20 or 50' copper for DIY wort chiller?

[aslander]

I've got the day off and my wife doesn't today, so I'm planning to use the extra time to run to the nearest Lowe's and buy parts to put together a wort chiller and MLT.

Lowe's only offers 20' and 50' coils of copper now. The 20' is significantly cheaper.

3/8" x 20' for $19.53
3/8" x 50' for $58.90

Right now I only use a 7.5 gallon BK, but will probably get something bigger down the road.

Is 20' sufficient? Will 50' be that much of a difference? Should I, instead buy 2 25 foot coils and build a wort chiller with a pre-chiller?

 

[Rockn_M]

If you think at any pint you'll go bigger them I would do 50. No point in spending the time and money only to do it again.

 

[logdrum]

You could solder 2 20s together with a sweat coupling (if you have the means to solder)

 

[30Bones]

My current SS chiller is 25' or so IIRC and it does well on 5 gallon batches. I think bumping it up to 1/2' and keeping it short would be a better idea. You could add length down the road also without too much headache.

 

[TangoHotel]

Go with the 50. I used a 20 foot coil, and it works, but I wish I would have used the 50. Its more money, but I could chill much faster. Get the garden hose hookups too. Using hose clamps is a pain in the rear.

 

[augiedoggy]

better to get the thin walled pure copper coil... The stuff sold at lowes and home depot is thick walled and the copper is diluted with other metals to make it cheaper and more plyable it works but the thin walled pure copper stuff works much better so I'm told... I agree if 50ft is better but if you go ft ft you will want 1/2" as my cold water was already hot coming out of the end of my 3/8 25ft immersion chiller so 25 extra feet would do very little with 3/8 diameter coil... not enough flow with my faucet on full blast.

 

[In_Vino_Veritas]

If it helps with the decision, Home Depot sells 50' by 3/8" for $42.39.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-3-8-in-x-50-ft-Copper-Soft-Refrigeration-Coil-Pipe-D-06050PS/202287109?N=buyt%2FNtk-All%2FNtt-copper%252Btubing

That's the way I'd go, going with the 50', it's what I've done.

 

[evanmars]

I had a 1/2" x 20' chiller. I don't know how much difference the 3/8" would make but I hear it is better than 1/2" because it has more surface area compared to volume.
Anyway, when I chilled, the water went in at around 50* and came out too hot to put your hand in.
What I'm getting at is once the water has absorbed the heat, it won't matter if it still has 100' left to go, it isn't going to cool any more.
However, a double 20' coil might be quicker.
This is what I am building now: THIS

 

[In_Vino_Veritas]

I had a 1/2" x 20' chiller. I don't know how much difference the 3/8" would make but I hear it is better than 1/2" because it has more surface area compared to volume.
Anyway, when I chilled, the water went in at around 50* and came out too hot to put your hand in.
What I'm getting at is once the water has absorbed the heat, it won't matter if it still has 100' left to go, it isn't going to cool any more.
However, a double 20' coil might be quicker.
This is what I am building now: THIS

You're making two assumptions that may change the advise. First, you're assuming that after 20' the water has reach equilibrium with the fluid you're trying to cool. Unless you've got rather warm chill water, I can't see your cooling water being at equilibrium with dropping surrounding wort from boil temps in 20'. Second, I don't see the OP confirming this is immersion chiller (easily could have missed this). With a counter flow chiller, you're going to continually introduce fresh cool water.

 

[augiedoggy]

I had a 1/2" x 20' chiller. I don't know how much difference the 3/8" would make but I hear it is better than 1/2" because it has more surface area compared to volume.
Anyway, when I chilled, the water went in at around 50* and came out too hot to put your hand in.
What I'm getting at is once the water has absorbed the heat, it won't matter if it still has 100' left to go, it isn't going to cool any more.
However, a double 20' coil might be quicker.
This is what I am building now: THIS

Two 25' coils would be much more effective.

 

[evanmars]

You're making two assumptions that may change the advise. First, you're assuming that after 20' the water has reach equilibrium with the fluid you're trying to cool. Unless you've got rather warm chill water, I can't see your cooling water being at equilibrium with dropping surrounding wort from boil temps in 20'. Second, I don't see the OP confirming this is immersion chiller (easily could have missed this). With a counter flow chiller, you're going to continually introduce fresh cool water.

No assumption on first part. Yes, while maybe not exactly equilibrium, definitely close - per actual usage.

 

[augiedoggy]

No assumption on first part. Yes, while maybe not exactly equilibrium, definitely close - per actual usage.

Ditto (again from my experience) the water coming out of my 25' chiller is so warm its not very useful at that point for cooling.

 

[Slow_Day]

better to get the thin walled pure copper coil... The stuff sold at lowes and home depot is thick walled and the copper is diluted with other metals to make it cheaper and more plyable it works but the thin walled pure copper stuff works much better so I'm told...

As I understand it, all refrigerant and plumbing rated copper tubing is 99.9% pure copper with no alloys added. What grade of tubing are you proposing that has the thinner wall?

 

[aslander]

Yes, I meant immersion chiller. Sorry for not being clear.

What I wound up doing was party based on the lack of many choices at Lowe's. I wound up going with 3/8" x 50ft. The 1/2" they only had a max of 20 feet.

I just put it together and did a ribcage design, and bought a $15 pump from Harbor Freight so I can pump ice water through it. I agree that with 50 feet, the 1/2" would work better. I think the pump is working hard to get water through due to the bottleneck of the diameter of pipe.

One the other hand, I think that the length will work out better once the difference between the wort and water temp is less. The longer time will give it more of a chance to equalize. I do agree that the length won't matter when the wort is extremely hot. Maybe I'm making false assumptions or not explaining it the way I see it, but it seems to make sense to me.

I will post some pics and DIY info tomorrow, as I am brewing two more batches tonight while I have the time off.

Thanks everyone

 

[tooblue02]

I did the 20 foot 1/2" pipe and used a coupling to join two 20' sections together. Works really well for the 5 gallon batches and I think it will work great if I go to 10 gallon batches. I had the same issue with the selection and decided the 1/2" would be better.

 

[jleiii]

I replaced my 20' 3/8" with a 50' 1/2" in a double coil and dropped from 20+ min to 5 min on a 5 gallon batch, using about the same amount of water which I capture for cleanup.
No history as I just tried it the first time yesterday.