Wort Chiller

[bj]

Hi, Im after some advice regarding the wort chillers.

I have just upgraded by kettle to be able to boil 50L, which means my old homemade immersion chiller will be inadequate.

My first thought is to make another larger IM, (maybe 15 meters?) and use my old one to pre chill my water. But im not sure if this method would bring the temp down fast enough?

The other options are to purchase a plate chiller or a counter-flow chiller, i have got an idea of the pros and cons of each, but was hoping to get some firsthand experiences from you good folk.
Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Brendan

[Doublehoppy]

+2 for the sleeve

[Arron]

Ricky

You wont be able to crox less than 15mm. You can join onto your copper with a flared fitting and a washing machine nipple that will allow you to screw the female hose fitting onto it.
You need a flaring tool to put flare on the pipe but if you cant get 1 then you can make a rough enough flare by inserting a screwdriver in the end of the pipe and running it around pushing outwards at the top.(If that makes any sense)

Or if you can braze copper and have acsess to gas and silfos then you can crox a short piece of 15mm copper and braze it onto the end of the smaller stuff. Or braze a hex nipple onto 15mm copper and braze that on.

[RickyP]

Wow,

Now I have that awesome feeling where I think I know what I'm doing again, yass!

Cheers for the solutions. The sleeve sounds a very easy and sensible option, (I'm not sure I trust myself to get my screwdriver flare on, but I do like the idea of being able to screw the hose on).

And cheers for the tip about Mico Antigua. Yesterday I was out at Mico in Hornby (where they don't have gas fittings) and the guy out there didn't give me confidence I'd find parts at all. I went in today to get elbows so I can use some of the 12.7OD to build a nicer manifold.

Bring on brew day.

Cheers heaps everyone.

[JoKing]

Here's a couple photos of one that I made up for a customer. It's the 12.7mm OD stuff and if you anneal the ends, they are really easy to flare. Then I get a double male brass hose fitting and cut it in half and use silphos 40% to weld the brass to the copper. This one has a whirlpool attachment welded to it also. Then regular hose fittings to connect - and no leaks.

[RickyP]

Damn that's a pretty piece of equipment Joking.

Mine is a fair site more bodgy than that. But have done 3 brews with the setup and very happy.

The sleeves have worked a treat, cheers.

I haven't needed to get my flare on for the IM but have done so with my manifold to make certain it doesn't fall apart under the mash.

For other people attaching hoses to IMs for the first time, something I found useful is to tighten the clamps a little once the IM is in the wort cause the hoses get all hot and floppy. (I had a squirt the first time)


Cheers all

[Patrick]

Mine must be the bodgiest of all - I just formed the coil around a large pot, and my garden hose is a perfect snug fit onto the copper. Not fittings, no flaring, no tie-wire, welding or soldering. No leaks (touch wood) for 9 batches so far, although every time I use it I think to myself "must sort that chiller out, it's ugly"

[James P]

Ditto, except mine has a couple of kinks in it from accidents in the brewery! :)