1/2" Stainless Steel CFC!!!

[tsb22]

This is actually the first chiller in my arsenal. After about 2 years of brewing 5gal batches using just an icebath to cool, I have just upgraded to a 15gallon kettle and lifting that into a tub of ice was no longer going to work.

After a whole lot of research here on HBT I settled on the ease of a CFC. While plenty of people here use 3/8" Copper with 15gallon batches, I have some plans/dreams to go up to 30-40gallon batches & the flowrate a 3/8" tubing provides probably wasnt to cut it. Im sure this seems overkill to some of you, but I am happy with the results, and it should serve the purpose of chilling beer .
Special thanks to Zach @ StainlessBrewing for helping me with my parts list!

I tried to do everything with the few tools I had, so there is no welding, no grinding, no pipe cutting. If you have these tools, you could probably get away with making something similar for cheaper, but here goes:

Costs so far:
Managed to find a piping distributor for most of the parts, I believe the website may be going online here in near future.
25' of 1/2" 304SS Tubing: $27.50
(2) 1/2" SS Bore Through Compression Fitting: $26.24
(2) 1/2" SS Regular Compression Fitting: $29.00
(2) 3/4" SS Tee: $7.60
(1) 3/4" x 3" SS Nipple - - Cut in Half: $3.44
(2) 3/4" x 1/2" SS Hex Bushing: $3.50
(2) 3/4" Brass MPT to 3/4" Garden Hose $3.75
(1) 1/2" SS Tee: $2.40
Shipping on all this: $16.70

Misc Parts
(2) 1.25" Hose Clamps $1.25
25' of 1" I.D. Heater core hose from Advanced Auto: $39.11

Parts I still need to add (what is missing):
1 Type A Camlock 3.70
1 Type F Camlock 3.99
1 Female Garden Hose Adapter $6.00
8 1/2" ID Silicone O rings (to use instead of SS ferrules) $1.60
1 1/2NPT Thermometer with 2.5" Stem $24

Project Total ~$200.


The picture below has all the hardware laid out.

Usually people here on HBT struggle with bending their SS Tubing, I was "lucky" enough to find a manufacturer that would bend the tube down for me. I say lucky because once stainless is already bent, it makes threading the hose around the stainless a slow & painful process. Using oxyclean water & vasoline, I slid about 4 inches of hose onto the tubing at a time. Once I got a couple rings on, the hose had to be "spooled" or slack had to be built up on the first three coils in order to then un-spool or pull out the slack to continue dragging the tubing down the pipe.
Notice the smaller or tighter 4th ring and the slack in the upper 3 rings here:

If you cant tell from the pictures, the outer hose is then attached to a 3/4" Pipe nipple which has been cut in half. It looks like one of these, only 3/4"
http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=36_39&product_id=79
I used this method rather than an actual barbed fitting as a 3/4" barbed fitting actually has an inner diameter closer to 1/2". I didn't want to bottle neck my outer flowrate here, so I went with the nipple. The tee with nipple attached is then slid through the SS tubing and hose clamped to the rubber hosing at each end.

Now that I am past the bottle neck I can reduce down to 1/2" threads and a 1/2" Bored Through Compression fitting is then slid on the tubing that attaches to the tee. It has to be a bored through fitting as a regular compression fitting is made to only slide onto tubing so far before stopping.

I use this Bore Through Compression fitting to effectively seal the cooling water from coming out the wrong part of the tee.

*WARNING* the slightest bends down the length of the tubing will make sliding compression fittings down them tough.

Notice the bends:

I had to use alot of force & a plumbers wrench to push/twist the compression fitting down to where the tee sits. My tubing ended up looking a little rough by the end:

A second regular compression fitting is then added to the end to attach a camlock, or in my case (on one end) a 1/2" Tee which will allow me to attach a thermometer to measure the temp of the wort going into the fermentor. Currently the 1/2" tee is hanging out there a little further than I'd like, but until i find someone to cut a few inches off the end, it will remain like this.

This is the WORT IN (water out) Side with a nice/small spacing between compression fittings:

You may ask why I didnt just buy a chillzilla or chillus convolutus at this price. Well, for one I didnt realize it was going to cost quite so much. But secondly there actually is no CFC I know of that is Stainless Steel, unless you consider a plate chiller, but thats a whole different animal.

