equipment profile: wort chiller
It was finally nice enough outside today for me to take some photos of my home made wort chiller. Instead of spending the 40+ to purchase one of these and wait a few days for delivery, I decided to stop by Home Depot and pick up the things needed to make one.
After spending about 28 bucks and about 15 minutes of assembly time, this is the finished product.
Here's what you need:
At least 20 feet of soft copper tubing. I used 3/8".
Depending on where you chill your wort, you may want to get at least 10 feet of 3/8" ID food grade vinyl hose (I bought 20 feet).
You will also need three #4 hose clamps and a 3/4" FH to 3/8" barb to connect to your sink faucet or an outdoor hose.
I coiled my tubing around one of my corny kegs. You can use a large coffee can or paint can if you don't have a corny keg. Leave about 18 inches or so of tubing to gently bend upwards. You may have to twist it in order to not kink the tubing.
Dry fit the immersion chiller into a 5 gallon bucket and see how well it fits. If it is touching the sides, you'll want to make a tighter coil. Try to leave at least 1 1/2 to 2 inches of space between the bottom coil and the rest. This is so the coils will site above any sediment that may settle at the bottom of your fermenter or brew kettle (or whatever you are cooling in).
Connect the one end of the wort chiller to your faucet and turn on the cold water to give it a test. Make sure your hose clamps are tight enough and not leaking anywhere. You don't want any leaky water running into your wort.
For cleaning, don't use anything that reacts badly to copper. Simply wash it off and dry it.
I'm also working on a 48qt cooler converted to a lauter tun. Check back in the next couple of weeks for that.
After spending about 28 bucks and about 15 minutes of assembly time, this is the finished product.
Here's what you need:
At least 20 feet of soft copper tubing. I used 3/8".
Depending on where you chill your wort, you may want to get at least 10 feet of 3/8" ID food grade vinyl hose (I bought 20 feet).
You will also need three #4 hose clamps and a 3/4" FH to 3/8" barb to connect to your sink faucet or an outdoor hose.
I coiled my tubing around one of my corny kegs. You can use a large coffee can or paint can if you don't have a corny keg. Leave about 18 inches or so of tubing to gently bend upwards. You may have to twist it in order to not kink the tubing.
Dry fit the immersion chiller into a 5 gallon bucket and see how well it fits. If it is touching the sides, you'll want to make a tighter coil. Try to leave at least 1 1/2 to 2 inches of space between the bottom coil and the rest. This is so the coils will site above any sediment that may settle at the bottom of your fermenter or brew kettle (or whatever you are cooling in).
Connect the one end of the wort chiller to your faucet and turn on the cold water to give it a test. Make sure your hose clamps are tight enough and not leaking anywhere. You don't want any leaky water running into your wort.
For cleaning, don't use anything that reacts badly to copper. Simply wash it off and dry it.
I'm also working on a 48qt cooler converted to a lauter tun. Check back in the next couple of weeks for that.
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Cool entry. I wanted to invite you into www.democracysdrink.com - a social network for beer drinkers. Bloggers have been joining talking beer and promoting their site through our feed feature. We'd love to have you and your blog on there. Hope to see you there, cheers!