! I have only played with it for a few minutes but so far looks to work very well. My only request would be to have an option for multiple coils, as I plan to build a dual (inner & outer) coil chiller. ie. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/what-have-you-built-hd-copper-tubing-442814/
Also plan to solder/sweat elbows/t's instead of 'bends'.

Thanks again!
Robert

You're very welcome! I actually intended on adding a dual-coil worksheet to the document but haven't had time to play with it much more (nor the time to wrap my head around the dual-coil ins-and-outs). However, it's looking like I might need to do a dual coil as well because the full 50' is likely to stick out of my wort height, so I might be getting to that sooner than later. I'll post back on any updates.

Cheers!

 

[revansCAAD8]

Update: Used your program to calculate the lengths for each coil and worked perfectly! This was using our 1/2" ID x 60ft (5/8" OD) copper. Only had a 1 ft left but that was because I wanted the riser to line up. Thanks a bunch!
Robert

 

[stpug]

WOW! You've done an awesome job with your chiller!! I can only hope to come close to that quality - but I WILL try

 

[ultravista]

What are you coiling around for the inner/outer coils? They look so damned perfect ...

 

[Justdrumin]

What are you coiling around for the inner/outer coils? They look so damned perfect ...

Yes!! +1 on this one! What did you use?!? I'll be making mine soon as well using the same 60ft 1/2" ID.

 

[revansCAAD8]

Thanks! This was my first chiller build and first time sweating/soldering copper. Here are a few tips...

1) Make sure you have a second person with you! The boss lady was a huge help as there was times I would hold the coil/keg from moving while she & I pushed/pulled the copper around. Smooth it around. Like smoothing out a wrinkle in a rug. I am still sore from coiling day! LOL

2) Per another post I saw: Grab about 2-3 feet out onto the feeding line and bend it PAST the cylinder I'm wrapping it around to produce a smooth curve. Several small, intermediate bends is what will mess up the copper. Just patience and a little practice. Diagram here: Bending Copper

3) Our 1/2 ID (5/8 OD) x 60ft roll came coiled in a flat single layer starting from the center out; unlike a 1/2 OD x 50ft roll we also bought that came coiled with two layers and with both cut ends on the outside of the coil. This made it easier to simply put our small 2.5G keg (full) in the middle and start coiling it around it for the inside dual coil (8.75in). We used a larger pot for the outside dual coil (10.75in) using the same method above although coiled in the opposite direction.

4) You can find the center of the roll by filling in the appropriate info for that inside or outside coil and entering HALF the roll length (ie. 25ft for the 50ft roll; 30ft for the 60ft roll) into the OP's calculator. The coil to that 'Number of coils' and then cut. You then start the other coil in the opposite direction for the dual.

Hope this helps,
Robert
GypsyBrew

 

[Justdrumin]

Thanks! This was my first chiller build and first time sweating/soldering copper. Here are a few tips...

1) Make sure you have a second person with you! The boss lady was a huge help as there was times I would hold the coil/keg from moving while she & I pushed/pulled the copper around. Smooth it around. Like smoothing out a wrinkle in a rug. I am still sore from coiling day! LOL

2) Per another post I saw: Grab about 2-3 feet out onto the feeding line and bend it PAST the cylinder I'm wrapping it around to produce a smooth curve. Several small, intermediate bends is what will mess up the copper. Just patience and a little practice. Diagram here: Bending Copper

3) Our 1/2 ID (5/8 OD) x 60ft roll came coiled in a flat single layer starting from the center out; unlike a 1/2 OD x 50ft roll we also bought that came coiled with two layers and with both cut ends on the outside of the coil. This made it easier to simply put our small 2.5G keg (full) in the middle and start coiling it around it for the inside dual coil (8.75in). We used a larger pot for the outside dual coil (10.75in) using the same method above although coiled in the opposite direction.

4) You can find the center of the roll by filling in the appropriate info for that inside or outside coil and entering HALF the roll length (ie. 25ft for the 50ft roll; 30ft for the 60ft roll) into the OP's calculator. The coil to that 'Number of coils' and then cut. You then start the other coil in the opposite direction for the dual.

Hope this helps,
Robert
GypsyBrew

By this you mean the calc will tell you how many times to wrap around the chosen object to achieve half of the roll? Sorry, I just want to get this right the first time. Especially since I bought my roll on the HD clearance special and they're now all out of them.

Edit: I consider myself tech savvy, but I can't seem to open your link. I assume you right click and save as, but when I do that and click the drop down menu to change the file type my only option is the bsm format. Am I doing something wrong here?

 

[revansCAAD8]

By this you mean the calc will tell you how many times to wrap around the chosen object to achieve half of the roll? Sorry, I just want to get this right the first time. Especially since I bought my roll on the HD clearance special and they're now all out of them.