Keep in mind, the camlocks, & thermometer add on would also need to be added to a chillzilla Also my chiller is 25' as compared to ~12. The disadvantage of full flow through 1/2" tubing is the amount of contact time with the chiller, Im assuming by doubling the length I have doubled the contact time.

Overall In hindsight, I would have gone with the chillzilla considering the following:

Compression Fittings:
1) Dont slide so well on bent tubing = wrestling with SS on your day off
2) $$Expensive = would have been vastly cheaper to use copper tubing & regular sweat fittings, BobbyM did a great job on the wiki, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_make_a_Counter_Flow_Chiller
Im sure this could be easily adapted for 1/2" Tubing & 3/4" Fittings/Tees

Heater Core Hose:
1) Black rubber seems to rubs off on your hands = kinda worried about the life of this stuff.
2) not rigid = sides of SS may be in contact with parts of tubing not allowing ideal cross section
3) Its not food grade = using the water going through the outer jacket should not be used for cleaning, or brewing a second batch.

Thanks for all the DIY Chiller threads here on HBT. It helped me decide the type, size & material for this whole build!

[Finished Photo to come]

Hope this was educational. I will post the results when I get to brewing with the beast. I am hoping for a full 1/2" flowrate of wort into the fermenter. Although I still have a few modifications to make to my 1/2" silicone transfer hoses in order to make the whole flow 1/2" bore :rockin:

 

[tsb22]

*** Results post***

 

[adivito]

Looks good, and if you dont mind where did you get the ss tubing? Thats a pretty good price.

 

[DevilsCreekBrewing]

Very nice looking chiller you made.

The SS coil can be cut with the same small tubing cutters used for copper pipe and tubing. You should be able to pick one up for a few $ at your local hardware store, and they are always handy to have around.

If you find you need further turbulence, you could always insert a SS wire through the center, which would help to keep things agitated.

 

[BrewinBigD]

As far as the Heater hose is concerned, and from experience, it will degrade over time with heat and petroleum, just as the hoses in your vehicle will. given that you introduced Vaseline into the hose during the fabrication, the hose may soften and blister over time as the inner layer degrades where i was incontact with the vaseline. regardless, your design is awesome, and i bet it will chill wort @ full flow down way below pitching temps if you have well water. when i built my CFC, to lube the ruber hose i simply made a solution of dish soap and water and soaked thehose for a few minutes. windex also works well to lubricate petroleum rubber. we used to use it to repo cars with a ramp truck by dousing the wheels of the vehicle with windex.. we could then drag the car in gear up the deck of the ramp truck without any resistance. Cheers to your build!

 

[StainlessBrewing]

Either way it's still a beauty and should serve it's purpose. I got nervous when I saw the nuts all the way down to the body but noticed on another thread that you might have used orings instead of the ferrules.

 

[tsb22]

Looks good, and if you dont mind where did you get the ss tubing? Thats a pretty good price.

I dont think the vendors website is up & running yet, should be soon though. http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/

Very nice looking chiller you made.

The SS coil can be cut with the same small tubing cutters used for copper pipe and tubing. You should be able to pick one up for a few $ at your local hardware store, and they are always handy to have around.

If you find you need further turbulence, you could always insert a SS wire through the center, which would help to keep things agitated.

Might go pick one up this weekend and give it a try, I just figured with it being stainless, the cutter blade would just dull.

As far as the Heater hose is concerned, and from experience, it will degrade over time with heat and petroleum, just as the hoses in your vehicle will. given that you introduced Vaseline into the hose during the fabrication, the hose may soften and blister over time as the inner layer degrades where i was incontact with the vaseline. regardless, your design is awesome, and i bet it will chill wort @ full flow down way below pitching temps if you have well water. when i built my CFC, to lube the ruber hose i simply made a solution of dish soap and water and soaked thehose for a few minutes. windex also works well to lubricate petroleum rubber. we used to use it to repo cars with a ramp truck by dousing the wheels of the vehicle with windex.. we could then drag the car in gear up the deck of the ramp truck without any resistance. Cheers to your build!

