To Build or Buy?

[boomtown25]

Okay, just got back from Lowe's. They want $40 for 20' of 3/8" copper tubing. Ouch!
Man, I knew copper was high, but that's silly. With hardware, & such I figure it'd be $50 total for a wort chiller of that size...which sounds way undersized for the 5 gal. batches I hope to soon be brewing.

This is rediculous. I bought the exact piece of copper about 3 weeks ago from Lowe's in Mississippi and it cost $20 bucks.

 

[TopherM]

Here in Texas our tap water is 24-26C

I didn't know they had Celcius in Texas (of all places!!)

 

[BetterSense]

I only know what the temperatures are in Celsius because I have to cool the water down to 20C for my darkroom work.

 

[HopKeller]

This is rediculous. I bought the exact piece of copper about 3 weeks ago from Lowe's in Mississippi and it cost $20 bucks.

Was your's 3/8" inside or outside dimension? The piece I looked at was 3/8" inside and 1/2" outside.

 

[MichaelBrock]

Apparently the price of copper tubing varies a great deal from location to location. In some other thread someone posted a link to Lowes.com where they were seeing some particular cheap copper price. Everyone that checked it was seeing a different price.

 

[ZamaMan]

I thought about making my own a couple weeks ago but it was gonna cost too much so i bought one from learn to brew for like 65 bucks it was a 50' 3/8 inch. I do want to make a huge one out of 3/4 inch 50 ft roll one day. Chilled my 7 gallons from 212-80 in maybe 25 min which was nice not havjng yo watch iit or mess with it. Next up the ice water set up

 

[dnslater]

Made my own last weekend from parts purchased at Lowes. Total price, $24. This includes 20' of 3/8" copper tubing, a cheap washing machine hose, 10' of rubber/vinyl clear tubing and a few clamps. Works great, just not as pretty as store bought.

 

[dshaggy]

I got a 50' 1/2 inch chiller from nybrewsupply.com for less than $100 shipped. You might be able to build it for a little cheaper, but everything is soldiered and ready to go. It chills 6 gallons down to pitching temps in 10-15 minutes. Plus I wont have to worry if I ever start doing 10 gallon batches.

 

[tnshurtm]

I made my 50' 3/8" and it is just barely all submerged with a 5 gal batch in my pot. I went from boiling to 80 in about 12 minutes. I move mine around when it gets cool enough to handle. When I do, I notice the outbound pipe gets hot again so I have to let go. I keep repeating until when I stir with the chiller, I don't feel the temp difference between inbounda and outbound.

 

[h22lude]

I am looking into making one too. It seems like it wouldnt save me all that much if I did DIY. Im going to check out HD and Lowes today to see what they have.

 

[Mexicanconnection2002]

Ordered mine off Amazon couple weeks ago...50' Copper Chiller Immersion Coil by Learn To Brew. $59.99 +16.49 shipping...total of $76.48. They have 2 in stock right now for same price.

 

[PIGMAN]

I thought about making my own a couple weeks ago but it was gonna cost too much so i bought one from learn to brew for like 65 bucks it was a 50' 3/8 inch. I do want to make a huge one out of 3/4 inch 50 ft roll one day. Chilled my 7 gallons from 212-80 in maybe 25 min which was nice not havjng yo watch iit or mess with it. Next up the ice water set up

That's the best price I've seen. It cost me more to build the same 50 ft, 3/8 inch.

 

[SoonerDoc]

I made mine out of 50 feet of 1/2" copper for about $70 (copper, fittings, etc). It was really easy if you know how to solder.

 

[mojo_wire]

I've reassessed my cost -- for a 25 foot 1/2 inch IC, I've spent $60.30. A 25 foot chiller at Northern Brewer is $60, but that is 3/8 inch pipe.

Of course, I've also bought pipe benders and a propane torch, so my actual cost is $88.40.

Verdict: if I cared about the money, I wouldn't be homebrewing.

 

[Zixxer10R]

Gotcha. Know what it is, jut not familiar with the abbreviation.
I see a lot of you use 3/8", is that because it's more common or it's easier to find fitting for connections? Both?
The larger the diameter of the tube, the quicker the cool-down, right?

Mostly because if you get 1/2 OD you'll pay a fortune. It would cool faster because of more surface contact but it will cost you over $100 for 50ft.

I personally use a 25ft pre-chiller submerged in a cooler that's been conditioned with frozen water bottles and topped off with water (at least in the summer). That whole contraption is hooked up to the 50ft 3/8 copper coil i used a corny to shape.

 

[SLBrooks]

I made a pre chiller this weekend out of 25ft of 3/8id refridge tubing (flex copper) I coiled it to be similar to a IC and use it in a 10 gallon water jug/cooler filled with ice ice and more ice plus a splash of salt water.

The reason I went with 3/8 id is because my IC is 3/8 id and can handle about 20 psi which is about 2.5/3 gpm. It dropped my temp from boiling to 70* in about 8-10 minutes... total cost was less than 30 bucks.

Just be careful that you dont crimp the line when bending it straight and then coiling it.

 

[rkinslow]

I made my own.

Just a hint - fill the tube with sand or glass bead prior to bending it. It will prevent the tube from kinking.

