immersion chiller slinky/spacer fix

[Zokfend]

i ordered a 25' immersion chiller from learntobrew.com. the slinkyness is sorta awkward. i was considering buying 14gauge solid copper wire, and sorta thread/twist between each coil, which would space each coil out and also rigidly hold it together. i would do three vertical runs (from top to bottom) at 1/3 points along the diameter. adding the spacing between each coil would allow the wort to pass thru each coil. does that make sense?

i figured as long as i stick with solid copper (unsheathed obviously), i shouldn't have any issues. i picked 14gauge because i can still bend it with my hands, yet it's still pretty stiff. also it's cheap.

what do you all think about this?

 

[ChuckO]

There have been several examples of this posted here. The only difficulty that I see might be in cleaning, there are quite a few more traps for hops at the wires.

 

[starrfish]

shouldn't be a problem I have High temp zip ties on mine. As for cleaning I just hose off when done chilling and boil in wort for last 10-15 min of the boil. that's it.

 

[Zokfend]

As for cleaning I just hose off when done chilling and boil in wort for last 10-15 min of the boil. that's it.

that's kinda what i was thinking. i'm already hosing out my boil pot, tun, etc . . . and i just need to thoroughly hose off the chiller.

i already made the modification late last night, and it ended up working out pretty well. straight from the store, the chiller top coil would only be as high as my 3 gallon mark. after spacing them out, it's now just below the 5 gallon mark. i can also pick up the whole thing from one of the stems, and it's soooo much more rigid.

thanks for the tips, guys (or gals - i can't tell).