1/2" wort chiller build advice

[zwiller]

Having made my first wort chiller nearly 20 years ago from 25' 3/8" it has served me well but 'tis a crude beast and quite slow... I admit chilling wort is probably my least favorite brewing task. I will never go to plate chiller. I've done the research and it's not for me. I have a 50' roll of 1/2" that I have had for some time but a bit hesitant to commit it. Paralysis by analysis...

I don't always brew 10G, but when I do it's usually for someone's special event, but not mine... 90% it's 5G in 10G polarware. So obviously I want to try and make it keggle capable. Plan to use a corny for the wrapping. I have a bender, spring, etc. and a good soldering setup as well.

Tempted to solder some elbows and straight pipe for input and output. Definitely want copper to reach outside of kettle. The old chiller has 8' hose disconnects that ended inside kettle I would have the occasional leak that have since have sealed up from decades of hard water use... I think I will keep the hoses since it really makes it practical to connection and disconnection. Might go with reinforced line since I imagine 1/2" would collapse. Unsure if I can cheat and get 1/2" reinforced line to expand with heat to slip over pipe and use worm clamps.

Looking for advice. I would like this thing to turn out nice like a LHBS chiller. I will even build a jig if need be. Thoughts, criticism, and hilarious insults encouraged...

Thanks in advance.

 

[prandlesc]

I switched to a plate chiller last year and have loved it. It works so much faster than my 1/2 tubing chiller, it's like night and day. I'm not sure what you were researching, but my experience is that it cut my cooling time by more than half, and my concerns about cleaning have proven to be unfounded. However, if you want to stick with tubing, I'd suggest that you buy or borrow a small radius tubing bender. I bought a couple of sizes used from a machine shop off ebay. The bender helps keep the small radius bends from collapsing, and made the job simple. I also think that you'll be able to get reinforced tubing to fit over the copper. Just stick the end into some near boiling water for a minute or two and it should be pliable enough. A couple of things to remember, put your clamps on first so that you don't have to feed it over a lot of tubing, and wear some gloves. 200 degree tubing is HOT, and a leather glove takes the "surprise" right out of that situation. I also have begun using oetiker clamps and I have fewer leaks and clamp failures since then. A little heat from a propane torch will help convince the tubing to play nice, and again, have some gloves handy.

Best of Luck!

 

[zwiller]

Thanks. I got real serious about a dudadiesel plate chiller but the deal breaker was when someone used a bandsaw to cut open a suspected infected chiller and it was totally gunked up. The owner was fastidious about cleaning it, backflushing, etc. I like the no nonsense about the IC.

Cool beans about the heat and reinforced lines. Now that I am looking into it, I think the tubing bender I have is for smaller lines but I might be able to use my Dad's EMT bender since I am working with 1/2".

 

[Stealthcruiser]

The "EMT" bender might help you a little, but the "1/2 " inch of copper, and the "1/2" inch of EMT, ain't the same "1/2 inch", I don't believe.......

 

[shelly_belly]

I made mine in the style of Bobby_M

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/immersion-chiller-tutorial-video-60522/

 

[zwiller]

Thanks guys. After coming to the conclusion that no matter how I build it I will find fault with it, I just grabbed a corny and my spring benders and went at it Saturday morning. Plan to grab the reinforced line and clamps soon and it will be done. Excited to try it since it's a ton of copper compared to my old chiller.

 

[whoaru99]

Unless I'm missing something why another, albeit larger, immersion chiller?

You probably could've repurposed the old 3/8 chiller into a couterflow that would chill as well as, maybe better than the new one.

 

[zwiller]

In reality, I had a few breaks happen over time with the old one and I just shortened it to fix it, so it is probably only 15-18' long and it was just taking too long to cool. Fortunately, I snagged the copper a few years ago before it got really expensive. No argument an CFC or plate is the fastest, but they are not for me.

 

[prandlesc]

Thanks guys. After coming to the conclusion that no matter how I build it I will find fault with it, I just grabbed a corny and my spring benders and went at it Saturday morning. Plan to grab the reinforced line and clamps soon and it will be done. Excited to try it since it's a ton of copper compared to my old chiller.

Looks great!!