Making an immersion chiller

[RegBadgery]

Useful article on making your own immersion chiller.

cheers
reg

http://www.allaboutbeer.com/homebrew/equip...ip/chiller.html

 

[Doc]

did you follow these directions to make one Reg?
Looks like a good project for me for the next few days.
If you did, where did you get the copper tubing from. Last time I checked my local hardware store their copper tubing was limited. Guess I'll have to find a plumbing supply shop somewhere.

Doc

 

[RegBadgery]

No - I thought about making one and then ended up buying one instead.

When I was looking around, the soft copper tubing was available at plumbing supply stores. From memory - the place I looked at sold 1/2 inch soft copper by the metre and then the next largest amount was a 6 metre coil.

-

Here's an amazing looking chiller - part immersion, part counterflow

Bill Bufkin's Turbo Chiller

http://home.swbell.net/bufkin/wort-chiller.htm

-

I tend to make a bit of a pigs breakfast of diy even though making an immersion chiller shouldn't be all that difficult.

cheers
reg

vindaloo edit - merged 3 posts

 

[Doc]

Where did you buy yours from, what did it cost and how well does it work?

Cheers,
Doc

 

[RegBadgery]

This is the closest - mine has braided hose
I think surface postage was about AU$25-30
http://www.morebeer.com/index.html?page=de...l.php3&pid=WC20

Works well though I think it would work faster if I was able to set up a better connection to my kitchen tap (but that's another story). It's well made and the connections between the hose and the copper are good.

What I liked about this one was that most of the coils are concentrated up at the top - good given that the heat in your kettle rises. I've used it about 8 times - no problems so far.

I found that I could purchase this and have it shipped from the US for less than an off the shelf equivalent in Australia. I think you'll save money making one yourself (and then there's the 6 week wait for surface mail). However if you want to get something ready made - B3 make good gear. (I also have one of their SS false bottoms.)

(I wonder how much faster a 50 foot chiller would work - or whether it would mainly be of use for large batches?)

Another option is a counterflow chiller. From what I've read the convoluted chiller from St' pats get's good feed back, along with the chillzilla

www.stpats.com
http://www.kegs.com/bestchiller.html

From what I've read they're almost identical, yet the St Pats is about US30 dollars cheaper.

I understand that counterflow chillers work faster than immersion chillers and can also be attached to a hop back - can also do other things like fitting inline aerators - eg. pumping from kettle to counterflow (which has a link to an oxygenator) to fermenter.

Like immersion chillers, you can make a counterflow - either from scratch or using a kit like Phil's Fittings (available eg. from Grain and Grape in Victoria)

cheers
reg

 

[sosman]

BTW if anyone is interested in the good, bad and ugly of wort chillers I have a gallery of pics at Brewiki: chiller gallery and no it has no connection with Michael Jackson.

 

[Hopeye]

Hi,

I'm kind of planning to do this, but, with one minor change. After the sparge, I'm planning to fill the HLT's up with water and ice blocks (during the boil), then hook the immersion chiller up to the now cold HLT and recycle the water back into the HLT. Thus saving on water as we are still in a drought. The only problem I can see with this is that the ice blocks (PET bottles filled with water and previously frozen) may not be sufficient to cool the water that has already gone through the immersion chiller.

Has anyone else tried this idea ???? Can anyone see any obivious problems with my theory ???

Beers.
h

 

[Linz]

Hopeye,
Are you pumping this around some how?? I was thinking of using an aquarium pump to circulate the water but to drop it back to the tank via a rain bar or shower rose, as these apparently drop the temp by up to 10 oC

 

[Batz]

I did'nt see my tropical wort chiller ther sosman

What it does'nt make the grade?

 

[Batz]

working

 

[Hopeye]

Linz,

I'm still in the process of building my AG brury, but, I'm planning on using an old washing maching pump to cycle the cold water from the ice bucket (HLT) thru a CFC and back into the ice bucket (filled with frozen PET bottles). That is unless someone knows of a better way without wasting too much water.

Beers,

 

[sosman]

I did'nt see my tropical wort chiller ther sosman

What it does'nt make the grade?

Waddya mean

Anyway, its a wiki page you can add it yourself next time.

 

[TidalPete]

Still haven't made my chiller & am wondering if anyone has ever made a CFC as mentioned in RegBadgery's earlier post on this thread.
http://home.swbell.net/bufkin/wort-chiller.htm
I'm thinking about it, but need to be convinced that it's worth all the extra trouble & expense as opposed to a (cheaper) immersion chiller. The extra time\expense taken in cleaning\sterilising the CFC also needs to be taken into account. I need to make my brewday as short as I can get it and don't want to be sucked into overkill on this. Any comments would be gratefully accepted.

 

[kungy]

Did my first proper AG today (and as an aside got a respectable 79% efficency, anyhow) and chilled it down with a IM and i'm already thinking of upgrading to a CFC (as well as a upgrade from a Immersion heater). Its a tad frustrating having to babysit the IM ie stirring it constantly to improve efficency and saving the water (admittedly i'll do this for a CFC too).

In a tie in question with tidal petes questions, is a CFC once it has been sanitised and when chilling is it practically set and forget, all do you need to monitor to prevent hop pellet clogs etc.

Will

 

[sosman]

I dunno if I posted this already http://brewiki.org/CounterFlowChiller but thats how I made my CFC. I used it exclusively now (I might consider using the immersion chiller for ginger beer to avoid clogging).

The CFC is a little more hassle overall but brewday goes faster and the beer cools quicker with less water. I also have a pump which I use with the CFC - others have used them with gravity but I can't personally vouch for that.

The one I made used pretty expensive compression fittings. It can be made much cheaper with soldered connections, keep your hose in water so it doesn't melt.

 

[Linz]

A quick tip for immersion chiller users.......

Move the boiler or burner(especially cast 3 /4 ring). Leaving the hot gear in contact with each other keeps the temps up for ages. I SLIDE my boiler off the burner and cooling time drops to a little over 10-15 mins,otherwise its takes 30mins +

 

[Brizbrew]

working

[post="15163"][/post]​

That is a nice setup you have there Batz. I am looking at building a 3 tier gravity fed job and what you have there has given me a few things to think about.
Where did you get the metal for the framework from and was it expensive? Does it take the weight easily?

Cheers.

 

[TidalPete]

I dunno if I posted this already http://brewiki.org/CounterFlowChiller but thats how I made my CFC. I used it exclusively now (I might consider using the immersion chiller for ginger beer to avoid clogging).

The CFC is a little more hassle overall but brewday goes faster and the beer cools quicker with less water. I also have a pump which I use with the CFC - others have used them with gravity but I can't personally vouch for that.

The one I made used pretty expensive compression fittings. It can be made much cheaper with soldered connections, keep your hose in water so it doesn't melt.

[post="65822"][/post]​

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:

 

[Batz]

Interesting to see these old posts hey?

Talk about do it different now , you see how the kettle sat on the four ring burner.
That was hot as hell when turned off for ages , and a wind guard around it helped too :blink: I did spray under the burner with water , I was a bit reluctant to spray the burner in case it cracked.
Still it worked , only 14 months ago , my system have changed so much since then

Batz

 

[Linz]

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