Diy Counter Flow Chiller

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

View attachment 52024I made mine from garden hose and 10mm copper tube and used 3/8 swagelock tees at either end the swagelock tees have a 3/8 bsp outlet so i just made adapters to get 3/4 bsp to get on to the hose tap i also had to run a 12 mm drill halfway through the swagelock to allow clearance for water in/out the length of hose was 10 meters

Do you have a closer photo of the chiller?

 

[IPWS]

Do you have a closer photo of the chiller?

i did have but lost them somewhere when we moved here from NZ

 

[brucearnold]

Home built counter flow chillers are not as efficient as a real one.

I presume this statement is based on that home made counter flow chillers do not have devices to make the water turbulent as it flow around the inner tube.

When I first thought about crafting one of these there was a lot of talk on how to replicate this. The end result was something like to attach a thin copper wire strip to the outside of the copper coil to break up the laminar flow of the water.

Now I cannot say if this is the solution, as I ended up using an immersion chiller instead, but others may be able to elaborate further and if this indeed works.

 

[pk.sax]

You could roughen up the outside of the copper coil and that would introduce enough turbulence.
In the tight fit between inner tube and outer hose though, I wonder if there is enough space for a boundary layer to form? i.e., I'm dubious about how much benefit will be gained from turbidising the flow in this case.

 

[yardy]

why not build a hybrid chiller ?

Yard

 

[pk.sax]

I was thinking a cfc like your's but installed in a pail to chill the outer tube with ice...

 

[yardy]

I was thinking a cfc like your's but installed in a pail to chill the outer tube with ice...

would've been a pita to squeeze into a bucket so i went with a pre chiller

Yard

 

[Joel]

Desmo,

I've also been considering making my own CFC. I'm currently no-chilling at the moment which is OK (and can be an advantage like today as my yeast starter isn't ready so I'll definitely keep no-chill as a backup), but I'd prefer using a good chiller. I have a 15 meter roll of 3/8" copper tube bought from Polyaire (a refrigeration place) relatively cheaply. My plan was to use half of it in a HERMS coil and the rest in a CFC. John Palmers book "How to Brew" gives good directions on how to build a CFC (the 1st edition of his book is free online, just google it). Ultimately, I might end up buying a plate chiller. For $130 it's a pretty cost effective solution. Considering the cost of all of the fittings and adapters you'll need, like another poster said it can add up to close to the plate chiller cost. And don't forget to include the price of your time. I came to the conclusion a few years ago that my time was worth about $30 an hour for my hobbies and a lot more for jobs I don't like. Taking this into consideration, spending hours fart-arsing around building building a CFC is alot more expensive than simply buying a plate chiller and getting on with brewing or spending some more time with the family.


Currently drinking: Murray's 'Heart of Darkness' Imperial Stout.

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

would've been a pita to squeeze into a bucket so i went with a pre chiller

Yard

I'd love to know how you put that together yardy!

 

[pk.sax]

I really like the simple way the wiki the OP linked to has put together the end fittings. Also like the way hardy has an all metal cfc, I think I'll have a go at making the same kin as hardy has, except, find a larger and smaller Dow copper tube that will coil one inside the other. Then fit it all in a bucket/pot of some sort.

My end goal is to have a cfc chiller that I can gravity feed from the kettle and dump one bag of servo ice onto to bring to within a few degrees of pitching temperature. Actually, I wonder if I can lay my hands on brass 3/4" compression fittings. That would mean two compression fittings on a 3/4" t piece on each end + a 3/4" hose barb (normal garden hose barb from bunnings).

Will have to draw it up and post a plan.

 

[pk.sax]

Anyone know where I could get a couple of these? (In Australia I mean - or affordably anyway)

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

Anyone know where I could get a couple of these? (In Australia I mean - or affordably anyway)
View attachment 52044

Go to a local hydraulic place. I know for a fact that RYCO make a fitting like that.

 

[phoenixdigital]

Rather than start up a new thread on this I thought I would append to this older thread as I had a lot of trouble finding information about the right fittings needed to make one of these

So I wanted to make something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVf-lTFpR2c

I was originally trying to find all the fittings to put it together but was having trouble working out which fitting to get for the end piece where the copper tubing comes out.

While at bunnings the guy there wasn't too much help for the threaded parts but did point me towards the right bits if I solder it up (rather than screw it together). I have a small cooking butane torch I got from Aldi a few years back and it worked perfectly for soldering the bits up.

