# Parallel counter flow wort chiller



## nosco (5/6/17)

Has anyone had go at making one of these? Im going to have a go so im wondering if any one has any ideas on it

https://youtu.be/KhWdLYlpGf4


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## 2cranky (5/6/17)

Hey Nosco,
haven't made one..........yet!
but I'll watch your build.


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## nosco (5/6/17)

It might take me a while to get all the bits. The copper will cost a bit. The thing I like about this idea is that you can add on to it. Just give me 6 - 36 months to get it finished :lol:


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## Mardoo (5/6/17)

There have been a couple for sale on here, so some folks have in the past. Guessing they aren't on here anymore. I saw one in action and worked very, very well. Not much, I know...


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## nosco (5/6/17)

A google only turns up 3 vids and not much else. Mostly coz the key words turn up the regular CF chiller. They look like the best option as far as cleaning and customisation to me. Maybe not for space. Just wondering why you dont see them more often.


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## nosco (5/6/17)

Mardoo said:


> There have been a couple for sale on here


Missed em. I probably thought they were the round sort.


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## nosco (5/6/17)

http://byo.com/bock/item/2849-double-pipe-wort-chiller-projects


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## Mardoo (5/6/17)

Yeah, I like that BYO one. Check out the US forums. They're still a sort of niche type of chiller, but absolutely have their fans.


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## boybrewer (5/6/17)

nosco said:


> Has anyone had go at making one of these? Im going to have a go so im wondering if any one has any ideas on it
> 
> https://youtu.be/KhWdLYlpGf4


Did you know that this brewer passed away a few months later in November 2016 . He was one of my inspirations for building some of my brewery tools,like the counter flow chiller .
He will be missed.


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## Maheel (5/6/17)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKrPT0_vSug

i have made plenty of these type of chillers / condensers (liebig)

normally use 1/2" through 3/4 all copper
You drill out the 1/2 X 3/4 X 1/2 T's to allow the 1/2 tube to pass through the T and the 3/4 go between the T's

pretty easy to make and you can soft solder them with lead free solder


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## labels (5/6/17)

I made one about a year ago, this is the unit nearly finished. The ends are joined together with silicone tubing.


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## labels (5/6/17)

I suppose I should show the finished unit. It works really well, about twice as fast as my previous plate chiller and doesn't block with hop debris from pelletised hops.


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## AJS2154 (5/6/17)

Very nice job, Labels. Looks like some nice soldering there mate.

I am very interested in making one of these. The reason I went no chill was that I always stressed about the cleanliness of my plate chiller. I never felt like that damn thing was actually clean. My OCD makes me stress if I can at least visually check that the unit looks clean as a minimum.

I have a question though. Do you know what the total volume of wort is that remains in the chiller? It looks to me that it would hold a reasonable amount of wort inside it, which will add to the kettle wastages. I also assume you will need to have a pump attached, unless of course the kettle is a long way suspended to let gravity do the work.

I need to stop vascillating and get cracking on one of these. They look like a great DIY project which will last forever.

See you, Anthony


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## labels (5/6/17)

I don't know the volume but some simple maths should work it out. In this case there are seven lengths of half inch copper at 400mm long plus the silicone loops so I would guess around 2 litres max and yes, you need a pump. I use a March pump.

I recirculate back to the kettle until it drops to 40C and then slow the flow into the fermenter. I use the recirculation to set up an efficient whirlpool. I also use a submersible pump in the swimming pool to to chill.

All in all, works out good. My batch size is 50L

These things are really easy to make, it only took about an hour and about another half hour to clean-up after soldering


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## labels (5/6/17)

Of course the other advantage of these things is easy of cleaning. Just pull off the silicone tubes and run a bottle brush through the tubes. Easy done.


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## AJS2154 (5/6/17)

labels said:


> These things are really easy to make, it only took about an hour and about another half hour to clean-up after soldering


You must be a far more efficient solderer than I am, labels.

Yes, I was thinking about the pool water too, but was worried about the effect of Chlorine on copper.

Thanks for the response, mate. I can work out the volumes with the lengths of copper and IDs.

See you, Anthony


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## labels (5/6/17)

AJS2154 said:


> You must be a far more efficient solderer than I am, labels.
> 
> Yes, I was thinking about the pool water too, but was worried about the effect of Chlorine on copper.
> 
> ...


Don't use silver solder unless you have an oxy-acetylene rig. If you're using MAPP gas then you can buy low temp solder from the big green shed in the plumbing section that is lead-free - just soft solder that is mostly tin. You MUST use a flux such as Bakers flux.

As for chlorine, Adelaide water has at least twice the chlorine in it during summertime than you would use in a pool and most houshold pumbing is copper so I guess that debunks that theory of chlorine and copper!


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## Maheel (5/6/17)

nice work labels exactly what i was thinking except i think your cooling travels the full length ?


i was thinking if you did not interconnect the cooling and you might get even faster heat removal ?
eg have fresh "cold" going to each section of copper but wort does travel full lenght,
be harder to plumb up but maybe worth it ?

AJS
i have run shitloads of pool water through copper brewing equipment..... hours and hours and hours (months & months worth)

never noticed any loss in copper, give it a quick fresh purge after if your worried...

would help with algae control in the pool anyway


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## labels (5/6/17)

Maheel said:


> nice work labels exactly what i was thinking except i think your cooling travels the full length ?


Correct, it does trave the full length and your idea has merit but a complex build.

