Bluenose's Counter Flow Chiller

[bluenose]

My 1/2" x 50' copper immersion chiller isn't the most efficient. It ends up sitting on the electric element and only the bottom 1/3 ends up in the wort. I end up using a lot of water and it takes too long to chill the wort.

There are a couple of posts on other members ' CFC builds:
HopGrower: http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... =41&t=3527
jason.loxton: http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... =41&t=3257
RossBee: http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... =41&t=6219
[if there are more and I missed it, then I'm Sorry]

And now... I present Bluenose's Counter Flow Chiller build.

Materials:
1/2" Soft Copper Tubing. Type K. 66' long. Way more than I need, so I will sell the excess.

20150312_230735.jpg

Fittings: 1" x 1" x 1/2" Copper Tee, 1" x 1/2" Copper Bushing. A 1" x 1/2" x 1/2" Tee would've done the job, but I couldn't find them.

20150312_230658.jpg

I still need some hose and clamps, which I'll be getting today

To be continued...

[jtmwhyte]

Interested in selling your IC?

[bluenose]

Interested in selling your IC?

yes I am

[jtmwhyte]

Fire me a text with the price you have in mind

[bluenose]

Oh Heeyyy
More materials, progress, and questions...

Fittings soldered up and ready to go... 1" x 20' ID braided hose from Princess Auto ($1.69/ft)

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Going with 21' of copper inside the 20' of hose

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I'm thinking of making the water outlet smaller than the inlet so that the jacket always remains full... my thinking is that coiling a copper wire around the inner tube won't work since there's 3/8 of space in the difference.

QUESTION: Does this make sense?

[RossBee]

It's counterflow, the water inlet is at the bottom and hot water comes out the top, the jacket will always be full. No need to reduce the outlet, I used 3/4 hose with mine and have to throttle the water back otherwise strike temp is too low. The copper wire around the copper pipe creates an eddy effect and keeps the pipe from touching the hose. Been my experience that the wire is really not necessary.

Don't for get to expand the 1/2 T to get the wort pipe out through, I just drilled mine out, expanding using an alignment bar caused too much deformation.

Also, once all the pieces were together, rolled mine around a ball lock keg, easy spiral.

[bluenose]

I used a pinlock keg... getting the 1/2" ID tubing into the 1" ID hose was super simple, I didn't even have to use lube

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hope to finish it tonight

[RossBee]

I used a pinlock keg... getting the 1/2" ID tubing into the 1" ID hose was super simple, I didn't even have to use lube

20150317_001016.jpg

hope to finish it tonight

That's because you were smart and used 1" hose, I used 3/4" (not so smart). Almost got divorced over the whole "shove the tube into the hose" incident.

I pump boiling wort through mine with the water off while whirlpooling to sterilize (using a whirlpool stick). The hose gets hot, but so far no failure or dis-colouration. Flame out and continue whirlpooling, adjust water flow to achieve strike temperature, use whirlpool stick to fill primary through air lock hole. Clean up with boiling water.

Looking great!

One change I'm planning for mine is to spread the coil a bit, evenly spaced and build a frame for it for easier and consistent draining, maybe put some wheels under it or mount it directly to the brew stand. Found that because of the coil, a bit of water always remains.