Immersion chiller woes

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jfr1111

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I just dumped a batch of perfectly good wort after a 3 hour brewday because the pos clamps on my immersion chiller gave way and water sprayed in the wort. I had two clamps on that line too. It was a beer with 8 ounces of hops in the boil, so I'm out a pretty penny in hops and will have to reorder in bulk... It seems like my Christmas beer for this year will not be an IIPA.

I was lucky that I was right next to the pot when it happened since I was chilling wort INSIDE the house for the first time today, so I caught it before the damn thing overflowed.

Is there any way around using those stupid clamps that always come loose and make the hose leak on an immersion chiller ? I have used both butterfly clamps and oetiker clamps, and both have resulted in a one failure each. It's always the goddamn 30 cents part that fail.
 
On my IC the ends face down and I use a relatively low flow rate, clamps leak but never in the wort.

How much water are we talking about that you dumped?
 
I was using 2 oetiker clamps. At least a gallon if not a gallon and a half got in there before I could manage to cut the water, so it was a clear dump for me.

Reboiling was not an option, seeing how I had 6 ounces of late hops. Plus, I bet the water coming through that 6 year old vinyl hose is pretty nasty tasting.
 
Oh man that sucks.... i just got done brewing a couple hours ago. if i had to dump it i would be pretty mad right now.
 
About 4 brews ago my IC had a small leak and I wrapped bailing wire next to the clamp and twisted it with pliers. Now I just make sure my flow rate isn't to high and no problem with leaks. Pretty red neck but works until it doesn't.
 
I use 2-3 clamps per hose-to-copper connection on my chiller, and I screw them really tight. Perhaps a little more brute force would solve your problem.
 
I have an IC that uses 3/8" compression fittings and an adapter to garden hose fitting. I've seen them at Home Depot as well as my local hardware store. No problems with the setup to date.
 
I replaced that old line by a stiff vinyl beer tap line. I had to heat the plastic pretty good with a ligther to soften it enough so it would get on the immersion chiller and used two small oetiker clamps. There's no way that hose is coming off now.

I think the problem was that the hose got squeezed due to the weight of the pot lid, which increased the pressure and the clamp failed to maintain the hose in place. I use a 15 gallon pot for full volume BIAB and my chiller is designed for your average 8 gallon pot, so the connections are actually inside the pot instead of just hanging off the side, so the hose supports the weight of the lid if it is left on during chilling.
 
I have QDs on mine. The male QDs are attached to sweated brass 1/2" screw-on connections. These are on the chiller. The female QDs are attached to my hoses. Never had a leak problem. Plus they're easy to hook up and remove.
 
jfr1111 said:
I use a 15 gallon pot for full volume BIAB and my chiller is designed for your average 8 gallon pot, so the connections are actually inside the pot instead of just hanging off the side, so the hose supports the weight of the lid if it is left on during chilling.
Click to expand...

Hang it over the sides so the connections aren't inside the pot. Even if that means all your chiller isn't submerged, whatever. Too risky to leave it in there IMHO.
 
My IC is DIY, so I soldered 3/4" threaded garden hose connectors on it. Never a leak. Plus, the inlet tubes point downward.

I'd be plenty pissed if I had to toss a batch due to the failure of some two-buck Chinese clamp. I feel for you, man.
 
iijakii said:
Hang it over the sides so the connections aren't inside the pot. Even if that means all your chiller isn't submerged, whatever. Too risky to leave it in there IMHO.
Click to expand...

My chiller wouldn't even touch the wort if I did that. Also, when using my old pot in like 2010, the connections were on the outside and the return violently sprung a leak, pushing the chiller inside the pot, leading to the same result.

Usually, I will constantly stir, holding the chiller with a clean, lint-free kitchen towel to soak up any moisture or leak, but yesterday I said f it and started cleaning the kitchen instead...
 
had that same issue a couple brews ago where the cheap worm clamps had loosened on my DIY chiller when the vinyl got soft as I put the chiller in for the last 15 mins of the boil.
I ended up switching to a shark bite to garden-hose adapter on both ends. now no worries and no drips!
luckily I didn't have quite as much water dump back in to my cooling wort and I continued on with the fermentation and only had slight off flavors, still very drinkable and delicious!
 