Remember also, that this is a counterflow chiller so the wort and chillimg water are running in opposite directions


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## rude (5/6/17)

What size submersible pump do you run in youre pool
and are they expensive
cheers mate nice work


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## MartinOC (6/6/17)

nosco said:


> Missed em. I probably thought they were the round sort.


I've got some stainless ones (4 from memory) that I'm not intending to use anytime soon if you're interested. Each length is about 2.5m long. A mate of mine could chill an 80L batch in about 30 mins.

Sorry, I thought I had a photo of them, but can't find it right now.


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## S.E (6/6/17)

nosco said:


> Has anyone had go at making one of these? Im going to have a go so im wondering if any one has any ideas on it
> 
> https://youtu.be/KhWdLYlpGf4


Feldon started this thread on these a few years ago. Someone in the UK was designing and testing it. Called it the Goat. http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/84723-the-goat-is-this-the-fastest-and-most-water-efficient-chiller-yet/


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## nosco (6/6/17)

Yeah ive seen the video of that one on Youtube. The guy has a really nice setuo and brewery. Ill give that thread a read.


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## nosco (6/6/17)

MartinOC i might take you up on that offer. If you have a pic maybe send my a pm with a price and ill see what i can do. It might take a while till i have some cash though.


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## MartinOC (8/6/17)

Now we're back-up & running on the new=look AHB....

I leave for work in the dark & get home in the dark, so it might have to wait til the weekend for photo's. Leave it with me.


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## MartinOC (10/6/17)

For those who have PM'd & emailed about my SS PCF chillers, here's a few photo's:












These are professionally made industrial items that a mate of mine scored from a job (an engineer who used to design & install food-processing plants). The pipe in the foreground is just a SS return-pipe.

The tape measure shows a metre, so each of these units is about 3m long.

My mate had them mounted on the wall in his brewery in a slight zig-zag to ensure draining of the whole line & pumped from his boiler, through the chillers & back into the kettle to create a whirlpool. 80L of boiling wort down to pitching temp. in about 30 mins.

Obviously, being SS, they're not as efficient at heat transfer as copper & really need to be used in a "bank" for best effect, but they certainly do work well.


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## nosco (10/6/17)

Sadly thats out of my league . Hopefully it will find a good home. Thanks Martin for the offer.


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## AJS2154 (10/6/17)

MartinOC, that is one fine looking dog in your third photo. 

I have bought all the copper fittings and copper tube. I have cut the tube up and tomorrow I will start the process of soldering it up. In all, 6 meters of 1/2 inch and 6 metres of 3/4. 16 reducing tee joints. 

I have a pump which I will swing into action. Need to buy some silicon tube and away I go. Should be a good project. 

See you, Anthony


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## MartinOC (10/6/17)

Yeah, that's Max, our 1yo Bull Arab puppy. Scares the hell out of anyone that meets him for the first time, but for a dog bred for pig hunting, he's a real pussycat. Almost lost him to a Tiger snake a couple of months back (we lost our Kelpie to the same snake). Great dog.

Good luck with your project.

Anyway, back on topic....

Nosco had first-dibs on the chiller array & has pulled the pin, so if anyone else is looking for something with SERIOUS chilling capability, it's here. 

PM me if you're interested.


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## TwoCrows (6/8/17)




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## TwoCrows (6/8/17)

I was going to build this in two parts 6mtrs out and 6mtrs back to reduce the amount of parts required , but it would take up a lot of wall space.

This build is connected in a one continuous loop for the wort.
The water is split into two loops to use cold water on a short run, the valves control the flow of water on the hot side out.


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## nosco (6/8/17)

How did you join the threaded PVC to the T peices Two Crows? I got my bits from Bunnings. I couldnt get them to fit so I had to "modify" them (hack them smaller on a bench drill). Ive only done a few a a tester. Seems to work ok so far.


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## TwoCrows (6/8/17)

I purchased 20Mi x 15 pvc conectors, pvc cement , and cut 40mm stubs of tube to join to the tee pieces. The threaded pvc has a socket on the backside to join to the tube.


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## TwoCrows (6/8/17)

I got trade at a large online plumbing outlet.


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## Mr B (6/8/17)

That looks great

It really tempts my want to make something inclination.

Hmmmmm

Whats your plan? Use it to recirculate to chill or chill in one pass to fermenter at ferment temp?

Anyone have any comment on the difference a chilled late hop gives versus a no chilled and dry hop?


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## TwoCrows (6/8/17)

I will first experiment with recirculating the cooling wort thru a whirlpool inlet back into the kettle, hoping to leave the break behind.

Also thinking about putting a 3" triclover and valve at the base of my kettle to dump the trub and then pump into the fermenter.


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## TwoCrows (11/8/17)

Tested the CFC today and I am happy with no leaks, set up my three vessels with quick connect fittings. 
Just have to finish my stc1000, HLT temp control C/W relay to take to power load of the unit and pump switch mounted in a small cabinet. So, should be able to put down its first all grain Sunday morning. The HLT should be up to temp with a digital timer by 0700.

Exercise bike and bench press to do a work out with while waiting and cat to ignore me , should be good.


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## Kev R (11/8/17)

Be carfull, don't run boiling water through the copper without coolant flow in the pvc. 
I did and the pvc went soft and fell apart


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## TwoCrows (16/8/17)

Ran the chiller today from boiling to 18.8 degrees in 35 minutes recirculating the wort back into the kettle. 

Used 60 liters of water. I believe that I could easily reduce the water used as I have two points of cold water contact.The water out was hardly warm.


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