My new CCWC!!!!

[Grimsawyer]

Ok, so I had 46' of 3/8 copper tubing coiled up on a shelf in the garage I've had for about 7 months. I got it so I could build a still but it turned out to be more expensive a build than I want right now so I just figured I'd make a counter current wort chiller out of the copper instead. AND HERE IT IS!!!!!!




22oz of a pleasant, gentle and lighter beer beside it for scale. Anyhow, got the thing put together and it's kinda floppy... (not to mention the solder joints look like HELL!!! Cold weather + skills you aren't good at to begin with = near disaster. ) What should I use to keep it rigid? What kind of straps should I get? Can't wait to try it out!!! Hope I can chill at full pump speed!!!

 

[mr x]

46 feet should work really well. I would think standard electrical tie wraps should keep it together nicely. As for your other idea, go with a fractionation tower type. Far superior results.

 

[Funkenjaeger]

Wow, with 46 feet you could easily have made two of them! at least you won't have to worry about how fast you pump your wort... if anything, I'd expect you might have trouble with OVER-chilling, rather than under-chilling...

Should be a fun toy!

 

[Grimsawyer]

...at least you won't have to worry about how fast you pump your wort... if anything, I'd expect you might have trouble with OVER-chilling, rather than under-chilling...

Should be a fun toy!

Yeah, hehehehehhehehehe!! In the hot summer I've been at a buddie's house who had a Chillus Convolutus and he had to throttle down the wort quite a bit to get said wort coming out at even 80*F... I hope I have to throttle down the chiller water, hehehehe. (Insert EVIL grin here!) Besides, I got the copper at a scrap yard, it was as close to free as you can get. And the 50' hose wasn't much more than the 25' hose. Figured it wasn't much more to just simply go for broke! Of course now I don't have any copper laying around all coiled up so I must find something else to place there for SWMBO to be unhappy about!!! HAHAHAHA!!!:rockin:

 

[Bobby_M]

The only downside is leaving wort behind in the longer coil.

 

[5 Is Not Enough]

I found that with 25' of 3/8" o.d. copper, the flow was slow and I couldn't run the cooling water through it slow enough for it come out hot. I've resorted to pumping it through the chiller quickly, and it's just about right. You should be able to pump the wort very quickly through it, though 50' may offer noticable resistance. You may consider investing in just a couple more fittings and splitting it in 2. You could even make a couple bucks

 

[Bobby_M]

It's all hinged on the coolant water temp. In the winter, you can pump the wort full speed through while running the coolant slowly. In the summer, when my tap hits 85F, there's no flow combination that will make the wort less than 85 obviously. That's when the icewater gets used.

 

[Grimsawyer]

The only downside is leaving wort behind in the longer coil.

I've thought about that. That's why the wort in is higher than the wort out on the unit, plus I'll have it raised a bit so I have to use a tube to get from the CCWC to the fermenter. Gravity will pull out the remaining once I disconnect the line from the pump to the chiller(in theory). Cleaning it is going to be the pain. I figure I'll just run a buttload of water through it then run some sanitizer through. Before using it I'll just recirculate boiling wort through it for the last 10 min of the boil. Now what I need is a way to gauge what temp the wort is when coming out of the chiller. Thinking a sticker thermometer on a section of copper tubing will do the trick.

 

[5 Is Not Enough]

Thinking a sticker thermometer on a section of copper tubing will do the trick.

Thats clever. I think I'll incorporate one into my chiller. Thanks for the idea!

 

[brewnman]

Nice job! You will be happy the first time you use it. Make sure to clean and sanitize it when you are done!

 

[Grimsawyer]

I figured out what to use as a strap to keep it from not being floppy. (Insert Viagra joke here! hehehe, I said insert, HAHAHAH!!!!) 3 Giant Hose Clamps and Zippy Ties!!!! Here's what it looks like now!!! It's HUGE!!! Notice the cap on the 22oz bottle is missing.... (Evil grin) Oops, how did that happen!!!




Between each wrap of the hose I zip tied a loop around the bent up hose clamp. It is actually fairly rigid. I'm excited!!! I'm going to go try it out right now!!! Be chattin in a few hours to give some numbers!!! actually, gotta go find one more length of high temp tubing to go from the chiller to the bucket.... hmmmm.... I think i have some left over in garage... SWMBO hates my pack rat ways!