Thanks for the tip, might be the first time vaseline has done me wrong The oxyclean was pretty slick, but it was still rough getting the tubing into the hose, I guess dish soap would have been a good idea. As for making it last, I would hope that keeping the CFC out of the weather will help. Also i figured the hose under a car hood gets way more abuse from dirt, chemicals and heat then this chiller should.

Either way it's still a beauty and should serve it's purpose. I got nervous when I saw the nuts all the way down to the body but noticed on another thread that you might have used orings instead of the ferrules.

Thanks, For the picture I actually dont have anything compressing, still waiting on the orings to come in the mail.

 

[fafrd]

I will post the results when I get to brewing with the beast. I am hoping for a full 1/2" flowrate of wort into the fermenter. Although I still have a few modifications to make to my 1/2" silicone transfer hoses in order to make the whole flow 1/2" bore :rockin:

Resurrecting this old thread - thinking of building a similar CFC (1/2" O.D. SS inside 1" I.D. rubber hose) - how well does yours work? Do you pump the wort through the CFC or use gravity? If you pump, what pump do you use, can you run full throttle, and how much time to cool a 10 gallon batch?

Aside from alternatives possibly being less expensive, if you were building this again, is there anything you would do differently?

thanks,

-fafrd

 

[tsb22]

Ha, guess I never posted results did I. Originally the CFC did not work as well as I had hoped. With my groundwater at 75 I was able to output 80deg wort with a march 803 pump that had the valve barely open, as in maybe 10-15% flow. Once I moved into a place with 60 deg tap water I could run my pump at around 1/3 flow to output 65 deg wort.

My typical process is to cool the entire 10gal batch from 212 down to 180deg. This is when I add my flameout/whirlpool hops. After I let it steep for 20mins I turn the cold water & pump on and chill the wort down to abt 65. It probably takes 15minutes to fill up my fermenters.

Now that I know someone has interest in this I will try to record some more scientific results next time I brew. Hopefully that will be this Sunday.

As for things I would do differently. I would probably buy the pre-manufactured 1/2" SS coil. I can't recall who makes it off the top of my head but it costs around $200 and I could then double batch with the cold water outflow (now heated to 190ish). Second possibility I would consider is a 50' coil to be able to double the contact time with the wort in the chiller.

Hope that helped...

 

[fafrd]

Originally the CFC did not work as well as I had hoped. With my groundwater at 75 I was able to output 80deg wort with a march 803 pump that had the valve barely open, as in maybe 10-15% flow. Once I moved into a place with 60 deg tap water I could run my pump at around 1/3 flow to output 65 deg wort.

Wow, so through 25' of 1/2" stainless, you're not able to get to better than 5 degrees above tap-in and only at a very slow flow-rate. Aside from how open or closed the valve is, it would be very interesting to me if you could estimate the two wort flow-rates you are referring to above (barely open and 1/3 flow). Also, can you comment on the water flow rate for the two above examples - was it at max and what would you estimate that to be in terms of gpm? Also, do you know if your SS tubing was 0.02" sidewall or 0.035" sidewall (or tell me where you purchased it and I can figure it out).

My typical process is to cool the entire 10gal batch from 212 down to 180deg. This is when I add my flameout/whirlpool hops. After I let it steep for 20mins I turn the cold water & pump on and chill the wort down to abt 65. It probably takes 15minutes to fill up my fermenters.

Is the cooling from 212 to 180 deg passive, or are you using your chiller? If using the chiller, I'd be interested in any data you can provide on that cooling cycle as well (wort flow rate, tap flow rate, time needed).

One of the reasons there seems to be so much of a focus on 'fast cooling' is to minimize the increase in DMS, which occurs above 140 degrees F. If you are letting your hot wort sit for 20 minutes at 180 degrees, that ought to be a temperature where DMS formation is continuing - have you had any problem with DMS or do you believe the whole concern with that issue has been overblown (at least for your beer styles)??

OK, so 15 minutes to bring 10 gallons (or a true 11 or 12 gallons?) from 180 to 65 through your chiller with 60 degree tap-in, right? So the wort flow rate is about 0.67 gpm (or 0.8gpm if you have an actual 12 gallons of wort) - any estimate you can provide of the tap=in flow rate or the total amount of water used for this cooling cycle would be interesting...

