simchez
Member
Hey. What is better for a wort chiller stainless or copper? Anyone know of a good deal anywhere?
Wort chiller
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glenwal
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Copper will transfer the heat better than stainless, but stainless can be easier to clean.
Stainless is also more bling, which often negates any benefit that the copper provides
And copper is of course going to be cheaper, and possibly easier to source depending where you are (you can pick up copper tubing from the big blue/green sheds)
What type of chiller are you looking for? An immersion chiller is pretty basic to put together even if your not to handy. A counter flow chiller can also be built reasonably simply to if you can use a few basic tools. There's plenty of guides on building either if you get your Google foo going.
Stainless is also more bling, which often negates any benefit that the copper provides
And copper is of course going to be cheaper, and possibly easier to source depending where you are (you can pick up copper tubing from the big blue/green sheds)
What type of chiller are you looking for? An immersion chiller is pretty basic to put together even if your not to handy. A counter flow chiller can also be built reasonably simply to if you can use a few basic tools. There's plenty of guides on building either if you get your Google foo going.
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Fully agree with what Glen W wrote.
In addition it is worth considering that Copper is much easier to bend than stainless so if you are looking to bend your own immersion chiller, copper is pretty much the only choice.
Copper will also tarnish over time so if you don't brew regularly you may need to spend some time cleaning up your copper immersion chiller with either vinegar or lemon juice + salt and water.
Given that the primary purpose of a chiller is to bring the temperature of your boiled wort down quickly, copper with its improved thermal conductivity is also the best at that task.
Cheers
Roller
In addition it is worth considering that Copper is much easier to bend than stainless so if you are looking to bend your own immersion chiller, copper is pretty much the only choice.
Copper will also tarnish over time so if you don't brew regularly you may need to spend some time cleaning up your copper immersion chiller with either vinegar or lemon juice + salt and water.
Given that the primary purpose of a chiller is to bring the temperature of your boiled wort down quickly, copper with its improved thermal conductivity is also the best at that task.
Cheers
Roller
simchez
Member
Copper it is. Have an ex plumber as a father in law he will be able to source stuff cheaper too. Thanks for the info.
simchez
Member
What length of tubing would be best to chill down a 50lt keggle if it was a dual chiller?
Mardoo
Noob What Craps On A Bit
What do you mean by dual chiller? Two coils in the kettle? One in the kettle fed from one in an ice bath?
I just used as much as would make the chiller as high as the surface of the wort.
I just used as much as would make the chiller as high as the surface of the wort.
Dave70
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I crammed 6m - 2 x 3m of annealed tube from Bummings - into mine. In hindsight, could have squeezed double that in if I used a larger mandrel to coil the tube around. The more the better.simchez said:
Would have made the chiller more efficient and far easier to whirlpool also. I've found whirl-pooling ( wooden spoon and cordless spoon method..) whilst chilling gets the best results.
Coodgee
Well-Known Member
You want some gap between the coils so it's more like a spring. If the coils are tight against each other it makes for metres of tiny little crevice to clean.
simchez
Member
Dual as in an inner coil going in and the outer coil going out
simchez
Member
How do the plate chillers work?
Kev R
Well-Known Member
Made one 6mt coiled stainless didn't work so well.
Made a goat type out of 6mt of copper works great. Also coper has some sort of anti bacterial qualities.living things don't seem to gro on it. Copper nickel (more rigid than copper) is used for all the salt water piping on ships because of its natural anti fouling qualities, barnacles ect don't gro on it.
Made a goat type out of 6mt of copper works great. Also coper has some sort of anti bacterial qualities.living things don't seem to gro on it. Copper nickel (more rigid than copper) is used for all the salt water piping on ships because of its natural anti fouling qualities, barnacles ect don't gro on it.
antiphile
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If I had my way again, I'd redesign my home built one (and probably will redo it still). It was made of copper coil from the green shed. However, the coils only go around near the outsde of the 60 litre kettle which means unless I regularly whirlpool/circulate the wort after the boil, the outer parts cool down but toward the centre the liquid can be up to 20C hotter in a full volume brew.
Next time it will be both a tighter inner coil (will need to use a tube/pipe bender) as well as an outer coil, obviously in one continuous length of copper pipe. I think you get a 30 metre coil from the green shed people for $100 IIRC.
Cheers
Next time it will be both a tighter inner coil (will need to use a tube/pipe bender) as well as an outer coil, obviously in one continuous length of copper pipe. I think you get a 30 metre coil from the green shed people for $100 IIRC.
Cheers
Ducatiboy stu
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Straight coils are the worst. You really want a birdsnest of copper tube, sure you cant whirlpool with them but will drop the temp far quicker than any coil could possibly hope to do
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