My DIY wort chiller... How'd I do?

[dakotabear]

Poked around here, and decided to build over buy.

Had a 10% off Home Depot coupon, so I picked up a 50' coil of tubing. I didn't have anything the right size to coil around, so I did it by hand. An hour later, with throbbing hands, I was done.

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5828/photoxkp.jpg

I boiled it with vinegar for an hour, scrubbed it down. Then I ran warm soapy water through it... Found no leaks.

I did a test boil, and it cooled the water from boiling to 70º in about 8 mins. My faucet water temp is 55º.

Not the prettiest thing... I may add some elbows later, but how is it functionally? What can I do to improve? Thanks.

 

[BadgerBrewer]

The fact that it works well is the #1 thing! Plus you made it which also lends itself to brewery pride. Well done!

 

[camiller]

The only immediate suggestion I would have would be to bend the ends downward slightly so that in the unlikely even of a leak at the hose clamps the water would tend to run away from the kettle. As it is a leak would tend to follow the copper down into the kettle.

Here is mine:

 

[SevenFields]

Very nice, what was the total cost?

 

[dakotabear]

The only immediate suggestion I would have would be to bend the ends downward slightly so that in the unlikely even of a leak at the hose clamps the water would tend to run away from the kettle.

Excellent point. It's a little more horizontal than the picture looks. I will try to bend it down a little more.

Very nice, what was the total cost?

$37 - 50' 3/8 OD Copper Tubing
$07 - 25' 5/8 OD Woven Food Grade Tubing
$04 - Hose Connecter w/ Hose Barb.
$00 - 3 Stainless Hose Clamps (I had these on hand)
---------------------------
$48 - Total... Thats less than 1/2 the price of 50' commercial ones.


Is 210ish to 70 in 8 mins a good time?

 

[thedude00]

Bro it looks good . You did a good job by hand.

 

[Maltose]

yeah props on doing it by hand, must have been at PITA keeping them as straight as you did.

 

[dakotabear]

yeah props on doing it by hand, must have been at PITA keeping them as straight as you did.

It was not nearly as bad as I thought... after I made the initial bottom loop, I was able to hold onto that to form the subsequent loops going up. I thought it would be a mangled mess, but the outer loop looks very uniform (moreso then some of the ones I saw at my LHBS)... the inner coil not so much, because I couldn't get my hands in there very easily.

I think the inner coil helps the cooling efficiency. I'm glad I did that over an elbow.

 

[liveadv]

just brewed my second batch. made a homemade wort chiller. hooked up a pump to it and pumped ice water through it. from 212deg to 70deg in 15 minutes. very pleased!