bigplunkett
Well-Known Member
I want to build a chiller i was going to make a two stage with 10 feet or so in an ice bucket. Would 50 feet or 3/8 work better or 25 feet of 1/2 inch, the price is about the same 30$ for each?
Yah like 30% more from math.
50% more by my math, but who's counting?
I would go 50' of the 3/8 and do a dual coil setup - cold water goes down a tight coil in the center, to cool hottest wort, then comes back up in a larger coil surrounding the inner one. I have this setup with 1/2" 50' copper and it cools boiling wort, up to 11.5 gallons, down to pitching temps insanely quickly. In fact, I usually overshot(under?) whirlpool temps because it cools too fast.
It might be worth looking into a fountain pump. Instead of running a prechiller, toss the fountain pump in a bucket of icewater, and recirculate that through the immersion chiller. This will save you water, and will net you colder water through the IC as opposed to a prechiller.
Yup. 1/2x25 has 50% less surface area,
but.. 3/8x50 has 33.5 more surface area.
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