Immersion Chiller Tutorial Video

[Bobby_M]

As promised, I finished up the editing on the video showing the IC build that Moonshae and I did this week. It's not groundbreaking by any means, but I thought it would help out some newer brewers.

 

[Hell Brew]

Awesome video like always Bobby!!

 

[98EXL]

I did like your video, very nice chiller, video, and design

 

[Moonshae]

I hope to take the chiller on its maiden run tomorrow!

 

[Bobby_M]

Cool Jay, let me know how much water leaks into your wort. I was lying about knowing how to sweat pipe, I just watched Norm Abrams do it on TV once ;-)

 

[EdWort]

Excellent Video. Great Job as ususal Bobby! I have the Morebeer version of that chiller (paid a bit more too) and it rocks!

I want to modify it to do recirculating & whirlpooling ala Jamil's Chiller.

 

[bf1001]

The video is no longer availble...... aahhww man. Maybe someone saved it so that I can see it. Sure would like to be able to build my own.

 

[Moonshae]

Cool Jay, let me know how much water leaks into your wort. I was lying about knowing how to sweat pipe, I just watched Norm Abrams do it on TV once ;-)

None! It cooled my 5 gal batches to 70 in 5 mins.

 

[tuckferrorists]

i always love your videos bobby. I built replicated your keezer. I'm working on replicating your keggle, and next will either be a CFC or this IC. Great Job!

 

[artyusmc]

thats cool

 

[Bigsnake]

That video makes me want to build a 50ft 1/2" diameter chiller and turn my current chiller into a prechiller.

 

[GearBeer]

Sweet video Bobby! I'm putting in an order for som copper ASAP.
I think you need a director though, it seemed to be shot at crotch level

I'm available and I accept all forms of payment including beer and pizza.

 

[Bobby_M]

That was Jay's first try at cameraman... I let it slide.

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

Or maybe you're just re-evaluating your friendship with Jay?!

JK... good video...

 

[GearBeer]

I thought some people might be interested in some more information on the garden hose fittings. I was unable to find them at the Lowe's closest to my house but I stopped at another Lowe's on my way home from work today and got a pair.

The Watts numbers for these are:
A-491 - Male Garden Hose (3/4") to Hose Barb (5/8")
A-492 - Female Garden Hose (3/4") to Hose Barb (5/8")

I'd advise anyone intending to replicate this to order the 3/8" (1/2" OD) hard copper ahead of time. They only sell it in short (2 ft) lengths at Lowe's/HD (I checked two of each, actually) and it's $7.97 + tax . I did buy it, but I'm going to check a couple local plumbing places tonight.

 

[Bobby_M]

That's why I cut the short straight pieces I needed off the 50 foot coil. Much cheaper.

 

[GearBeer]

Ach so!
I thought you'd said "spare pieces." That doesn't help me with the verticals, but at least I can keep them as tall as possible that way.

 

[Tripod]

Super-cool video how-to.

My next big piece of equipment really needs to be a chiller and I think I'd rather build this one than buy one.

Thank you!

-Tripod

 

[Bobby_M]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Every piece of tubing that went into that chiller was from the larger 50' coil. The long upright, short upright and both horizontals.

 

[FEARDIZ]

Just used my setup works awesome !! Cooled down ~almost 6 Gallons to 75# with 62# water in about 20 minutes

 

[IrregularPulse]

I definitely need to upgrade my chiller. Can decide if I want to convert my 25ft IC to a 50 ft, or buy/make a CFC

 

[Keith Hartley]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Every piece of tubing that went into that chiller was from the larger 50' coil. The long upright, short upright and both horizontals.

Hi Bobby,

How long is the short upright? Looks like around 10".

 

[Bobby_M]

I think 10" is about right

 

[Keith Hartley]

Your video is great. Finished my chiller the other day, can't wait to try it out.
I soaked it in PWB & hot water for a couple of hours & then rinsed it. I read in Palmer' book that you should soak it in vinegar or starsan before the 1st use, not sure if it's straight vinegar or vinegar & water.
Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Bobby_M]

It's definitely a mix in water. I think I used 2 cups of vinager in 5 gallons of water the first time I used mine.

 

[Keith Hartley]

Thanks Bobby,
Did you just soak it or boil it? My brew pot isn't tall enough to cover the whole chiller so boiling is out until I get my keggle built but I could soak it in a 5 gal bucket.

Keith

 

[Bobby_M]

I boiled it for 15 minutes but I'm sure just heating the water up into the mid 100's would be good enough.

 

[Keith Hartley]

Thanks again, I'll give it a try tonight & see how shiny it comes out.

 

[Keith Hartley]

Chiller came out pretty shiny after about a 8hr soak. Used it for the 1st time the other day & it chilled the wort to 70 F in about 20 min.

Thanks for the great vid Bobby

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

Once I got the coil made for my IC, I put it inside my boil kettle. Then I figured out how long to make my uprights coming off the bottom and top of the coil so I could comfortably use the IC. The lengths of the straight pieces don't have to be exact as long as they keep you comfortable and not stooping over to cool...

