Kettle & Chiller

[Chris]

I'm on the lookout for a brew kettle and wort chiller and could use a bit of advice.

 

I brew from extract, and have never bothered boiling the wort with some good results and only ever one total write-off. However I have decided to start boiling up so will need a kettle and chiller.

 

Now I usually brew in batches of 20-25L. How big a kettle will I need? I've seen 35L ones available, would this be OK? 

 

I also plan to brew all-grain eventually (when the girlfriend thinks it's a good use of renovation funds) - would a 35L pot be OK for that too?

 

The ones I've seen do not have taps, I have thought about investing in a pump eventually so I would need to do that I guess.

 

The pots I've seen (35L stainless) are $150 from various homebrew shops. This seems like a fair bit, can anyone suggest a cheaper source or do I just have to suck it up and pay that?

 

Lastly, a wort chilller - I realise it's possible to make your own, but does anyone know where I can get a commercial one? Just want to compare prices.

 

[Druid]

In Auckland, there's an Asian kitchen engineering place in New North Rd, Mt Albert (just past the Mt Albert shops on the right hand side) that sells 35 litre pots for $75. They are certainly not the thickest but suit the purpose well and come with a lid. 

 

I think they go right up to several hundred litres.  I got the next size up though (think it's 50 litre) and have never regretted it - just makes it easier when you are doing boils because you have that much extra headroom to cope with boil-ups so that they don't become boil-overs.

 

I did get nipples welded to both my boil pot and to my HLT but I reckon you won't need them until you get serious about AG, march pumps and a single tier arrangement.  Until then I'd just wait as you can always add them later.

 

 

As far as a wort chiller goes, just hook yourself up with some of that copper airconditioning coil you can get off trademe (from brass123 I think) and coil it around a paint bucket - if you need to do tight bends get a proper pipe bender or just flood the coil with cold water and freeze it solid before bending it - it prevents it from kinking.  I just forced a couple of lengths of garden hose on each end, added clamps and plastic garden hose quick connects and you're away - prob cost around $70.00.

 

[Rhyno]

For immersion chillers, what's the preferred diameter for the copper?

20mm

12.5mm etc

[Rhyno]

I got a 36L one second hand of TradeMe, it was a good deal and I had to wait to find it, but now I do wish it was bigger.

I think 40L should be an absolute minimum (try to get exact inside measurements because mine was advertised as a 40L) but as Druid said, 50L sounds like the way to go

[Chris]

Thanks guys, will go 50L.

 

Druid do you happen to know the name of the engineering outfit? Thought I might give them a call, that's about half the price as I've seen them in homebrew shops.

[Andre Jaworski]

Hi Chris,

I have a second homemade counterflow chiller if you are interested. I made one for myself but bought too much copper so made two. the one I use works great but you would need drill a hole in the side of your pot and fit a tap (you may need to do this anyway unless you intend on syphoning the wort to your fermenter). If your interested send me a PM and I'll find a photo. 

 

Cheers

[Chris]

Cool will PM you in a sec

[Chris]

Tried PMing you but apparently you need to agree to add me as a friend first? Anyways let me know if you get a request through.

[Andre Jaworski]

Yep, have accepted.

[Ralph]

hey Andre. Interested in what you used to make your CF chiller. Would like to see the photo and know what fittings and size of copper tube you used if possible. I have seen a design with garden hose and copper pipe that fitted inside and was wondering if it was similar to this. If Chris does not want it, I might be interested.

[Andre Jaworski]

Hi Ralph,

It is exactly like that, I also fitted a small 12v pump at the bottom to speed it up as gravity was a tad slow. I will try to get a pic up tonight.

[Andre Jaworski]

pics

[Ralph]

Sweet setup! I like your Kettle!!

 

Can you tell me what OD of copper you used and about what length? I think I will build something like this.

 

Was just going to use a gravity feed, but in case I have the kettle down low I am interested where to source a little 12V pump from as well.

 

Thanks for the pictures!