I'm in the camp of, "hose connects". I'm using compression fittings for HD and the work like a charm. My main driver for doing this though wasn't leaking but rather I was concerned the hose would eventually melt when I put the IC into the boil and the copper heated.
 
I use my bucket of sanitizer rather than boiling the thing and have never had an issue, leak or sanitation-wise. I think you guys might be using too high of a flow rate for your chillers and backing up the pressure in the line. I did that a few times but it popped off the connection at the garden hose attachment barb. I can't imagine how else you'd have a problem if you're using a hose clamp that's tight...
 
christyle said:
I use my bucket of sanitizer rather than boiling the thing and have never had an issue, leak or sanitation-wise. I think you guys might be using too high of a flow rate for your chillers and backing up the pressure in the line. I did that a few times but it popped off the connection at the garden hose attachment barb. I can't imagine how else you'd have a problem if you're using a hose clamp that's tight...
Click to expand...
that's definitely true. I open up the hose-bib flow full-open (100psi water pressure in my area, but 75F groundwater).
haha, I guess my thought was I remembered that turbulent flow in a pipe leads to better heat-transfer rate from my days learning about heat transfer...without good fittings tho it is admittedly asking for trouble! 🙄
 
Haha jeezus! Ya...I'd say that's the problem there...that will really back up the pressure in the line and blow it off. I crack it open to a decent stream. I care about water usage here in CA and try to keep it down. I cool it to about 95, transfer and put it in the chest freezer to finish cooling.
 
MaxStout said:
My IC is DIY, so I soldered 3/4" threaded garden hose connectors on it. Never a leak. Plus, the inlet tubes point downward.

I'd be plenty pissed if I had to toss a batch due to the failure of some two-buck Chinese clamp. I feel for you, man.
Click to expand...

I used garden hose fittings also, but mine are compression types and work well if you don't want to solder.

Something like this:

http://www.mscdirect.com/product/de...gle-PLA+-+Test&CS_003=7867724&CS_010=55509368

5550775-21.jpg
 
The first time I use my cheap IC I new it was going to be an issue. It dripped but barely outside of kettle. I soldered extensions/reducers (3/8 to 1/2) to get it up higher and further away from kettle. Then I soldered copper to pex brass fittings for clamping the hose. I should of just made my own.
 
On my very first all-grain brew (the "comedy of errors" brewday) the cheap chiller I had picked up somewhere lost a clamp. I'd say it passed a few quarts into the boil kettle before I got it shut off. I was using an RV hose, so at least the water wasn't necessarily contaminated. I probably should have boiled it down but didn't want to goof up the hops schedule. Rather than dump it, I proceeded with fermentation. It was an American pale ale. I may have been a liitle thinner than usual but seemed OK in general. I liked it so much that I have been duping the recipe (except for the accidental bit) ever since.

I do use a counterflow chiller now, though...
 
A little late to the thread here, but dude you really should've simply brought it back to a boil for a couple of minutes and just had a thinner beer. It would still be hoppy and decent, just a lot thinner in body, but it would've been drinkable and wouldn't have been a total waste. I understand your anger, I'd be flipping mad too, but there's really no recent you couldn't still have a beer from it even though it's not as intended.

I've had the clamps come loose too on mine, worm clamps, never had an issue with Oetiker's myself though I've only used them in my kegerator. For the worm clamps I've just gotten into the habit of checking to make sure they're snug ever several brew days.


Rev.
 
Rev2010 said:
A little late to the thread here, but dude you really should've simply brought it back to a boil for a couple of minutes and just had a thinner beer. It would still be hoppy and decent, just a lot thinner in body, but it would've been drinkable and wouldn't have been a total waste. I understand your anger, I'd be flipping mad too, but there's really no recent you couldn't still have a beer from it even though it's not as intended.

I've had the clamps come loose too on mine, worm clamps, never had an issue with Oetiker's myself though I've only used them in my kegerator. For the worm clamps I've just gotten into the habit of checking to make sure they're snug ever several brew days.


Rev.
Click to expand...

I'm fat enough as is, I don't want to get fatter on crappy beer :D

My keg system also uses all oetiker, but since it secures barbed connections and not smooth copper that is used in hot/cold situations, I understand why there's no leak.
 

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