Looking for a CHILLER

[AnneRich]

Hi! i just get into brewing and looking for a chiller. any links or suggestions would be appreciated. thanks

 

[dsaavedra]

Go to home depot and buy 20 feet of 3/8" copper refrigerator tubing, 10' of 3/8" vinyl tubing, 3 hose clamps, and a garden hose adapter. Should run you about $30 (half of what a commercial chiller will cost). Just wrap the copper tubing around something round (I used a paint can), carefully bend the ends, cut the vinyl tubing in half, secure to the ends of the copper tubing with hose clamps, and secure the garden hose adapter to the other end of one of the vinyl tubes with the third hose clamp.

 

[strangebrew14]

I am all for the DIY projects with home brewing but I got a wild hair and decided I had the cash so I went with NB stainless steel immersion chiller. For the 5 gal batches I do I can go from boiling to pitching temps in about 20-25mins. I also like to use 5 gals of ice water and a small fountain pump to push through coil. I do need about 1-2 gals after the initial 5 but works for me as I don't have water yet in my brew shop.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

What dsaavedra said. There is no reason to buy a copper chiller, if your dead set on stainless then buying is your best bet but copper is a better heat conductor anyways..

You can probably bang out a chiller in 30 minutes.

 

[Slainte-brew]

dsaavedra +2. Make your own. It doesnt take a ton of time and is fairly easy. Just make sure you wrap around something so you dont get a kink, a paint can gas or air tank, etc. I would also pick up an garden hose to kitchen faucet adapter if you brew inside. I went a bit overboard and soldered on connects, but it works great.

If you do want to buy one look at the big online home brew sites: Midwest, Northern Brewer, Austin homebrew, etc. They seem to have a large variety and I think the pricing isnt too bad.

 

[freisste]

Also if you make one leave enough copper tube so that the connection to the hose is OUTSIDE the boil kettle. The hose clamps work pretty well, but after a couple hot/cold cycles they tend to leak a little. Keep an eye on them and keep the leaks outside of your kettle.

Compression fittings are nice, but they will add up to probably 1/3-1/2 of the cost by the time you're done with it.

 

[um2uva]

For $39 (shipping not included) you can look at this one.

http://www.homebrewing.org/25-38-Economy-Copper-Wort-Chiller_p_2734.html

Think the hose fittings aren't what you'd get from higher end chillers, but it's received great reviews for a beginners chiller.


:rockin:

 

[Slainte-brew]

Agree with freisette, if you have enough tubing make sure you bend the copper tubing over and down so it goes past and below the lip of your pot. You dont want 1 drop of water from inside the chiller to make you paranoid for a week, or worse yet actually ruin a batch.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Nice stainless chiller 50', 3/8" for $83 shipped
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Super-E...599?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item439a3b0757

or

Nice copper chiller, 50', 3/8" for $86 shipped.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Effic...634?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f72d2222

Compared to building one...

50' 3/8" copper tubing at HD, $51.45 plus tax, say $55.00, plus $10 - $20 for fittings and tubing, so DIY cost is $65 to $75?
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...t-Refrigeration-Coil-Pipe-D-06050PS/202287109

Not much room to save $$, roughly $10-$20 unless you can find a deal on the materials...just sayin!

 

[dsaavedra]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention, you will probably need a kitchen sink to garden hose adapter as well if you brew inside (you may even need one with a commercial chiller?). This slipped my mind because I brew indoors but use a utility sink with a threaded faucet for my wort chiller... the garden hose-3/8" adapter screws right on it.

 

[Erbun]

Take into consideration too your water availability/temperature. I live in South Florida and just made a chiller with the parts listed from Home Depot this past weekend and tried it out, took me about 2 1/2 hours to go from boil to anywhere near temps low enough to start transfer (I gave up at about 80 degrees, just letting it sit for 15-20 minutes before pitching).

My planned solution before next brew day is to either make a second, or order 50' of copper (20' just doesn't seem like enough for 5 gallons) and put them in series with one of them sitting in a cooler of ice water to chill the water before running through the brew pot.

 

[AnneRich]

Thank you for the replies.
I did some readings, and I've learned a bit about the different types. I'm not necessarily trying to be cheap because I want to just "do it right" from the start, especially in case I want to go bigger if I will like it. I was reading about using a plate heat exchanger instead of a coil.
What are your opinions on using one or the other? Pls help. Thanks

 

[freisste]

If you're thinking about going more complicated than an immersion chiller, keep a counterflow chiller in mind. I built this one and I'm not particularly handy (but I CAN solder):

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/counterflow-chiller-tutorial-51793/

 

[plankbr]

NYBrewsupply has prices that are hard to compete with DIY for SS Chillers. I bought a 50' IC and love it!