Simple Immersion Wort Chiller

[CreeDakota]

Levels or mold and bacteria counts are typically 100-1000 higher concentration INSIDE than inside your home. I have the my wort open to the breeze during my cooling step and have had no problems.

 

[smallbrew]

I've been researching making one also but was planning on using 25' of 1/2" copper. Is this too short? Will it still have high enough efficiency?

 

[sak3358]

I brew outdoors all the time. Never had an issue with things blowing in the breeze. I used to worry but my buddy, who also brews, says "Monks used to brew by a running stream....they made beer, don't worry". Changed my perspective.

 

[I_Keeps_It_Real]

I've been researching making one also but was planning on using 25' of 1/2" copper. Is this too short? Will it still have high enough efficiency?

i made mine out of 20' of 3/8'' copper and it cools just fine

anyhoo anymore opinions on using zip ties to hold it together? i hope im not sabotaging my own brew

 

[Schlenkerla]

i made mine out of 20' of 3/8'' copper and it cools just fine

anyhoo anymore opinions on using zip ties to hold it together? i hope im not sabotaging my own brew

I've used zip ties for two years.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

This must be Ancient Thread Resurrection Day...........................

 

[Bernie Brewer]

This must be Ancient Thread Resurrection Day...........................

 

[I_Keeps_It_Real]

double post day?

 

[khiddy]

I used 20' of 3/8" copper as well, and with my recirculating setup (a fountain pump from Harbor Freight immersed in a bucket of icewater), I get my wort from 212* down to 80* in about 25 minutes, and only use about 5 gallons of water + ice.

I'm going to look into swapping the input and output, since I think I have the cold water going into the bottom of the IC, where it isn't as efficient because it essentially gets preheated before it starts working through the coil...

 

[PhlyanPan]

I'm going to look into swapping the input and output, since I think I have the cold water going into the bottom of the IC, where it isn't as efficient because it essentially gets preheated before it starts working through the coil...

Do you stir your wort while chilling it? If so...who cares if the heat gets exchanged in the bottom or the top of the wort? It's going to get homogenized anyway by the stirring.

If not...why not? It makes the chiller work much more efficiently.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I stirr constantly until my temp is below 140F. Which is about 5 minutes with 50' 3/8" coil. 140F is the threshold for DMS. After that, you are in the clear. Then I stir every 3-4 minutes as I get things ready for draining. (15 minutes total)

During this interval in stirring I usually get my fermentor over to drain valve and attach the aeration nozzle to the drain. Then I'm making sure my O2 wand is ready to oxygenate.

Wait, stir, wait, stir.......

That's what I do.

 

[magnj]

Thanks for the tip on the copper, I finally got to making my chiller, used it my last two batches. It's really quite ghetto compared to some others around here but still works.

 

[Batinse]

Thanks a lot for posting this, it was really quite helpful as I now have a (25' mind, being slightly less prolifigate) wonderful immersion wort chiller to use.

But as a slight modification to the OP, this might be self-evident, but you need two (2) Watts A-668 (1/4" to 3/4") Hose Adapters. The OP doesn't mention quantity, and it looks like only one is required. Although, I suppose that you don't really need a washing machine hose for the outflow--any plastic tubing will do, right?

 

[Schlenkerla]

Thanks a lot for posting this, it was really quite helpful as I now have a (25' mind, being slightly less prolifigate) wonderful immersion wort chiller to use.

But as a slight modification to the OP, this might be self-evident, but you need two (2) Watts A-668 (1/4" to 3/4") Hose Adapters. The OP doesn't mention quantity, and it looks like only one is required. Although, I suppose that you don't really need a washing machine hose for the outflow--any plastic tubing will do, right?

I fixed that. Surprised nobody mentioned in 2 years!!!

I use the washer hoses still to this day. I attach my white RV brewing hose to the washer hose and I use an old beat up garden hose on the drain. The end is cut on on the POS garden hose. It just drains down the hill in my yard.