Now that I know someone has interest in this I will try to record some more scientific results next time I brew. Hopefully that will be this Sunday.

I'd appreciate it, and hopefully you will get a chance to read this thread before you get to your cooling phase!

As for things I would do differently. I would probably buy the pre-manufactured 1/2" SS coil. I can't recall who makes it off the top of my head but it costs around $200 and I could then double batch with the cold water outflow (now heated to 190ish). Second possibility I would consider is a 50' coil to be able to double the contact time with the wort in the chiller.

Hope that helped...

First, this has been enormously helpful - thank you. Second, I think I am going to be copying/improving your design and would greatly appreciate your help and the benefit of your experience (and existing SS CFC )

I've looked at the SS-in-SS design from Williams Brewing: http://www.williamsbrewing.com/STAINLESS-CONVOLUTED-COUNTERFLOW-CHILLER-P3152.aspx

It is only 12' long (which should be a drawback versus your design) and I don't really see much cooling benefit to the metal outer hose versus the rubber outer hose you are using (ID seems to be about 3/4" or less, so your 1" ID rubber hose should be an advantage in terms of water flow rate). On the other hand, the inner tube is convoluted, which is the only significant advantage I see of this design over yours.

I don't understand what you mean about 'double batch with the cold water outflow' so maybe I have not understood correctly what you are referring to in terms of 'pre-manufactured 1/2" SS coil costing $200' - thanks to clarify.

In terms of doubling the length to 50', that is exactly what I am planning to do. It is clear that you are not getting anywhere close to complete transfer over 25' of SS, and that is at a reduced flow. With a 50 foot length, you should be able to either get cooling down to lower temperatures at the same flow rate of (more importantly), you should be able to roughly double the flow rate to achieve the same cooling.

I was on the fence between 25' and 50' but your data has convinced me to go for the longer length. Your flow-rate is not tube-length-limited (you are throttling back your valve) and your not getting anywhere close to full heat exchange (your existing wort is 5 degrees above tap in), so there will be nothing but improvement from doubling the length of this design (except for the added cost :-(

So I am probably going to try to get 50' of 1/2" SS tubing into 50' of 1" ID hose and here is a question for you: I see that you had your SS tubing recoiled to a smaller diameter (looks like 10" or 12"). The 'raw' coils seem to come in at 24". If you were trying to make a 50' version of your design, would you recoil down again or go with a wider coil diameter? If the size/area involved in the final CFC was not a show-stopper, would you leave the coil at a full 24"? Any other pointer you can give me on how to minimize the headache and time associated with threading the 1/2" OD SS tubing into the 1" ID hose?

Thanks again - your input has been very helpful and I hope to pick up the idea you pioneered and see if I can take it to the next level...

-fafrd

 

[tsb22]

Wow, so through 25' of 1/2" stainless, you're not able to get to better than 5 degrees above tap-in and only at a very slow flow-rate. Aside from how open or closed the valve is, it would be very interesting to me if you could estimate the two wort flow-rates you are referring to above (barely open and 1/3 flow). Also, can you comment on the water flow rate for the two above examples - was it at max and what would you estimate that to be in terms of gpm? Also, do you know if your SS tubing was 0.02" sidewall or 0.035" sidewall (or tell me where you purchased it and I can figure it out).

Yes, I know, I was not impressed either. I have been meaning to do a test sometime soon with just water to measure all the flowrates and therefore be able to calculate my chiller efficiency. Just have not had the time. I believe there is even a spreadsheet out there somewhere to just plug everything in once I get my temps/flowrates. (looks like you already did the math below, probably .6gpm WORT and probably closer to 5gpm tap water)

Is the cooling from 212 to 180 deg passive, or are you using your chiller? If using the chiller, I'd be interested in any data you can provide on that cooling cycle as well (wort flow rate, tap flow rate, time needed).

I am using my chiller essentially. I will also try to run a test with this. Wort flow rate is full throttle, the system is set up to recirculate/whirlpool back into the kettle. I cannot remember the output temperature of the wort (coming out of the chiller), I usually just run the pump & tap water for 3-5minutes until my BK temp drops to ~180ish.

