50' 5/8 Whirlpool Immersion Chiller

[poptarts]

My old chiller just wasnt doing the trick, it was 25' of 1/4" copper, tool 30 mins to take out a 5 gallon batch on a good day, regularly around 45 mins. So i decided to step up my game and build a monster.
Old one:

For the new one i started by wrapping the copper around my 8 gallon hlt, pretty much the diameter of a 5 gallon bucket but the width is constant for the entire height of the pot.

I then used a smaller 2 gallon stock pot and started winding down the coil inside itself that way the entire chiller could be submerged into a 5 gallon batch in my 15 gallon pot. I soldered on arms elbows and hose fittings, took about 5 ft of copper so technically this thing is 55'. The nice thing about 5/8" soft copper tubing is that 1/2" copper fittings fit perfect and they are cheap and readily available at any hardware store. When soldering make sure you use led free solder none of that 50/50 make you sick and die stuff.
This was my first pipe soldering experience and I learned everything from this guys 2 videos so if your new to pipe soldering this is worth watching.
http://youtu.be/1vz-XmzyDN4
Here are some pics of the final product, chills wort down to 60 in under 7 minutes using my sump pump and buckets of water out in the garage! Totally worth it to shave 30 mins + off my brew day and get to get a cold break and to have everything nice and whirl pooled in a nice cone and not in my fermented

 

[eluterio]

nice job!

 

[bluecar]

Looks nice. How are the three risers connected (input vs output)?

 

[brew_ny]

looks good

 

[poptarts]

Looks nice. How are the three risers connected (input vs output)?

Not sure what you are asking, one is in one is out and the center is whrilpool arm. They are attached by 90 degree 1/2" copper pipe fittings and solder.

 

[samuryan]

would you not want the whirlpool outlet on the outside? seems inside would push everything (hops/break) out? serious question, not a "told ya so remark", nice looking piece

 

[c3hutson]

would you not want the whirlpool outlet on the outside? seems inside would push everything (hops/break) out? serious question, not a "told ya so remark", nice looking piece

The idea is for the whirlpool outlet to be flowing directly into the chilled coil. This design works ridiculously fast.

I've actually been using a hose that is attached right to the water main as it comes into my basement with a 50" more beer whirlpool chiller. Combined with the Michigan city water temp (really f'ing cold) I am getting 11 gallons from 212 to 66 in 10 minutes.

 

[jrgtr42]

Very nice work.
Is there any evidence how the coil-inside-coil design works compared to other types?
I build a ribcage-style out of a coil of 50' x 1/2", and while it worked really well the first time I used it (boil to 60 degrees F in 15 minutes) I have another coil I want to build another one, and I was wondering about what the design should be.

 

[poptarts]

I just did the inner coil part to make the overall height lower so it could be fully submerged in my 5 gallon batches. Logically with the whirlpool arm the wort is moving enough it wouldn't make a difference as long as the entire chiller is submerged to get full use out of it.

 

[Eighty2Fifty1]

So you circulate wort with a pump to do the whirlpool? I have an 80' IC and it still takes 20 minutes to cool 5 gallons to pitching temps with 55* groundwater. Seems to me that the whirlpool is the step I'm missing for peak performance.

 

[poptarts]

yes the whirlpool arm is the key to fast cooling with immersion chiller. The wirlpool arm loop goes threw the kettle spigot -> into the pump -> into the center arm on the chiller.
It keeps the wort moving and pumps a nice stream directly onto the cold coils. Plus once you are at pitching temp if you shut everything off and let it sit for a while you will get a nice hop trub cone in the center of your kettle. Plenty of sites, I know austin is one and so is that site that sells the hydra have them for sale but pretty sure you could make one with a few feet of copper pipe and like 2 90 degree fittings.

 

[poptarts]

Took some pics on brew day, figured it would help clear up a little confusion on this chiller for those that don't quite know how one should work.
Side

Other side with arm

Green is cooling water in blue is cooling water out

in the pot

Whirlpool loop, out kettle -> pump -> whirlpool arm -> into kettle

My tub of cooling water since I dont have running water in the garage.

Benefits of whirl-pooling

Hope that clears up some questions for anyone wanting to build one of these.