Size Copper For Cooler Coil

[Gout]

need to make a wort cooler coil and forgot what size pipe to use, looks like i will pay bunnings silly prices as i dont know where else to try.

anyone know a cheaper place to buy it (easily)

what length should i buy also?

 

[Batz]

I used 1/2'' dia (12mm), 12meters long , any longer and it would be to tall

 

[Doc]

Can't recall the diameter but it is the right size to just get a bit of garden hose over.

As for length, I bought a complete roll.

Bought it from a Plumbing supply store so it was cheaper thann Bunnings etc.

I built it by wrapping it around a cornie keg. See here.

Also note the bends for the end you attach the hoses to. There is enough clearance to clear the opening of the keg they are also bend down so if there are any leaks on the joins to the garden hose etc the water will not run back into the boiler. You don't what to spoil your wort when you have reached the end.
This has saved me a few times when the hose has actually blown off. Also when you put the chiller into the boiler (with about 20 mins to go) any water in the coil will heat up and come out the ends and if you don't have hoses attached you have just put crap water in your beer.


Beers,
Doc

 

[GMK]

Doc,

Nice snippets of info there on the wort chiller.

Ben,

Can buy the ducks guts of wort chillers - goto St Pats website and check out the Convoluted counterflow wort chiller - very nice.

Cost approx 185.00 landed in Aus.
They also have an excellent ss False Bottom.

 

[big d]

gday ken
checked the st pats site but it says minimum o/s order is $500.
is this the case or what?
if so it is rather prohibitive. :angry:
any ideas on this one?

cheers
big d

 

[GMK]

I have a mate who has a mate in Austin Texas.

I can talk to him - get him to buy it and then ship it over to Oz....

Let me know.

 

[Doc]

St Pats recently decided to stop selling to the craftbrewing market.
As such their minimum order also went up.

Cheers,
Doc

 

[big d]

cheers ken
probably a little close to xmas at the moment.just convinced the wife to let me buy a grain crusher but will hopefully be able to come up with the bucks in the new year.will keep in touch

cheers
big d

 

[Justin]

My chiller is a combination of 1/2in pipe up over the sides (plus one or two coils) and the rest is 8 metres of 3/8in. I made it with some scraps I had and some 3/8in that was given to me. The water flow through it was actually alot better than I thought and I'm very happy with it. I joined the 1/2in to 3/8in with some lead free solder (Aquasafe 100). At Tradelink they sell 3/8in copper tubing at $3.50pm, $5pm for 1/2in, however Bunnings sell 18metre rolls of 1/2in for $66, which equals $3.67pm.

Just some info. Good luck with it. Note copper pipe is measured by outside diameter, PVC piping and other stuff is often internal diameter (ID). Look out.

Cheers, Justin

 

[Gout]

great if bunnings are not so bad i will just buy the coil from them. As long as the hose fit's i'll buy it need it before i can all grain, and i want to try out the new mill now

mmm beer

cant wait...

 

[Gough]

Thanks for the info guys, especially Doc. As it happens I'm about to do exactly the same thing having just had my keg 'converted'. Not too far from AG now... by the way, what do you do with all the water? 20 minutes to half an hour of running water is a hell of a lot of garden watering and is a shame to just waste, especially during a drought. Will add to the cost of the brew too I guess Not that any of this will stop me, just thought you blokes might have some innovative ideas. You usually do

Shawn.

 

[therook]

if your like me and on tank water, just run it back in...

Rook

 

[Batz]

I used a tube bender to do the top and bottom bends ran the line inside of the coil , if you know what I mean , just bend that first bit and stick it inside your keg , then bend around the outside
Looks much better
Will post a pic if you like

 

[JasonY]

Just as an aside, how much water do you have to run through one of these to cool your 23L of scalding hot wort? Are we talking 100L, 200L , 1000L ...... just wondering before I go down the track? How does this volume compare with couterflow chillers?

I am currently just floating a 12L pot of frozen water in the boiler to chill it down but I will have to sort out a better method once I convert the tukerbox freezer into a climate controlled home for my fermenters

 

[Doc]

Not sure how much I run through it, but the first 5 mins the water is scalding coming out.
After that is starts to cool down.
The scalding water I run over the weeds at the back of the shed.
When the water cools down I run the water over the plants to give them some water.

What I really should do is collect the hot water that first comes out and use it to clean the boiler.

Beers,
Doc

 

[jayse]

like the return to the rain tank idea.
i do pretty much the same but i have a 200 litre cold liquior tank which i can cool the water down in and i use a pump to pump it through the cooler and return it to another drum..
iam currently getting the cold liquior tank set up with a compressor so i can cool the water right down just like the micro breweries do for their plate exchangers.

anyway all the copper i use is 3/8 for the chiller and herms coil. this fits in a garden hose with a few mm.s' gap.

$66 for 18 metres is a good price.
although if anyone in adelaide wants some i can get it for $50.

anyway heres to cooling your sweet wort cheers jayse.

 

[Linz]

What I "intend" to do is use and old screw top fermenter, frozen bottles of water, and an old/working "Eheim" fish tank filter(empty) and recirculate the water. Hopefully it will minimise it to 18 - 19 litres of "waste water" which can be stored and be re-used, maybe with a little orthophosphoric acid in it?

 

[big d]

sounds like a good idea linz.if you can keep the water usage down that low i would just use fresh water each time.chuck the waste water on your favourite plants.

 

[Gout]

BOY'O it was hard work but i finally got it done. $66 for 18m of 1/2 from Bunnings

It looks easy hey... well it aint i had a good old time geting it bent around the keg and it kinked slightly at the 180 deg bends for the water to enter and exit. I am not overly worried as it should still flow heaps of water....

I want to rig up some pump and then circulate the spa water out the back for cooling that way i can run it flat out without using water and heating the pool hehe

I used some fishing line to hold the coil's nice and tight will this pose a problem?

I am also looking for a tap then pipe for the sparge water into the mash tun. I bought a ball valve and some brass fittings to make it work and some washing machine hose for the hot water , i dont think it is food grade so it worries me... maby the nylon hose i use for the secondry? will get soft but is it ok?
otherwise i will need to rig up a copper pipe setup and not being a plumber or trades person this will be funny

 

[Justin]

Yeah the small bends are troublesome without a pipe bender. Rolling up raises a sweat, eh!

Not sure about the fishing line but if you could get some half decent electrical wire with a solid copper wire you could strip the insulation off and use that to tie everything together, but it should be rigid enough anyway with out it.

Cheers, Justin