New wort cooler

[Scooby]

Further to another thread I got the parts to make my IC today, It's a dual concentric design whatever that means
I had a search around and got inspiration from Gurgeh and others who have designed and made similar coolers, cheers

It's nearly finished so will post some pics tomorrow.

BTW the plumb merchant said that copper had dropped in price over the past week or so, I got 18m of 8mm for just
over £24, I was expecting it to be more

[Damfoose]

Is 8mm any good for a wort cooler as im finding it a little springy and it does not seem to want to stay upright .... so to speak ...

[HantsGaz]

Damfoose wrote:
Is 8mm any good for a wort cooler as im finding it a little springy and it does not seem to want to stay upright .... so to speak ...

I made my twin IC from 25m of 8mm tubing and it works like a dream (chills in around 15 mins). It's a bit on the flaccid side but it's sturdy enough to do the job. I think it was Aleman that wrote in a post somewhere that in fact smaller diameters chill the wort quicker....

[Scooby]

Is 8mm any good for a wort cooler as im finding it a little springy and it does not seem to want to stay upright .... so to speak ...

I cut a couple of the 8mm and flattened and soldered to the sides to act as a brace, but yes I can see why someone called their cooler 'Slinky'

The first roll of 25m x 10mm iirc cost me £17 mind you you can beat £24 plus a few bits for a wort chiller.

I didn't know you were that old

£19.99 10m x 10mm at focus. Yep £28 with the 'T's and step up to 15mm is not bad, just got to have a dig around for some hose connectors.

[Scooby]

Damfoose wrote:
Is 8mm any good for a wort cooler as im finding it a little springy and it does not seem to want to stay upright .... so to speak ...

I made my twin IC from 25m of 8mm tubing and it works like a dream (chills in around 15 mins). It's a bit on the flaccid side but it's sturdy enough to do the job. I think it was Aleman that wrote in a post somewhere that in fact smaller diameters chill the wort quicker....

Sorry HG I'm a bit slow on the keyboard so missed that.

I hope I have the same results. I've also read that about smaller dia and the explanation seemed logical and it's cheaper

[Aleman]

The theory is that the surface area to volume is bigger for smaller diameter tubing so you get a greater cooling effect . . . .. . . . . . I'm thinking of building a 10m dual coil split feed IC out of 4mm copper for the femtobrewery as its only 20L

[yashicamat]

That price doesn't sound too bad. I got 10m of 8mm for £11 about 4 months ago at my local plumber's merchants so maybe it's even cheaper now. My cooler is a right mess usually, but as long as most of the coils sit below the wort level I'm not that bothered.

[e-brewer]

Hi All I may have the chance to get one made by a friend that bends stainless steel piping for a living the smallest he says he can do is a four inch coil .Would i be wasting his as well as my time ..My thinking was have the coils fixed in place inside the boiler with attachments to connect the cold water in and return out..

two coils 10 or 15 mm pipe opposite sides of the boiler .

anybody use stainless piping for coils..?

Cheers

e-brewer

fife

[sparky Paul]

anybody use stainless piping for coils..?

There's no reason why you can't, but copper is more thermally conductive.

[Aleman]

smallest he says he can do is a four inch coil .Would i be wasting his as well as my time ..My thinking was have the coils fixed in place inside the boiler with attachments to connect the cold water in and return out..

I'd use stainless without hesitation if I could get it coiled . . . notwithstanding the fact that copper is a better conductor. . . . I wouldn't go for such a tight coil though probably something that sits just inside the pot about 1/2 to 1" from the wall . . . . Fixing in place is a good idea as long as you get the height right . . . and go for 10mm . . . or smaller if you can get it 8 or 6mm thin wall would be ideal.


Another thought would be a second coil with the same number of coils, an inch or two smaller in diameter than the first, sat inside and fed seperately to assist with rapid cooling. . . . . If your friend is able to make 90 degree hockey stick bends in 1/2" or 15mm stock tube I would be interested as I need 4 for my new brewery

[Scooby]

Just about done and dusted, ready for a good clean.

As I said I got inspiration from many on the forum regarding dia, length, design and took in
all the technical speak. In the end I had a plan in my head but really just set about it and made
it up as I went along

The right hand pipe is the feed for the cold water, an equal T directs the flow round the outside
coil top to bottom, and round the inside coil bottom to top. The hot water exits the left hand pipe.

I used about 10m for the outer coil and 7m for the inner.



View from above:

[Damfoose]

Scooby that mate is one very impressive chiller, By the sounds it should do a cracking job for you as well.

[Parva]

That should be on display in the Tate gallery!

[sparky Paul]

Nice job there Scooby, should be effective with 17m of pipe surface.

I reckon that's a good pattern for the sort of thing I need.

[Scooby]

That's very kind of you

I wish my Wife was as appreciative, she came home yesterday and asked me what I had doing,
I showed her the cooler, I got THAT'S USEFUL. She's after a bathroom revamp and showed me
a catalogue with this in it:



My turn to

Don't Know what my stocks are like at the moment but I have Wheelers new book and there are
some tempting new brews in there so it hopefully it won't be long before trying it.

Would be worth trying the twin outlet Chris and it's not to hard modify.