The parts for one chiller
2x
2x Does need a bit of filing to allow the inner copper coil to go competely through.
4x
2x
18m of 12mm copper coil (enough for two chillers)
1.5m of 20mm copper pipe straight
1x copper pipe cutter
1x solder

After cutting three pieces of 20mm copper pipe it fits together like this


Assembled


So the threaded connectors are the same size as a normal hose. One will go to a standard pope fitting to clip a hose to. The other will get screwed into Vinyl tubing which the copper coil will go inside.

I have been buying enough parts to build two of them and so far the cost has been $105 each but I am yet to buy the outer hose.

I'm looking at this tubing but am unure if it will hold up to the hot initial temps as things start to cool down.
http://www.mundays.com.au/19mm-cvt-clear-vinyl-tubing.html

Will this tubing be OK?

Finally here is my amateur soldering and the first few fittings. When I started I cut all the 20mm copper lengths at diff sizes. The second one I made a bit neater.


Anyone have any suggestions or obvious design flaws?

When I get the outer tubing I will do a full water test and let you all know how it goes. I just thought I would post the fittings I bought so others dont have as much trouble finding the right parts.

 

[Matplat]

Hi phoenix,

I am thinking about one of these as well and also not sure what outer tubing to use.... what did you end up using?

I will be re-circulating water from our rainwater tank that we drink, so I really wan't to be sure I'm not leeching plastic nasties into it.

Unless I can find a cost effective solution, I think a plate chiller will end up being the cheapest/best option.....

 

[phoenixdigital]

Bit late responding here but I went with the clear tubing from Mundays. The whole thing works really well.

As for recirculating back into your drinkable water I personally probably wouldn't do it. Next time I brew I will check the temps coming out the other end. I would say they would be pretty high.

The only reason I would advise against it is I remember using vynil tubing once to transfer hot wort from a kettle into a fermenter. The thing almost melted which is when I learnt why people use silicon tubing for hot liquids.

I've heard of people using this sort of hose but again it is not really "food safe"
http://www.bunnings.com.au/holman-25mm-x-20m-sullage-hose-_p3110681

 

[Matplat]

Thanks mate, i have put off making the chiller for now anyway but i will bear that all in mind when i do. A full sized kettle became of greater urgency!

 

[phoenixdigital]

Some pics of my completed chillers worked out to be about $150 each.



I built one for my mate as the most expensive part was the 18m of copper from bunnings
http://www.bunnings.com.au/syneco-1-2-x-18m-annealed-copper-tube-_p4910009

The second most expensive bit was the vynil tubing.

 

[Matplat]

I found some hardcore poly pipe (1" diameter) in a local agricultural supplies place for $1 p/m, sold by the metre, which I will end up using (there has to be some benefit to living in the country right?).

There is also a local fridgie supplies place that sell 18m of 3/8" pipe for $60 so will probably make two and sell one.

How did your cooling performance go?

 

[phoenixdigital]

How did your cooling performance go?

Cooling performance was so much faster than the standard immersion chiller. I would say about twice as fast and you don't have to sit there jiggling the chiller or stiring the wort like with an immersion chiller.

The only thing I never thought about was there are two ways people use counterflow chillers.

1. Reciculate cool wort back into the kettle cooling the entire wort faster.
2. From chiller straight into fermenting vessel.

Method 1 obvioulsy cools the whole wort down from boiling faster stopping the hops from bittering further.

Method 2 leaves hot wort in the pot for longer increasing the hop bittering

I did method 2 the first time and didn't notice too much bitterness and the whole lot was down to about 30 degrees from boiling within 8-10 minutes.

I am thinking of maybe doing option 1 to get to 80 deg... then switching to method 2 to go to the fermenter.

Does anyone know if it will make much difference?

The other trick is to adjust the wort throughput with your kettle tap. Faster the less cooling slower the more cooling.

Edit: Also I noticed from my original post I had soldered a threaded pipe for attaching the vynil tubing. I ended up having to take that off as I couldn't get the vynil tubing over it. Hose clamps hold it on fine.

 

[Matplat]

I read someone explain how method 1 is actually slower, I can't remember or work out why, but the fact that you have to cool the pot down as well comes in to it.

Oh yeah that's it, as you cool the entire volume down, your cooling efficiency decreases because the temperature difference between coolant and wort decreases.

If it will do it, I think the best option is to go for method 2. If you pull your hop bag/sock out after the hour, I think any further bittering will be negligible, especially compared to no-chill.