Counterflow Wort Chiller

[Matty]

Well, here it is. Mad Matt's hombrew CFWC.

Made from 4 metres of copper tubing, 4 metres ofhigh temp clear PVC tubing, a couple of elbow joints, some conetite union thingy's and some hose-clamps. Not to mention a masacred garden hose :lol:

Getting closer to my AG setup day by day.

Oh yeah, the hole thing was made for around $70. Prices and parts (from bunnings) are as follows.

6 x S/S Hose clamps @ 2.22 ($13.22) 298706
2 x Coinette Union @ 8.06 ($16.12) CU933
2 x Capil-Tee W25 reducing @ 2.25 (4.50) 11143.3
4m Copper annealed 3/8" pipe @ $25.28 9.5 x 0.91
4m Tubing clear vinyl 20mm @ $11.00 VTS2026
----------------------------------------------------------
total cost = $70.12

(I already had 2 hose lok fittings and some hose, so no cost there...)

 

[big d]

well done matty
it looks the goods.you must be hanging out for its first run.keep the photos coming of how it all goes.

bd

 

[Rubes]

looking good and great detail for those who follow in your footsteps.

One question. How did you bend the copper? Internal springy thing or round something or what? Never bent copper before and am paranoid about rupturing my cooler-to-be.

 

[Matty]

Well, the copper comes in a loosish coil anyway. I straightened it out as best I could, slipped the copper in the tubing (which was no mean feat I might add)and the nput on all the fittings.once everything was in place, I just rolled it up by hand. I made 3 big loops first and then just gently worked them in from there. I was going to wrap them around a keg, but it was just as easy to do it by hand. No real kinks, but I suppose it isn;t prefectly round either.

 

[sosman]

A few kinks and dents would probably encourage turbulent flow anyway. I have seen tech papers on this topic that say the heat transfer efficiency goes up nearly 10 times from laminar to turbulent flow.

 

[Matty]

I also forgot to mention, I had to drill the lip out of the inside of the coinettte union with a 3/8" drill bit. It is meant to stop the 3/8" pipe from going all the way through, but I wanted it to do that obviously..

 

[joecast]

wow, nice work matty. looks like a real pro job. let us know how it works
joe

 

[Trough Lolly]

Great work Matt,
You should sell them and make a killing!
Cheers,
TL

 

[Hopeye]

Excellent job there Matt. When I finally get the dosh, I reckon I'll be going copper in copper for my CFWC.

 

[Matty]

TL: heh... well I don't know that I'd be able to sell them competitivley. Mine cost $70 to build, and Goliath sell theirs for $80. For me to make any money off them I'd have to be able to sell them for $70, which would require making them for around $50 or even less.

Nice idea though. As it stands however, I'd rather help out fellow HBers and hopefully have others improve on what I've done.

One thing I came very close to doing was buying 20mm copper pipe and having an all copper CFWC. Ran out of money though, and all copper would be quite expensive to build.

 

[Asher]

looks the goods mate...


From my experience it may be a bit short. I've found that a lenght of around 10-12m is needed to get wort down to tap temps.
Although its all relative to the speed at wich your pumping the wort, and the tap water temp....

Asher for now

 

[Matty]

Yeah, I was wondering about that... but I;ve had a look at other designs and they vary from 4 metres to 8 metres.

I could always run the wort at say 500ml per minute and cold water at a faster speed. Anyway, I'm sure I can adjust things to get it to work properly, if not a bit slower than 23 litres in 10 minutes

 

[Asher]

That will work..
but even the morebeer.com ones are 8m long and "they aint gonna give away anyting they dont have to"
Just depend what your trying to achieve.

Your reason to go downt the CFC route must not be cost or time driven.... 50mins to cool 25 litresw of wort. My old imersion chiller is quicker... and alot cheaper to make...

I went down this path once I upgraded my brewery to include a pump. I wanted to reduce time and work during my brew day. So wanted it to cool as fast as I could pump through it. Plus it allows me to use a hop back.

Asher for now

 

[GMK]

Matty

Just get some more 3/8 copper pipe - say 4m - roll into a coil and conect this inline with tap water.
Place coils in an esky/bucket of ice - you now have a prechiller.
Tap water at 18celcius - thru ice bucket down to around 4 - then into th ecfc to chill wort.
Will be alot more efficient and take up alot less water and time.

Hope this helps.

 

[Matty]

I like your idea GMK. Might see if I can incorporate that...

 

[sosman]

Matty - show us your bits

Closeups of the business end would be good.