I also use this chiller in the winter on partial mashes when I don't feel like brewing in the cold. I use the kitchen sink, so the 4' washer hoses are worth every penny for me.

 

[Batinse]

Well, I got the hoses anyway, for symmetry and wear. It looks great: simple, elegant and effective. Thanks again for the post!

 

[Schlenkerla]

Well, I got the hoses anyway, for symmetry and wear. It looks great: simple, elegant and effective. Thanks again for the post!

Your Welcome!!!

 

[tidehouse]

Just finished mine on a budget of $40. I found 3/8" x 20' copper tubing at Lowes for $22. It's a little small but should be fine for 5 gallon batches.

Materials list:

3/8" x 20' copper tubing = 22.62
1/2" x 3/4" barbed garden hose adapter = 5.46
#4 Hose clamp x4 = 1.94
1/2" ID Vinyl tubing x6ft = 1.86

Optional:

Spring type pipe bender 4 sizes = 7.57 (cheaper if you can find them packaged individually)

Total cost was $39.45 but if you wanted to do it caveman style without the pipe bender it would only be $31.88 but kinks can happen in a blink of an eye so I didn't want to chance it.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Nice Job!!! :rockin:

 

[BrewBeemer]

If you use a double flare tubing tool but only use the first stage of the flare you can add a bulb behind the end of your copper tubing like on automotive radiator stubs to prevent a hose from blowing off your chiller ends. Do not make a single flare like a funnel be it a shallow one as it will cut into your hose.

 

[mvdilts]

nice looking chiller tidehouse, one suggestion - throw a hose clamp on the outbound side of your chiller -- I made the mistake of not doing that and got blasted with hot water when the tubing popped off during chilling...

 

[Schlenkerla]

nice looking chiller tidehouse, one suggestion - throw a hose clamp on the outbound side of your chiller -- I made the mistake of not doing that and got blasted with hot water when the tubing popped off during chilling...

Put it on both in case you connect the wrong hoses.

 

[tidehouse]

Nice Job!!! :rockin:

Thanks, if it wasn't for this thread I wouldn't have thought to just make one.

nice looking chiller tidehouse, one suggestion - throw a hose clamp on the outbound side of your chiller -- I made the mistake of not doing that and got blasted with hot water when the tubing popped off during chilling...

Good call, I'll throw another one on there, probably going to get some high temp tubing as well.

 

[thesanch]

tidehouse, that looks awesome. perfect for my budget too. nice job!

I'm planning on building one of these myself here pretty soon. I need some advice what size (length of copper) I should make that can handle 5 gallon all grain batches. I'm currently doing 3 gallon partial boils. My tap water runs pretty hot -- probably around 80F. I'm planning on first running tap water through, then using an aquarium pump to cycle ice water.

 

[tidehouse]

Just finished a dry run and got 7 gallons from boiling to 75f in about 20 minutes :fro: The only thing I might do is lower the coils, with any less volume they'd be sticking out.

I need some advice what size (length of copper) I should make that can handle 5 gallon all grain batches. I'm currently doing 3 gallon partial boils. My tap water runs pretty hot -- probably around 80F. I'm planning on first running tap water through, then using an aquarium pump to cycle ice water.

Mine is 20 ft, I probably wouldn't go any shorter than that but it seemed to work fine during the test run. I live on Lake Superior so my tap water is pretty cold even during the summer. One thing I noticed is the discharge water was not scalding hot like some people have said, even when the pot was boiling, which leads me to believe that the water doesn't have time to pick up as much heat before exiting the chiller. That makes me think it might be a bit undersized at 20' but still 20 minutes beats 2 hours in the sink any day.

 

[smackythefrog]

I just made a chiller following the OP instructions and it formed up nice but I hate compression fittings. I've never had much luck with them and they tend to leak on me. I'm working on it.