One of the reasons there seems to be so much of a focus on 'fast cooling' is to minimize the increase in DMS, which occurs above 140 degrees F. If you are letting your hot wort sit for 20 minutes at 180 degrees, that ought to be a temperature where DMS formation is continuing - have you had any problem with DMS or do you believe the whole concern with that issue has been overblown (at least for your beer styles)??

From all the information I have read, and from tasting my beers, this is not an issue for me. I have setup my system to operate in a similar method to professional brewers. (Love Firestone Walker) If you think about wort chilling on a large scale system, it is impossible to bring hundreds of gallons down to below 140 in the time a home brewer can. Also professional breweries usually need to whirlpool the kettle and then let it rest for 20-30mins in order to let the hop & break material fall to the middle. This means professional breweries are letting hot wort sit just below boiling for extended periods of time. I don't see them worry about DMS (at least not the 60-90mins after the boil). I assume as long as their is a vigorous boil for the 60mins that I have rid myself of DMS and its pre-cursors.

OK, so 15 minutes to bring 10 gallons (or a true 11 or 12 gallons?) from 180 to 65 through your chiller with 60 degree tap-in, right? So the wort flow rate is about 0.67 gpm (or 0.8gpm if you have an actual 12 gallons of wort) - any estimate you can provide of the tap=in flow rate or the total amount of water used for this cooling cycle would be interesting...

My batches end up being around 9.5gallons finished, so no, just a tad slower than .67gpm. Also sorry I do not have a tap water flow rate, the hose was hooked up to a washing machine tap, but Im guessing everyones city water pressure/flow is going to vary. Again, gonna guess around 5gpm. It doesnt take more than a minute or 2 to fill up my BK at the start of a brew day. When I do get to a full on water test, I will def. take all my measurements incl temps & flowrates.

First, this has been enormously helpful - thank you. Second, I think I am going to be copying/improving your design and would greatly appreciate your help and the benefit of your experience (and existing SS CFC )

Well thanks a lot for reading! when I was doing my research for mine, all I could find was stinkin COPPER. So I am glad someone is thinking like me, and glad that you were able to navigate over here.

I've looked at the SS-in-SS design from Williams Brewing: http://www.williamsbrewing.com/STAINLESS-CONVOLUTED-COUNTERFLOW-CHILLER-P3152.aspx

Yes, thats the one, I think they may be the only company I have found that carries one. Though there are several that have the copper versions. I assume there may be a little benefit of a metal outer jacket in that it will radiate off some of the heat, but it is probably negligible as the water is really doing most of the work in removing heat. Convoluted on the other hand should help considerably! More surface area and turbulence is ALWAYS going to be more effective for cooling. Also Im guessing their tubing is thinner, mine is .035. If I had to do this again, I would buy this chiller and then go get some Compression fittings from Stainless Brewing to convert it to 1/2 threading.

I don't understand what you mean about 'double batch with the cold water outflow' so maybe I have not understood correctly what you are referring to in terms of 'pre-manufactured 1/2" SS coil costing $200' - thanks to clarify.

Back to large commercial breweries. Some breweries take the cooling water that has run through the chiller (and is now hot) to use for the next batch (rather than having to heat up all that water again). Most homebrewers just let the tap water outlet go to the drain or down the driveway. But if you had the outlet flow back into a HLT, your tap water coming out of the chiller has absorbed all the heat from your first batch and is now ~190deg. You could fill up your HLT and be ready to brew a second batch almost right away. I will not do that with this chiller as I dont trust the rubber hosing that the tap water flows through to be food safe.

And no, the cost for my coil itself was more like $60, again from Stainless Brewing
25' SS Coil

So I am probably going to try to get 50' of 1/2" SS tubing into 50' of 1" ID hose and here is a question for you: I see that you had your SS tubing recoiled to a smaller diameter (looks like 10" or 12"). The 'raw' coils seem to come in at 24". If you were trying to make a 50' version of your design, would you recoil down again or go with a wider coil diameter? If the size/area involved in the final CFC was not a show-stopper, would you leave the coil at a full 24"? Any other pointer you can give me on how to minimize the headache and time associated with threading the 1/2" OD SS tubing into the 1" ID hose?

