How Much Copper Tube?

[legham]

Hi All.

I am building a pre chiller in a small esky and i am wondering how much 15mm copper tube will it take to chill tap water effectively before it passes in to the immersion chiller.

I was thinking about 6 meters but if anyone has had any experience with this any info would be great before I spend a lot of money on copper tube.

thanks.

 

[schooey]

I have a 9m coil that I use to run my tap water through before it goes into the plate chiller. I put it in a 30L esky with two 2L frozen blocks and a 5 kg bag of party ice. My tap water is typically 20-22 degrees, after the coil it comes out at about 8-12 with a moderate flow on the tap.

Doing it this way gives me wort into the fermenter at around 17-18C within 15 minutes verses when I used my 18m immersion chiller, with the same coil pre chilling, taking 60mins plust to get to about 20C

 

[under]

No chill guys. Simple.

 

[schooey]

No chill guys. Simple.

Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. I like the flexibility... If I am in busy times for work, I may only get one day to brew, then be away from home for a week. If I no chill, that means I have to wait the extra week before I can ferment, then the fermentation time and conditioning time before I can drink. If I can put it straight into the fermenter and pitch, it just makes organising my brewing a lot easier, and shorter turn around times between brewing and actually drinking it.... I know not everyone is in the same boat as me, but that's how it is for me...

 

[jeddog]

I've got a 33lt willow and have used about 3mts of copper, works great




Also used a ball valve to adjust flow rate on the inlet tap, rather than the tap outside the shed..

hope this helps

jeddog

 

[legham]

Thanks for the pics.

Looks like a better way of doing it than the way I was going to.

I think I will have to get a couple different connections.

Im going to start mine this week so ill put some pics up when Im finished.

 

[legham]

My pre chiller is finnished.

Got a burnt hand in the process but it's all a learning curve.

Looks pretty good though!

 

[legham]

BTW I used 5.6 meters exactly. Tested it and it pumps out very chilly water.

Next is the immersion chiller!

 

[altone]

My pre chiller is finnished.

Got a burnt hand in the process but it's all a learning curve.

Looks pretty good though!

Looks lovely, hope it works nicely for you. Might try my hand at making one similar to yours over Xmas.

 

[legham]

The hardest part was finding the right fittings for the bulk head through the esky. When I found them it was easy.

 

[Mcstretch]

Looks Great!

Can't wait to use it.

 

[real_beer]

My pre chiller is finnished.

Got a burnt hand in the process but it's all a learning curve.

Looks pretty good though!

Looks great!
One thing you could think about doing is adding a drain for the melting ice water to run out of, these things work much better if its just ice in contact with the exchanger. Obviously if its hitting the temperature your aiming for don't bother, just something to think about if the weather heats the tap water up too much in summer :icon_cheers: .

 

[Guest Lurker]

Looks great!
One thing you could think about doing is adding a drain for the melting ice water to run out of, these things work much better if its just ice in contact with the exchanger. Obviously if its hitting the temperature your aiming for don't bother, just something to think about if the weather heats the tap water up too much in summer :icon_cheers: .

Not hassling, but asking. If there is water and ice, at the same ice temp, and the water is giving you better contact with the coils, why is it better to have just ice on the coil? I know if you freeze a block around a coil, the melted water inside the block by the coil insulates it, but I think this is different?

 

[Adamt]

Freezing around the coil is no good, the ice prevents the melted, warmed (spent) water from escaping the vicinity of the coil as it's held in, waiting for the surrounding ice to melt.

 

[real_beer]

Not hassling, but asking. If there is water and ice, at the same ice temp, and the water is giving you better contact with the coils, why is it better to have just ice on the coil? I know if you freeze a block around a coil, the melted water inside the block by the coil insulates it, but I think this is different?

I thought the same thing but when I picked up a cold plate from an old pub beer engine (looks like a flat piece of aluminum with ss tubing running through it) and did research into how they worked, the instructions were very specific that the plate had to be always surrounded and in contact with the ice only and not sit at the bottom of the esky in the water for the plate to work properly.

This idea was reinforced several months ago when I picked up 2 large SS esky style beer engines with various ss coils hung inside them on ss frames to keep them out of the water and surronded by ice only, both having drains to carry away the melting ice water. An excellent pickup from a scrapyard for $10 abox (no lids) and $3 kilo for the coils if I do say so myself!

So I gather that if thats how it works to chill down the beer the same would apply to water, as the warm tap water flows through and exchanges its heat for cold the warm water in the esky drains out the bottom and only cold ice remains in contact with the heat exchange.

I dont't think its a big deal or necessary in this instance but might help a bit if the tap water does warm up in summer :icon_cheers: .

PS.
I'm a slow typist so this reply might appear out of order.

 

[yoey]

The hardest part was finding the right fittings for the bulk head through the esky. When I found them it was easy.

Where did you find them?

 

[legham]

Where did you find them?

I Found all the parts at home hardwear. It wasen't that they were hard to find but the fact that I changed my mind on how to do it a number of times.

 

[schooey]

Buggers me.... I been using one of these for a while, and I find it more effective when there is a couple of solid ice blocks, party ice and some slurry.... Maybe thats the difference between a oil and a plate.. :unsure:

 

[Kieren]

Looks Great Legham.

Looks very bling!

 

[rwmingis]

Hi guys,

Why have a coil at all?

For my pre-chiller I have about a 1.0m length of 6 inch PVC pipe with a permanent cap at one end and a full bore screw on cap at the other end. On each cap there is a 1/2 BSP fitting to which I fit a couple of those SS braided washing machine hoses; one hose to the sink tap and the other hose to the chiller.

After I have chilled the wort down to a reasonable temperature using tap water only, i fill the PVC pipe with ice and connect the hoses. As water flows through the PVC tube, it goes over the ice, and out the other hose, straight into the immersion chiller, the water comes out ice cold.

Mind you, the ice will melt a bit faster this way as there is water touching the ice which is touching the PVC pipe, but still works very well. You still end up using a bag of ice either method.

I'll post a piccie when i get home.

Cheers,

Rob