butterblum
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2015
- Messages
- 204
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Hey all, I wanted to discuss a potential wort chiller design I have dreamed up. The two halves:
1) I currently use a 30ft copper coil attached to my kitchen sink to cool my 6 gallon batches. It works alright when it is cool outside, but much less effective when it is warm. I also notice the bottom of my kettle cools much quicker than the top, which makes obvious sense (and yes, I do stir the cooling wort to compensate), so I was thinking of introducing an inner coil. I would split the flow to the outer coil (cooling from the bottom up), and the inner coil (cooling from the top down). To do this, I would use larger ID tubing from the faucet to a short piece of large ID copper. I would then connect the two 3/8" coils to the straight, large copper using a reducing wye. I would then tie the outputs together in the same way. Would this be an improvement?
2) I would also like to stop wasting so much water doing this. I was thinking of taking a cylindrical cooler and placing a submersible pump at the bottom, which would then run to a quick disconnect fitting where the spout normally is. This is where the wort chiller supply would be connected. The return would go into a similar fitting in the center of the lid, however, on the inside of the lid, I would have a spray nozzle to evenly distribute the warm water across the surface of the ice. I would also drill a small hole in the lid for the power cord of the pump.
Also, is there any good, sanitary way to keep the coils of the chiller evenly spaced? Mine currently just sag.
Am I crazy? (Or just an engineer?)
Any suggestions?
Thanks guys
1) I currently use a 30ft copper coil attached to my kitchen sink to cool my 6 gallon batches. It works alright when it is cool outside, but much less effective when it is warm. I also notice the bottom of my kettle cools much quicker than the top, which makes obvious sense (and yes, I do stir the cooling wort to compensate), so I was thinking of introducing an inner coil. I would split the flow to the outer coil (cooling from the bottom up), and the inner coil (cooling from the top down). To do this, I would use larger ID tubing from the faucet to a short piece of large ID copper. I would then connect the two 3/8" coils to the straight, large copper using a reducing wye. I would then tie the outputs together in the same way. Would this be an improvement?
2) I would also like to stop wasting so much water doing this. I was thinking of taking a cylindrical cooler and placing a submersible pump at the bottom, which would then run to a quick disconnect fitting where the spout normally is. This is where the wort chiller supply would be connected. The return would go into a similar fitting in the center of the lid, however, on the inside of the lid, I would have a spray nozzle to evenly distribute the warm water across the surface of the ice. I would also drill a small hole in the lid for the power cord of the pump.
Also, is there any good, sanitary way to keep the coils of the chiller evenly spaced? Mine currently just sag.
Am I crazy? (Or just an engineer?)
Any suggestions?
Thanks guys