See above link, Zach will coil it to whatever diameter you desire. I actually think the coil on mine is a little large ~12", but at 50' I could see this becoming quite a tall device. The size of mine is manageable, if not a little bulky/big. This was why I was so attracted to that 12' from Williams.

Good luck with your adventures, hopefully you can get what you are looking for out of this. I have tried my best to inform you of everything related to mine, and whenever I decide to stop being lazy, will totally run a test with flowrates/temps to get a true efficiency of the chiller.

Thanks gain for reading!

 

[fafrd]

From all the information I have read, and from tasting my beers, this is not an issue for me. I have setup my system to operate in a similar method to professional brewers. (Love Firestone Walker) If you think about wort chilling on a large scale system, it is impossible to bring hundreds of gallons down to below 140 in the time a home brewer can. Also professional breweries usually need to whirlpool the kettle and then let it rest for 20-30mins in order to let the hop & break material fall to the middle. This means professional breweries are letting hot wort sit just below boiling for extended periods of time. I don't see them worry about DMS (at least not the 60-90mins after the boil). I assume as long as their is a vigorous boil for the 60mins that I have rid myself of DMS and its pre-cursors.

This is very helpful, and makes a lot of sense - I've wondered how large sale breweries could possible cool a full mutli-BBL batch of hot wort in the times home brewers seem to aim for and your summary indicates that cooling to pitching temps in anything under 30 minutes should be fine from a DMS point of view (and 30 minutes ought to equate to ~15% increase in DMS levels from what I have read). If the boil was vigorous and effective at ridding DMS and it's precursors, then you are probably correct that a 15% increase in very low DMS levels results in nothing detectable. Reason to take all of this 'cooling as quickly as possible' stuff with a grain of salt.

My batches end up being around 9.5gallons finished, so no, just a tad slower than .67gpm. Also sorry I do not have a tap water flow rate, the hose was hooked up to a washing machine tap, but Im guessing everyones city water pressure/flow is going to vary. Again, gonna guess around 5gpm. It doesnt take more than a minute or 2 to fill up my BK at the start of a brew day. When I do get to a full on water test, I will def. take all my measurements incl temps & flowrates.

For 10 gallons into the BK, 2 minutes sounds possible, 1 minute equates to 10gpm which seems high. Next time you do a brew session, if you could remember to time it and post the data here, I would appreciate it.

For reference, a very rough measurement of my tap water through a 3/4" garden hose indicated a flow rate of about 3gpm. I'm guessing that with careful design and skipping the hose, I might be able to get up to 5gpm, but 10 gpm is higher than I could ever get...

Water flow rate is an important input to computing cooler efficiency, so once you do figure it out more precisely, it will help you figure out how well your chiller is performing.

Yes, thats the one, I think they may be the only company I have found that carries one. Though there are several that have the copper versions. I assume there may be a little benefit of a metal outer jacket in that it will radiate off some of the heat, but it is probably negligible as the water is really doing most of the work in removing heat. Convoluted on the other hand should help considerably! More surface area and turbulence is ALWAYS going to be more effective for cooling. Also Im guessing their tubing is thinner, mine is .035. If I had to do this again, I would buy this chiller and then go get some Compression fittings from Stainless Brewing to convert it to 1/2 threading.

I am hoping to use the 0.02" thin wall tubing - that change alone ought to improve the efficiency of my chiller by 75%. The thin-wall stuff is apparently almost impossible to bend 90 bends into, but one of the beautiful things about the tube-in-hose CFC design is that no 90 degree bends are needed (and you can even leave the coil in its original shape if you can handle the size...).

Back to large commercial breweries. Some breweries take the cooling water that has run through the chiller (and is now hot) to use for the next batch (rather than having to heat up all that water again). Most homebrewers just let the tap water outlet go to the drain or down the driveway. But if you had the outlet flow back into a HLT, your tap water coming out of the chiller has absorbed all the heat from your first batch and is now ~190deg. You could fill up your HLT and be ready to brew a second batch almost right away. I will not do that with this chiller as I dont trust the rubber hosing that the tap water flows through to be food safe.