 

[XXguy]

Thanks for the inspiration. After looking at some guys homebuilt IC on Ebay - he was asking $40 +shipping for a 25 foot of 1/4 inch that looked kind of skimpy - I saw this DIY thread & decided I could make one easily enough by myself. I was in luck because I had a new 50 ft. roll of 3/8 tubing laying in the basement still coiled up from a previous AC condensor replacement, so my cost if I screwed it up was going to be nil.

Not all of us have a spare Cornelius keg laying around - or an extra set of hands at 9PM, so I took the basic idea & modded it up a little bit. I found an empty 1 gallon paint can - and shot 3 drywall screws through the bottom of it onto my wooden workbench.

Now I had a nice steady platform to work from - so I uncoiled about 24" from the big round coil - straightened it out a little bit & then used a pair of vice grips with soft jaws to clamp it to the workbench. I was then able to wrap around the paint can "Form" by just feeding the loop around the can & following itself up the side of the can, same as the video.

Once I got to the place where the carry strap was attached to the paint pail, I figured I only had about 20 foot of coil left - so I cut the rest & then bent the ends up & tied them with some copper wire. I used 3/8 copper coil - and it was easy enough to bend by hand that I didn't need to worry about making any solder joints. I used the plastic sink hose from a "Pet shampooer" and a hose clamp. The free end of the copper was easy enough to bend down so it shoots right into the drain on the other side of my double sink.

I did a test run & took 2 1/2 gallons boiling water down to 75 degrees in a little over 5 minutes. My tap water runs about 55 degrees. I plan to double up with an ice bath on the outside (just like I was doing before) while running tap water through the Immersion Chiller.

Total time invested - about 1 hour of actual "build" time - and another 2 hours of cleaning, scrubbing, testing & searching for stuff - then going back & posing some photos to show how I did it. I'm going to soak the IC overnight now in a vinegar & water solution & try it out this coming weekend.

-XX

 

[TonySwank]

I know this thread is a little old but I wanted to post my finished product since I basically copied everything that Bobby did on here.

Prior to this project I had no experience soldering copper, just electronics. After a couple of tries I figured it out the the majority of the joints came together quite easily. The worst part was trying to track down the elbows, apparently there was a run on them at the 3 closest home improvement stores. Kinda annoying driving around for 2 1/2 hours for some two dollar parts.

Soldering is a little ugly but no leaks. Can't post pictures yet so here is the link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11893611@N06/4341780672/in/photostream/

Used it last weekend and took 3 gallons down to 70 degrees in under 5 minutes. Granted it was about as cold in Houston as it's ever been, but compared to my 30+ minute ice baths it was amazing.

Thanks so much for the great tutorial.

 

[BoogieBrandBooze]

nice...I just built my "Bobby M" chiller yesterday...didn't have a keg or anything larger than a waste paper basket to coil the copper so it's not as pretty as I'd like it to be but then again neither am I...no leaks either...Should be breaking it in this weekend.

Funny thing though...I got both of the hose fittings at Ace (North Brunswick, NJ location is closing BTW for all you local folks...could get some good deals)...both were 5/8 but one of them slipped on the tubing just fine while the other required drilling it out to 1/2" as Bobby mentioned in the video...drilling that thing without a vice was a bitch but it worked...and at least I only had to drill one of them...

Thanks Bobby!

 

[Espi]

well, i suck at life pretty much... my IC sucks, yours rules!

i wish i had watched this before making the mangled mess of a chiller i threw together.

 

[Bobby_M]

No worries man, if it doesn't leak and it DOES chill wort, good enough.

 

[BoogieBrandBooze]

Used mine for the first time yesterday and got the wort down to 65 in under 10 minutes...beats the snot out of my sink-full-of-ice-water method...

 

[crypt0]

Excellent video bobby, as always. I've got all the materials for building the bobby m chiller and will probably get around to it early next week. Question though - what all did you guys do to clean your chillers before first use in wort?

I've read soaking in vinegar, but what about scrubbing it down beforehand? Will dish soap do the job or should i use something stronger?

 

[Bobby_M]

Sure, you can do an oxyclean soak or scrub it down with dish soap and a brush. The vinegar or starsan soak is a way of getting it to really shine.

 

[crypt0]

So I got most of my chiller built yesterday. I am having a couple issues though.

1) My 3/8" fittings actually fit OVER the copper refrigeration tube not underneath as I was expecting. The sauldered joints seem to be holding and aren't leaking, hoever.

2) I bought 1/2" male + female brass hose couiplings and they seem to slide right over top of the copper pipe without drilling, and actually fit quite loose. I'm going to head back to Canadian Tire and try to find smaller garden hose couplings. I'd rather drill them out a bit for a snug fit then take a chance with something as loose as these fittings were.

It almost seems like I bought 3/8" tubing but I double checked the packaging and it definitely says 1/2....

 

[Bobby_M]

The confusion has to be the fact that soft copper refrigeration tubing is named for it's OD. In other words, 1/2" really means 1/2".

I think the hose barb issue is related to the fact they are sized for the hose ID they are supposed to slide into. The ID is manufacturer specific. It's probably best to hack off a short piece of your tubing and go to the store with it.