Assuming you are planning to build a DUAL coil chiller like I did, yes. Mine resulted in 10.03 coils for my outside coil; 12.36 coils for my inside coil. But you must enter all your information correctly for it to give accurate results! You would run a separate calculator for EACH coil!! So since you said you are using a 60ft roll, you would enter 30ft for the Max Length (unless using some of the copper for your risers, see blow). If you are using 1/2" ID (5/8OD), then you would enter 0.625 for the copper diameter. I didn't enter 'Number of Bends' because I used separate strait pipe for my inlet/outlet risers. When your picking the pot/keg/tube that your going to wrap/coil it around, make sure you are accounting for the copper diameter especially for the outer coil that it will fit in your boil kettle as remember it will be like 1 1/4" (5/8 x 5/8) larger diameter). If you enter the data right, it should tell you anyway (ie. my one of my coils: 'Chiller Inner Dia.' was 10.75" which made it 12" 'Chiller Outer Dia').
The rest of the calculator just verifies if it would fit and/or if the would be submerged below the wort level.

I didn't write the calculator or have any connection to the OP. I only used it to build mine and worked great for me! Take you time, check and verify before doing anything and it will work out great for you. I have now built 2 dual coil chillers with it, Thanks again stpug!

Hope this helps,
Robert

 

[revansCAAD8]

Edit: I consider myself tech savvy, but I can't seem to open your link. I assume you right click and save as, but when I do that and click the drop down menu to change the file type my only option is the bsm format. Am I doing something wrong here?

Just save the file to your system and Then simply remove the '.bsm or .bsmx' on the end file name.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

You "math whizzes" and "Tech Nerds" blow my mind with all these calculations and arduino controllers and all that other happy stuff!......I mean that in a nice way, for I am still on the "information dirt road"!

 

[Justdrumin]

Assuming you are planning to build a DUAL coil chiller like I did, yes. Mine resulted in 10.03 coils for my outside coil; 12.36 coils for my inside coil. But you must enter all your information correctly for it to give accurate results! You would run a separate calculator for EACH coil!! So since you said you are using a 60ft roll, you would enter 30ft for the Max Length (unless using some of the copper for your risers, see blow). If you are using 1/2" ID (5/8OD), then you would enter 0.625 for the copper diameter. I didn't enter 'Number of Bends' because I used separate strait pipe for my inlet/outlet risers. When your picking the pot/keg/tube that your going to wrap/coil it around, make sure you are accounting for the copper diameter especially for the outer coil that it will fit in your boil kettle as remember it will be like 1 1/4" (5/8 x 5/8) larger diameter). If you enter the data right, it should tell you anyway (ie. my one of my coils: 'Chiller Inner Dia.' was 10.75" which made it 12" 'Chiller Outer Dia').
The rest of the calculator just verifies if it would fit and/or if the would be submerged below the wort level.

I didn't write the calculator or have any connection to the OP. I only used it to build mine and worked great for me! Take you time, check and verify before doing anything and it will work out great for you. I have now built 2 dual coil chillers with it, Thanks again stpug!

Hope this helps,
Robert

Awesome!! Thanks a ton!! I guess once I figure out how to open this file type I'll be on my way to making an awesome chiller like yours. I indeed do have the 60' 1/2" ID and I will be making a dual coil using T's and 90* fittings as well as separate pieces for risers.

Edit: I got it all worked out. This calc is great! I do have a question though. Does the part where it tells you if the chiller will be above the wort volume take the displacement of the chiller in the kettle into account? Wouldn't the chiller raise the wort level a bit when it's placed in the kettle?

 

[stpug]

Edit: I got it all worked out. This calc is great! I do have a question though. Does the part where it tells you if the chiller will be above the wort volume take the displacement of the chiller in the kettle into account? Wouldn't the chiller raise the wort level a bit when it's placed in the kettle?

Good observation and question. No, it does not take the displacement into account necessarily, however if you know what height the wort will be with displacement then you can simply enter that as your wort height. I'll keep this in mind for if I ever update this and make it a bit more robust.

 

[logdrum]

Awesome Calc stpug! I look forward to contructing my chiller!

 

[Justdrumin]

Good observation and question. No, it does not take the displacement into account necessarily, however if you know what height the wort will be with displacement then you can simply enter that as your wort height. I'll keep this in mind for if I ever update this and make it a bit more robust.

I was just curious. Great calculator though!! Well done sir. I sure as heck couldn't make it. I personally think this is sticky worthy. Especially if you add a dual coil to it. Although there are a lot of variables such as, using a separate piece for risers and using a 90 or T fitting, etc. This will help me IMMENSELY when I finally get around to making my 60' 5/8" chiller. Kinda overkill for my 5 gallon batches but at $37 with tax...why not!! :rockin: