My new wort chiller

[Mknox4354]

I just got done making this and wanted to see what people thought of it. I have 1/2 copper on the outside and 3/8 on the inside and they are tied together at the top. Hopefully it will work well. I will be doing my first ag on sat so well see. Pic sucks sorry taking with iPhone

 

[Mknox4354]

.

 

[kevmo]

Looks pretty bad ass! How many feet of copper is it? And what your normal batch volume?

 

[Mknox4354]

Just a 5 gallon batch for now. A little under 100ft. I do hvac so heat removal is what I do ha.

 

[mrbobble]

Dude, that thing is sick!
Hopefully you don't spill over when you dump that sucker in the kettle.

 

[dunleav1]

Put some hose fittings on there so you can get rid of those clamps. They have a tendency to get loose when the chiller heats up.

 

[ryandlf]

That thing is going to cool your wort down quickly...a worthy investment IMO. +1 on some fittings if you can weld them on that will make that thing professional!

 

[Mknox4354]

Yea I can put those fittings on no problem

 

[shortyjacobs]

Sweet jesus.....100 ft of pipe....yeah that'll work pretty damn well on a 5 gal batch!!

 

[Kahler]

Jealousy is a Mutha ******

 

[Mknox4354]

So I'm thinking about just using some sharkbites with thread on the one end for the hose adapters. I think these will work well plus they can be taken off. Any of you guys used sharkbites before. I also made sure today that I don't overflow in my pot. I had 6.5 gallons in there and was fine

 

[Wakadaka]

how much did that cost you to make? and what made you decide to use different size hosing?

 

[Mknox4354]

Well I do hvac work so I got the copper really cheap. I made the inner one first and then decide I wanted more so I tied in the 1/2

 

[Mknox4354]

Ok here it is with the hose connection thanks for the advice guys it's much better like this. Let you guys know how it does after Saturday

 

[sirhc1210]

Wow, that's quite a contraption! Def keep us posted on how well it works.

Like someone said before you may want to do a test to make sure you don't get a spillover. That's a hefty hunk of copper you're putting in there.

 

[Mknox4354]

Wow, that's quite a contraption! Def keep us posted on how well it works.

Like someone said before you may want to do a test to make sure you don't get a spillover. That's a hefty hunk of copper you're putting in there.

Yea I already did. I filled my 8 gallon pot up to 7 gallons and dropped it in and it did just fine

 

[mariojr]

Hard to tell from the picture, but do both coils have a cold water source or are they in a series?

 

[JuanMoore]

Hard to tell from the picture, but do both coils have a cold water source or are they in a series?

Hard to tell, but it looks to me to be in tandem.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Well I do hvac work so I got the copper really cheap.

I assume really cheap as in freeeeeee

 

[Mknox4354]

I assume really cheap as in freeeeeee

Yea you caught me just about

 

[wittmania]

Depending on your input water temp, 100' may be a bit overkill. You should consider building a pre-chiller and running your coolant water through an ice bath before it hits the chiller. Otherwise the temp inside the coil will be equal to the temp outside long before the water exits your chiller.

Don't mean to sound negative, just trying to help. I'm definitely impressed with that bad boy! And good luck on your first all grain.

 

[Mknox4354]

Depending on your input water temp, 100' may be a bit overkill. You should consider building a pre-chiller and running your coolant water through an ice bath before it hits the chiller. Otherwise the temp inside the coil will be equal to the temp outside long before the water exits your chiller.

Don't mean to sound negative, just trying to help. I'm definitely impressed with that bad boy! And good luck on your first all grain.

Yup already thought of that I think I might do it for next time, but with that said used it yesterday and had 6 gals cooled to 76 in about 20 mins. It's only going to get warmer outside so the pre chiller will be an easy and efficient addition

 

[Mknox4354]

So just an update on my chiller. It has worked really great. Cools 6.5 gallons of boiling wort to 85 in about 5-6 mins, but the problem I'm having now is that it is summer and the water coming out of the hose isnt that cold so I guess I'm going to have to make a pre chiller. Anyone else using a pre chiller and if so do you see a huge difference?

 

[Coldies]

So just an update on my chiller. It has worked really great. Cools 6.5 gallons of boiling wort to 85 in about 5-6 mins, but the problem I'm having now is that it is summer and the water coming out of the hose isnt that cold so I guess I'm going to have to make a pre chiller. Anyone else using a pre chiller and if so do you see a huge difference?

I saw a huge difference when I started using one. I have a 50' 3/8" rib cage IC and I use my old 20' 3/8" as the pre-chiller in a bucket filled with water and frozen water bottles. The key to using a pre-chiller is to wait until your temp gets down to around 90-100 and then start putting the frozen bottles in the water.

I can get to pitching temps in around 12-13 minutes. By this time im not even done putting some of my equipment away.

 

[Mknox4354]

I saw a huge difference when I started using one. I have a 50' 3/8" rib cage IC and I use my old 20' 3/8" as the pre-chiller in a bucket filled with water and frozen water bottles. The key to using a pre-chiller is to wait until your temp gets down to around 80-100 and then start putting the frozen bottles in the water.

I can get to pitching temps in around 12-13 minutes. By this time im not even done putting some of my equipment away.

Awesome thanks for the tip