 

[Grimsawyer]

WOW!! This thing is a MONSTER!! 10 min to drop 6 gallons to 48*F!!!!! I recirculated water for 10 min through it and my pump just dosn't like air bubbles... hehe. Finally got it circulating good. Then I started the clock. Cut the flame, then turned on the water all while recirculating. About 2 min later the temp in the brew kettle was 180*F. Figured that was cool enough. Started draining it into my bucket. 8 min later it was all in the bucket at 48*F... perfect for pitching lager yeast? a bit cool for ale! HAHAHA!!! This thing is COMPLETELY INSANE!!!! My immersion wort chiller is now for sale btw! LOL!! The only application I can see myself using it for now is in the summer putting it in a bucket of salted ice water... Probly won't do much but it'd help... maybe... I URGE EVERYONE who dosn't have a counter current wort chiller to buy one or make one ASAP!! I could have put this thing together 6 months ago... Man, I've been missing out. It's like driving a beat up pinto thinking you've got it made, then being given a brand new BMW.... The pinto worked... but the BMW is soooo much nicer!!! :rockin:

 

[Lil' Sparky]

That's the beauty of really cold ground water at work there. Here the ground water isn't cold enough to get the wort below about 70º. Nice work with the strapping.

 

[BlackenedBrew]

I figured out what to use as a strap to keep it from not being floppy. (Insert Viagra joke here! hehehe, I said insert, HAHAHAH!!!!)...

Dude, you're a goof ball! I like the way you think! :rockin: Oregonians are the best!

 

[FSR402]

This is what I do for cleaning and sanitizing mine.
I use 5 gallons of 180* water to preheat my tun and then that water is boiled for 10 minutes and drained thru my CFC. All is clean and sanitized.

When you are done using it just blast some water (hot if you can) thru it for a minute or tow to rinse it out then keep rolling it over to drain all the water out and let it sit with the ends open to dry until the next brew.

Wit the water temps right now I have to have the cold water running so slow that I could piss thru there with more pressure but in the summer it's not that way.

I'm also thinking of useing one of these.

In-line thermometer

 

[Lil' Sparky]

I got a thrumometer for Christmas. I really like it, except for the fact that I can't hook it up while I'm recirculating during the end of the boil to sanitize the CFC. It says temps > 140º may damage it (the thermo strip I presume). It is nice to know exactly what the temps exiting the chiller are, though.

 

[Bobby_M]

That's exactly why I didn't get one of those. You can put a Tee on the output and have a temp probe sticking down into the tee to measure output temp. Of course, this can be a little digital pocket thermo, a remote style, or even a small dial thermo like I'm using. I'll post a thread showing the pic when I get home.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Yep, I thought about doing that, too. I didn't know the max temp thing until I got it. It's easy enough to hook up once you start chilling, though.

 

[FSR402]

That's exactly why I didn't get one of those. You can put a Tee on the output and have a temp probe sticking down into the tee to measure output temp. Of course, this can be a little digital pocket thermo, a remote style, or even a small dial thermo like I'm using. I'll post a thread showing the pic when I get home.

Yeah that would work well also. Something like a "T" fitting with a compression fitting hooked to the chiller and a barb on the other end and a thermometer in the center.

 

[Grimsawyer]

I've been giving whirlpooling a thought and I think I'm going to use my CCWC AND my old immersion wort chiller. When I run cold water through the CCWC when the wort is boiling the cooling water coming out is still fairly cold so why not run it through the immersion chiller as well. Instead of running the wort straight into a fermenter why not just run it back into the boil kettle in a fashion that it creates a whirlpool? At the same time I could be chillin the brew in the kettle with the immersion chiller and CCWC AND negating the need to stirr! If I wanted to get really goofy I could also use my other immersion wort chiller to prechill my water with. I would have to dig out my old flat bottom stock pot AND silver solder the area around the threads that rusts (got it used, weld looks nice on outside but inside was ground to the middle non SS center) and I'm good to go. Any thoughts?

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Grim, you are a Chilling Idol! :rockin:

That is an awesome idea, I may just have to go that way. I use an immersion chiller now and have been afraid of changing to a counter flow because of the hop aroma thing. This combines the best of both worlds and is ridiculous overkill. I love it! Can you say 10 gallons chilled in 3 minutes.... maybe