 

[Transamguy77]

I am a DIYer all the way but after assessing the price of copper and reading about people taking 20-60 mins to cool down wort, I understand that incoming water temp is a factor but I make my own ice in Tupperware containers the night before and at pitching temp in 10-12 mins. IMO it's not worth the investment based on what I have read.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I made a counterflow chiller from a garden hose, some 3/8" copper flexible tubing, some copper fittings and some soldering equipment. It really was not that hard. Lots of videos online show you how. Satisfaction from being able to use some equipment that you built with your own two hands is something that should not be overlooked.

 

[EROK]

Go for the 1/2" copper for sure, yes it's more expensive, but you like a lot of us will replace the 3/8" once you try it a few times. Buy things right the first time and you won't have to buy twice. Experience talking. 25' of 1/2" copper will be fine for 5.5 gal batches.

Another suggestion, while chilling stir a whirlpool (fast) inside the coil with a sanitized spoon.
I can get from boiling to <70 deg in 10 minutes. Stirring makes the biggest difference !!

 

[sidboswell]

Another suggestion, while chilling stir a whirlpool (fast) inside the coil with a sanitized spoon. I can get from boiling to <70 deg in 10 minutes. Stirring makes the biggest difference !!

You don't worry about hot side aeration?

I don't stir and whirlpool until 95 or lower.

 

[MichaelBrock]

1/2" is undoubtedly better but more than a few of us are happy with our 3/8" chillers. I think it's going a bit far to say that he "will" replace it if he buys one. I think the3/8" is a much better value than the 1/2". It gets the job done.

Stirring is definitely important but so is the temperature of the water you're running through it. My tap water is in the high 70s. My meager 3/8" chiller can get my wort down to low 80s in 15 minutes. A 1/2" chiller couldn't get it any cooler than that. I then have to switch to circulating ice water through the chiller with a pond pump. That will take my wort down into the 60s within a further 10 minutes.

 

[Aschecte]

I made a counter flow chiller using the following instructions for brewing my first batch.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_make_a_Counter_Flow_Chiller

I think the total cost was ~$25 and the only piece I had was the 1/2" copper pipe for the 6 - 2" pieces. I will also say that I only used 20' of 3/8" but that's because HD doesn't sell 25' anymore, only 20'.

As fast as I could get the wort to flow through it and it was still coming out at 83 degrees (my water temp). I didnt' time it exactly but it was 10 mins or under to cool 5 gal.

Video of first test.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV45zUk4okg&feature=channel_video_title

Great build it looks great though I have a question..... I see the wort would enter through the bottom of the chiller and exit at the top of the cfc. The water would enter the top and exit at the bottom connection of the chiller aka counterflow design. Now the question is this how the hell does the wort defy gravity and move up the coils to exit at the top without the use of a pump like in your video? this has always confused me with cfc's any help is appreciated.

 

[Zixxer10R]

Stirring defeats the purpose of using a wort chiller. Why would you hover over your BK if you had just spent near $100 to cool by some other means?

 

[BetterSense]

Great build it looks great though I have a question..... I see the wort would enter through the bottom of the chiller and exit at the top of the cfc. The water would enter the top and exit at the bottom connection of the chiller aka counterflow design. Now the question is this how the hell does the wort defy gravity and move up the coils to exit at the top without the use of a pump like in your video? this has always confused me with cfc's any help is appreciated.

As long as the top coil is below the level of the wort in the kettle, the pressure of the wort will push it through the CFC. It's the same principle that allows drain traps to work...the weight of the water in the sink 'pushes' the water through the drain trap; same thing with the wort chiller.

 

[h22lude]

Stirring defeats the purpose of using a wort chiller. Why would you hover over your BK if you had just spent near $100 to cool by some other means?

Stirring will lower the temp quicker if you do an ice bath or IC. The more wort that comes in contact with the IC the faster it will cool. Just because you have an IC doesnt mean you should leave the wort alone.

 

[marcycaulkins]

You don't worry about hot side aeration?

I don't stir and whirlpool until 95 or lower.

Well, as long as you aren't whipping it with a whisk, you aren't really introducing a significant amount of oxygen. I stir mine gently every few minutes with a large slotted spoon.

And to the OP, I built my IC, don't remember how much it cost, but one of the main factors in my decision wasn't so much cost as the fact that i was able to build a chiller that better fit the dimensions of my wider than usual brew pot.

 

[Zixxer10R]

You absolutely introduce significant oxygen amounts if you're using a slotted spoon. How do you think you aren't? Any object breaking the surface of the wort will introduce oxygen, hence another byproduct besides sanitation of placing your chiller in before the boil is finished.

 

[marcycaulkins]

You absolutely introduce significant oxygen amounts if you're using a slotted spoon. How do you think you aren't? Any object breaking the surface of the wort will introduce oxygen, hence another byproduct besides sanitation of placing your chiller in before the boil is finished.

Because the slots are below the surface of the liquid, that's why. I honestly don't know why I chose the slotted spoon over the solid one, it's just the one I always pick up.

 

[skippyf16]

Built 2 17 ft CFC's verbatim from the wiki for ~65.00. Sold each on c/l for 45.00. Built a 25 ft CFC for free and pocketed ~50.00.