Unwind my immersion chiller?

[JPicasso]

Hey all,

I have a homemade IC that I wound up using a corny, and it has served me well with my 30 qt turkey pot. I am now moving to a larger, 15 gallon pot that is significantly wider. Is there a way to safely unwind the chilled so that more coils are submerged when I use it?

Thanks
-JP

 

[JasonInBTR]

Shouldn't be a problem. I would get some coiled tubing benders to avoid kinks.

Jason

 

[dutchoven]

Agree with Jason, use the benders, or you can just get a spring sized for your tubing.

Word of warning: the more you bend tubing, the harder it gets, making it difficult to reshape. I had this happen when I was making an IC ... I now refer to it as "Mr. Ugly".

 

[Ravio11i]

I'm going to disagree with Jason and Dutch on this one. Copper work hardens pretty quickly and you're likely to wind up cracking it while trying to unbend it...

 

[JPicasso]

Hmm, I have hose attachments on both ends... might have to sell this and build another.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'll disagree with everyone so far and suggest that you're not really trying to straighten and rebend so you will neither need bender springs or crack the tubing.

You're only looking to open up the diameter of the coil so it's not really going to put a lot of stress on the metal. Find a form at the diameter you want and slowly open up the tubing to fit over it.

 

[integrator]

I'm going to disagree with everyone above....just kidding. Do what Bobby said and work SLOWLY. If you work slowly it shouldn't kink.

 

[DeafSmith]

I opened mine up when I moved to a larger brew kettle - did it by hand, very slowly and carefully - no springs, no form. Just take it very slow and easy - spread the bending out evenly over the length.

 

[JayInJersey]

Any chance you have ball valves or caps at each end?


I heard someone say filling it with water will help keep the shape as water can't compress.

 

[stubbornman]

Well I hate to be the odd man out, but I want to agree with everything everyone has said everywhere , ever.

 

[camiller]

Well I hate to be the odd man out, but I want to agree with everything everyone has said everywhere , ever.

Well gentlemen, it appears we have a politician in out midst. Now where did I put the tar and feathers....

 

[camiller]

Oh, and to the OP. If you brew bigger batches in that kettle more of the coils will surely be submerged.

 

[samc]

Cut the coil and re-solder it into a rib cage interwoven design, you'd just need a few fittings to accomplish this.