Making an immersion chiller

[Batz]

Brizbrew,
The unit above your previous post is my rig that is made using "Dexion" racking/ storage material. I "believe" Batz's is the same stuff. They have offices in most of the major cities.
I bought mine, 2nd hand, from a mob called A.AArons in Alexandria in Sydney. Total cost was $70 and cut to length

[post="65870"][/post]​

Yes mine is made out of Dexion as well , I was luckly to 'salavge' it from work when we pulled down some shelving.
It is very strong ,the weight of brewing equipment is more than compensated for.

Batz

 

[sosman]

What can I say sos? Your site has been a great inspiration on my trip to AG. Yours is amongst the first preferences for my IC\CFC. I am just exploring all the ways I can to get the best chiller suited for my needs. I have just found out locally (if this is correct) that there is no 5\8" copper tubing sold in Queensland\Australia any more???? :blink: So if this info is right I will have to use hosing for the external tube if I go past the IC model? What does anyone think of the idea of a spiral twist of copper wire on the outside of the inner (wort) tube of a CFC to aggitate the cooling flow?
Also, I am dubious of the thought of using a pump for wort as opposed to just pumping water to cool as with a IC. Got a bit to think about. :blink:

[post="65859"][/post]​

If you have to use hose (and lots of people do, including me), spend a little extra to get the tough stuff.

Pumping adds another thing to clean - and they are not hassle free. Having said that, I have no qualms about putting wort through the March pump that I own. I use the pump for other things, like pumping wort into kettle and liquor from hlt to mash tun so it gets it gets a workout on brewday.

 

[jgriffin]

What can I say sos? Your site has been a great inspiration on my trip to AG. Yours is amongst the first preferences for my IC\CFC. I am just exploring all the ways I can to get the best chiller suited for my needs. I have just found out locally (if this is correct) that there is no 5\8" copper tubing sold in Queensland\Australia any more???? :blink: So if this info is right I will have to use hosing for the external tube if I go past the IC model? What does anyone think of the idea of a spiral twist of copper wire on the outside of the inner (wort) tube of a CFC to aggitate the cooling flow?
Also, I am dubious of the thought of using a pump for wort as opposed to just pumping water to cool as with a IC. Got a bit to think about. :blink:
Again, all info will be appreciated. Looking forward to seeing Batz's setup on his Big Brewday.

:beer:

[post="65859"][/post]​

I got my copper inner from Reece, and used fire hose for the other. should handle lots of pressure. I also used a pair of blunt bolt-cutters to put little "dents" every 10cm or so along the 9m inner coil.
In Brisbane, with our tap water, i'm getting the wort down to 22C or so with gravity feed.

As the copper came in a 18m length, i've got a second 9m coil that i can sit in an ice-bucket during summer (when our tap water is 30C or so) to cool it down.

 

[TidalPete]

I got my copper inner from Reece, and used fire hose for the other. should handle lots of pressure. I also used a pair of blunt bolt-cutters to put little "dents" every 10cm or so along the 9m inner coil.
In Brisbane, with our tap water, i'm getting the wort down to 22C or so with gravity feed.

As the copper came in a 18m length, i've got a second 9m coil that i can sit in an ice-bucket during summer (when our tap water is 30C or so) to cool it down.

[post="65893"][/post]​

Thanks jgriffin. I take it as read that the "dents" in your inner coil don't cause any problems with your CFC cleaning\sanitising? I was thinking along the lines of twisting small gauge copper wire along the outside of the inner coil instead (same result). What ID is the fire hose? Is it easy to obtain? If you joined up your CFC with your IC you would end up with what I mentioned in my first post on this thread. I hope to go the gravity-feed way & to be pump-free if I can.
One last question --- How do you clean\sterilise your CFC? Do you just gravity-feed boiling water through your CFC then run sanitiser through? :unsure:

 

[jgriffin]

The dents are pretty "smooth" so i shouldn't have any problems with material sticking to it. I also use a braid filter in the keg though, to limit any hop matter getting into it. After use, i just flush it with hot tap water in each direction for 30 secs, and before use, i fill it with a warm phos acid solution for 10 mins or so. If i had a compressor, i'd think about blowing it out with air when finished to prevent any possibility of mold growing in it.
Another thought i had was to get a cheap $10 pond pump and cycle beer line cleaner through it after each use.

AS for the wire trick, you really want to break up the laminar flow on the wort, not the water don't you? The wire will cause turbulence in the cooling water, but won't do squat for the wort... my "dent" method should hopefully do both.

I got my hose from Tony Powell host supplies, he also has the copper, just ran out on the day i was there getting bits. he also has high temp food grade hose that fits perfectly on the 3/8" copper for the inner tube, with just a hose clamp.

 

[TidalPete]

The dents are pretty "smooth" so i shouldn't have any problems with material sticking to it. I also use a braid filter in the keg though, to limit any hop matter getting into it. After use, i just flush it with hot tap water in each direction for 30 secs, and before use, i fill it with a warm phos acid solution for 10 mins or so. If i had a compressor, i'd think about blowing it out with air when finished to prevent any possibility of mold growing in it.
Another thought i had was to get a cheap $10 pond pump and cycle beer line cleaner through it after each use.

AS for the wire trick, you really want to break up the laminar flow on the wort, not the water don't you? The wire will cause turbulence in the cooling water, but won't do squat for the wort... my "dent" method should hopefully do both.

I got my hose from Tony Powell host supplies, he also has the copper, just ran out on the day i was there getting bits. he also has high temp food grade hose that fits perfectly on the 3/8" copper for the inner tube, with just a hose clamp.

[post="65930"][/post]​

You have been a great help jg. I will do the "dent" trick with the inner coil & use sos's setup at http://brewiki.org/CounterFlowChiller for the rest. A (shorter?) IC for extra cooling in our summers is also a must, so a full 18 metre coil of 9mm copper is needed. A cheap pool pump from Bunnings would make things a little faster & easier with the cleaning\sanitising. One last question -- What ID is the external hosing as I guess you would need ample room for your (cooling) water flow? :blink:

:beer:

 

[shmick]

Hi all
For a CFWC I don't think the outer hose is that critical as long as it's attached securely.
I used 20mm(?) black poly tube at $6 for a 25m roll - figured I would replace it one day but never found the need.
The water outflow of my CFWC never gets above 65 - 70degC in normal operation so I don't think high temperature hoses aren't needed.
Might be a different story if you have metal transfer pipes and you leave it connected for the entire boil.

Fill it with sanatiser (iodophor) while mashing and empty it while doing the boil. Takes an extra minute or 2 at the most.
I prefer it to my IC as I get better results from a whirlpool at the end of the boil.

I used 1/2" copper for the inside tube and never had a problem with it clogging up.
If I built another one I would consider using 3/8" copper as I have to restrict the flow a fair bit to cool it in one pass. Takes about 10 - 15 mins all up for 22 litre batch.
I'm thinking of getting a pump and just recirculating the wort thru the CFC until cool.

 

[redbeard]

The unit above your previous post is my rig that is made using "Dexion" racking/ storage material.
I bought mine, 2nd hand, from a mob called A.AArons in Alexandria in Sydney. Total cost was $70 and cut to length

[post="65870"][/post]​

thanks for the pointer linz. for other sydney ahb'ers yellowpages lists their address as

A. Aaaron (East) Pty Ltd
901 Bourke St Waterloo NSW 2017
ph: (02) 9319 0774 Shelving & Storage Systems