 

[Indy418]

OK--hoping someone can help out with a bit of a problem. I purchased the parts for the chiller, bent my copper (20', I only brew 3 gal. batches at a time) into a fancy looking coil and all, but couldn't figure out the attachments? I thought it'd be pretty self explanatory but I tried every which way but couldn't come up with a connection from the copper to the connectors.

Because I couldn't figure it out I took some extra vinyl tube and rigged up a chiller with the vinyl tubing over the copper coil. But when I hooked up the chiller to the faucet, I couldn't turn the faucet on past half power or it would blow the vinyl off the copper tube (Yea, I think I went through two rolls of paper towels tonight). After 1 hour, the wort was finally down to 80 degrees. After another 30 minutes it'd only dropped to 75, so I threw the wort into the fermenter and angrily pitched.

Any suggestions???

 

[Schlenkerla]

OK--hoping someone can help out with a bit of a problem. I purchased the parts for the chiller, bent my copper (20', I only brew 3 gal. batches at a time) into a fancy looking coil and all, but couldn't figure out the attachments? I thought it'd be pretty self explanatory but I tried every which way but couldn't come up with a connection from the copper to the connectors.

Because I couldn't figure it out I took some extra vinyl tube and rigged up a chiller with the vinyl tubing over the copper coil. But when I hooked up the chiller to the faucet, I couldn't turn the faucet on past half power or it would blow the vinyl off the copper tube (Yea, I think I went through two rolls of paper towels tonight). After 1 hour, the wort was finally down to 80 degrees. After another 30 minutes it'd only dropped to 75, so I threw the wort into the fermenter and angrily pitched.

Any suggestions???

OK These are your parts Look at this picture closely.

Its a simple set-up:
- 50' of 3/8" Copper Tubing (your case 20')
- 2 Compression to Pipe Union (3/8" - 1/2NPT) Watts A-124

(These fittings are compression and go on the tubing and bite down on it putting a threaded end on the tubing. Tighten the compressions real good.)
​

- 2 Hose Adapters (1/2" NPT - 3/4 male garden hose) Watts A-668

(These fittings go on the end of the other, above, fittings to put a set of garden hose threads on your chiller)
​

- 2 Clothes Washer attachment hoses 4' each.

(The basic washer hose attaches to both ends of chiller and one to the faucet)
​

- 1 faucet to garden hose adapter

(Only one is needed, goes on the faucet if used indoors. Like the picture above.)
​

- 7 wire ties to hold it together well (less slinky-like)

 

[Indy418]

Ok...but one of my problems is that I built it and it simply leaks terribly--water spraying everywhere. I tried to tape the leaky spots but it doesn't really work and i don't want water dripping into the wort. The compression fittings are as tight as they go and I can just pull them right off the ends of the copper? Any ideas?

 

[Schlenkerla]

Ok...but one of my problems is that I built it and it simply leaks terribly--water spraying everywhere. I tried to tape the leaky spots but it doesn't really work and i don't want water dripping into the wort. The compression fittings are as tight as they go and I can just pull them right off the ends of the copper? Any ideas?

You are using the ferrule ring right?

I wonder if you got the wrong size fitting or tubing......

They should bugger down good and not leak. I would use two wrenches to tighten them. One on the hex body and the other on the cap nut. Tighten them really damn good. The angle of the wrenches should be so that you can push the wrenches together with a good amount of force.

 

[thesanch]

Finally, here's mine! It's made out of 1/2" x 50' copper from local plumbing store.

Along side my 20 qt SS pot.


Inside my 20 qt SS pot. One side of it slightly protrudes out of the pot. It will definably stick out of the wort in my 2 or 3 gallon partial boils. Just made sure to get a decent sized one for full boils when I get a new bigger pot.


Male hose fitting to 1/2" brass nipple to 1/2" compression fitting.


Female hose fitting to 1/2" brass nipple to 1/2" compression fitting.