The Bastard Chiller - How well do you think it will work?

[fifelee]

I had 36’ of 1/4” copper tubing lying around and have been pondering for sometime how to use it as a wort chiller. I know 1/4” is too small to use on its own so initially I thought about splitting it into two parallel 18’ tubes. After pricing out all the fittings needed to split the flow I came to the realization that I could buy a complete chiller for less….but then a late night half drunken idea struck.

I wish I took some insitu pictures, but the project included squashing the 3/4” ends of two 3/4” x 1/2” reducer fittings in a three jaw chuck until they had and triangle shape. I then cut the 36’ into two 14’ pieces and one 18’ piece. The three pieces where soldered into one of triangle fittings, coiled up, and another triangle fitting welded on the other end

If my calculations are correct my 36’ of 1/4” (340in^2) should have almost the same surface area as the standard 25’of 3/8 chiller (353in^2). The narrower water streams in my chiller will have more contact with the copper, but it may not have enough time to do much cooling because of the shorter distances traveled.

I still don't have a burner or a home (long story) so testing won't occur for a few months. How do you think this design will compare in cooling rate to a 25’of 3/8 tubing chiller?

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Did BierMuncher design that for you?

 

[Bobby_M]

Nah man, that's actually a nice piece of work (or art) and it will work very well as long as those three to one fittings don't leak. Solder doesn't fill in large gaps very well. I like the spacing between coils and the only real con to the bird nest design is the inability to stir/whirlpool. You'll have to break up the heat stratification by jiggling the chiller up and down or something. No biggie. The input output tubes don't really have to jut out that far and having them go straight up would make it more adaptable to tall pots.

 

[david_42]

I like the idea of using a three jaw chuck as a crimping tool.

 

[the_bird]

I like the spacing between coils and the only real con to the bird nest design is the inability to stir/whirlpool. You'll have to break up the heat stratification by jiggling the chiller up and down or something. No biggie.

It looks fairly narrow, so he may be able to stir on the outside of the chiller (that's what I do with my chiller and the keggle, and I get wort flowing through the chiller into the middle of the pot). All depends on how big the pot is.

 

[fifelee]

Nah man, that's actually a nice piece of work (or art) and it will work very well as long as those three to one fittings don't leak. Solder doesn't fill in large gaps very well.

I was worried about that to, but it pressure tested under water just fine. Something i forgot to mention was that we put it back into the three jaw chuck after the tubes where inserted and before soldering. We where able to squash the assembly to the point that there where almost no gaps.

I like the spacing between coils and the only real con to the bird nest design is the inability to stir/whirlpool. You'll have to break up the heat stratification by jiggling the chiller up and down or something. No biggie. The input output tubes don't really have to jut out that far and having them go straight up would make it more adaptable to tall pots.

There is room to whirlpool, but it would help if I turned the input and output so I can get more than a 1/2 stroke. I had it straight up, but was worried about the garden hose leaking into the wort (I never can seem to get garden hoses to seal).

This is actually just an interim design. When I can get a bigger kettle and a pump I hope to suspend this coil from the lid and include a recirculation tube to mimic Jamil's whirlpool chiller.

Thank for the input guys.

 

[camiller]

... I then cut the 36’ into two 14’ pieces and one 18’ piece. ...

14+14+18 = 46

magic !

 

[fifelee]

14+14+18 = 46

magic !

I was hoping no one would catch that typo.

14 + 14 + 8

 

[MadWeezel]

1/4 will work great, so long as you keep the trub out.

When i first made my chiller i did it with 10' of 1/4". First time i used it it got clogged. Second time i used it, I froze the beer in the line! So i moved to 3/8.

It will work good just make sure youre filering the wort before going in.

 

[Philip1993]

1/4 will work great, so long as you keep the trub out.

When i first made my chiller i did it with 10' of 1/4". First time i used it it got clogged. Second time i used it, I froze the beer in the line! So i moved to 3/8.

Unless you have a CFC, there should be no wort in your chiller.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Nice work! Definitely smacks of BM, though....

 

[nicksteck]

Nice job, I built something like yours and it works great. 212-65 in under 4 mins. I use a paint mixer to stir because I don't have room to stir and it works great, the cold break is great. we had a brew party and had a bunch of friends brewing for the first time and we just racked to the secondary and every brew that went through my pot was very clear. hope it works out for you.

Nick

 

[Seabee John]

Here's photo's of both Nickstecks and my chillers that work off the same premise.

Mine

Nick's

 

[fifelee]

Here's photo's of both Nickstecks and my chillers that work off the same premise.

Mine

Nick's

Dang that is awesome. Was it a ***** to get it to seal?

 

[Seabee John]

Dang that is awesome. Was it a ***** to get it to seal?

Nah, just need to screw with the bending of the copper to get it to set right in the hole. then it's just a matter of the right amount of heat and flux- the solder will flow where your flux is.