I would not want to use chiller effluent water for consumption. Even with food-grade hose, this water is hot, so unless you had a food-grade hose rated for 212 degrees F (which is no doubt expensive), I would not want to take the risk of anything leaching out of the hosing into the water. I plan to use mine for cleaning and any excess for watering the garden... (though I guess the effluent from that Williams Brewing all-SS CFC could be an exception - it is all stainless so the hot water should be fine. (This is also probably similar to the chiller materials that professional breweries use, so in their case, recycling the hot water for the next batch is no doubt fine as well).

Good luck with your adventures, hopefully you can get what you are looking for out of this. I have tried my best to inform you of everything related to mine, and whenever I decide to stop being lazy, will totally run a test with flowrates/temps to get a true efficiency of the chiller.

Thanks gain for reading!

This has been very helpful. Knowing your tubing wall was 0.035 has put me back on the fence in terms of designing for 25' like you did or designing for 50'.

You've also helped me to understand that getting carried away in spending money and effort in order to cool as quickly as possible is probably a fools errand. Cooling fast to save time in the brewing day is probably a more practical motivation for an efficient design, in which case I can evaluate the value of time and decide how much I want to spend in speeding the cooling phase up.

Will let you know what this has all led to once I have a design underway!

 

[tsb22]

Finally brewed some beer & took a few measurements, unfortunately it was about impossible to get all the measurements at once since I only have 1 thermometer & 1 me. Rates/times/temps are as follows:

Wort Starting Temp: 212degF
Wort Starting Flow Rate: ~5gpm
Tap Water Temp(constant): 56degF
Tap Water Flow Rate(constant): ~4.5gpm

My whirlpool operation with full flow rate for wort & tap water 212 to 180: ~3mins

Test1:
Wort flow: 2gpm
Wort inlet: 173
Wort Outlet: 89

Test2:
Wort Flow: .125gpm
Wort Inlet: 110deg
Wort Outlet: 66deg

Im sure these werent the exact measurements you were looking for, but i did the best I could while still trying to brew. Essentially what happens is that when I go above .125gpm for the wort, The temperature begins to creep up. There is definitely a fine line between getting the final temp where I want it and not having it take forever to fill up. I'd say I try my best to fill my two 5 gallon fermenters in under 30mins.
My work in progress is to build a pre-chiller for the tap water, if I can get my tap water temps down to ~35deg, maybe it will lower my wort outlet temp enough to run closer to 2gpm.

Good luck with your build!

 

[MikeInMKE]

I'm only guessing, but I wonder if, with the wort flow mostly choked off by the BK's ball valve at the CFC's input, if all you have is a small stream of wort flowing along the bottom of the 1/2" stainless tube, leaving you with very little wort to tubing contact area.

I further wonder if you were to add a ball valve to the output of your CFC to limit your wort flow, with your BK's ball valve wide open in order to flood the tube with wort, your efficiency might go up. You could even orient your CFC so the wort input was below it's wort output, allowing the wort to chase all of the air up and out of the tube for maximum wort-tube contact goodness, if that might not help as well, even with your current setup.

Another thought, given that you already begin your chilling process this way, why not continue to pump wort at full speed through the CFC and back into the BK whirlpool until your BK is at pitching temp, at which point you dump your wort directly from the BK into your fermenter?

 

[johns]

Nice build. I wish I would have used the threaded tee's instead of the copper tee's. Makes it look so much better. The stainless really adds to the bling factor also.

As an after thought I wonder how to purge the remaining wort back into the kettle. I did not think of this before the build. Anybody have an ideas on how to do this?

 

[Stealthcruiser]

To the one considering a 50 foot chiller, You might make it easier on yourself and build 2 , 25 footers, connected in series.
Also, if your "jacket" on the tubing is going to be a rubber based hose, ( as in automotive heater hose), rubbing alcohol works well as a lube on rubber, and makes it pretty slippery!
Also, when shopping stainless steel tubing, specify "annealed" tubing, and you can handle / tool it quite easily by hand, as long as you plan to put no "bends" in it, only loops.

 

[ballz50401]

I'm hoping to start building my own version of this chiller very soon! I'm planning on using 30' of 3/8" Stainless Steel Tubing inside of 3/4" Corrugated Flexible Stainless Steel Tubing http://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=SST075.