National Homebrew Club Ireland

General Discussions => Brewing Communities => Connacht Home Brewers => Topic started by: DrowningManatee on March 29, 2013, 12:44:14 AM

Title: home made wort chiller
Post by: DrowningManatee on March 29, 2013, 12:44:14 AM
was watching a few videos there and it seems simple enough (famous last words), just coil the copper tubing around a eg. paint tin, then attach the hosing, clamp it and attach to tap via attachment.

So im getting 10M coppor wire 10mm, suitable hosing w/clamps, and hose attachment for tap. Should come to about 40euro.

Ill post pics when im done, any advice on cheap spots in galway to buy stuff cheaper than woodies'd be great :)
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: Ciderhead on March 29, 2013, 12:48:13 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vipL11vq_g8

was in B&Q in waterford today 30% off everything, is athlone doing the same?
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: J o e on March 29, 2013, 01:05:08 AM
You said you were getting a stock pot for partial extract brews didn't ya? In that case you'll get away with just sitting the stock pot into a sink of cold water for 10mins or so to chill enough. When brought up to volume with cold (tap) water I usually get it to hit ~20deg mark.

Then again if you're planning on going full-volume you'll need a wort chiller eventually!
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: DrowningManatee on March 29, 2013, 02:10:49 AM
got the stockpot and brewed the other day, went well, but i bought 3bags of ice and put the pot in the sink with it. It took about 45 mins to cool (to 30 C) and that was with me rubbing ice all over the pot the whole time. And i had the lid on for fear of contamination, is this not necessary? The load was 12.5L.

Wouldnt mind making something anyways for the craic, ill probably get around to try making a mashtun etc down the line, but this seems pretty simple to begin with.
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: DrowningManatee on March 29, 2013, 02:13:10 AM
thats the same video i watched as well, seems like your just paying 70 euro for a bit o coppor piping you can buy for 30...
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: Hop Bomb on April 02, 2013, 11:16:22 AM
Did you make your chiller? I was in b&q yesterday & they have 10 meter coil of 10mm copper pipe or 30e.
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: DrowningManatee on April 02, 2013, 11:32:54 AM
sweet, thats about 4 quid cheaper than woodies, will probably go there in the next few days anyways. didnt realise galway had a b&q, nice one dude. Cheers guys fer the help :)
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: Shanna on April 03, 2013, 06:56:26 PM
If there are builders or plumbing suplliers near you try them for 10mm coiled copper. They can often be cheaper than either woodies or b and q.

Shanna
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: DEMPSEY on April 03, 2013, 07:45:29 PM
If any of you want to build a counter flow chiller,we will have a wiki up soon. Cathalbrua and I put one together on tuesday and documented it for an article.
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: DrowningManatee on April 04, 2013, 03:00:02 PM
had a cursory glanca at buildings suppliers there Shanna, couldnt make sense of all the 1's and 0's so I think ill just go with b&q, thanks though, im sure someone with a better head for this would sort it out cheaper your way :)

Already got me heart set on building the normal chiller, but the counterflow seems to be a cool option too, lookin forward to the article...

Just waitin to free up enough funds now for this copper pipe   :o
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: Ciderhead on April 04, 2013, 10:02:45 PM
Saw the pictures  [smiley=cheesy.gif] [smiley=cheesy.gif] [smiley=cheesy.gif]
Cant wait 8-)
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: Shanna on April 05, 2013, 08:01:39 AM
Hi there

Not sure I get the ref to 1 and 0. As your saying you have to save for the piping anyway, woodies and b&q tend in general to be more expensive for things as they command a premium for Sunday opening hours and large stock size. 

I have found certain things like copper pipe in plumbers suppliers to be cheaper than woodies or bandq but this is by no means definitive. Latest pipe work I bought 2 metres of half inch copper piping for under €5. Guy who cut it actually gave me over 2 metres. Same product from woodies was €15.

Shanna

Quotehad a cursory glanca at buildings suppliers there Shanna, couldnt make sense of all the 1's and 0's so I think ill just go with b&q, thanks though, im sure someone with a better head for this would sort it out cheaper your way :)

Already got me heart set on building the normal chiller, but the counterflow seems to be a cool option too, lookin forward to the article...

Just waitin to free up enough funds now for this copper pipe   :o
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: kev on April 05, 2013, 08:13:25 AM
If you ask the guys in the building suppliers they're normally pretty helpful especially if you know roughly what you're looking for.
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: DrowningManatee on April 05, 2013, 02:36:35 PM
cheers guys,
i meant i was lookin at the internet for suppliers and couldnt really make sense of the listings. Im sure if i'd looked hard enough i woulda found somewhere, but id no credit to go ringing round checking availability etc.
One o the boys says he has some spare pipe he can give me at the next meetin the legend, so im all sorted anyways, thanks though, sounds like i woulda been wasting money goin to the big guys aright :)
The help from ye guys on this forum is incredible, ill have to give some meself once I get me ducks in a row :)
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: DrowningManatee on April 11, 2013, 04:46:03 PM
barkar had a spare pipe there, already bent and all so all ill have to do is bend the two ends so theyll peek out the pot and attach hose and clamps, pretty much setup already, delighted. Will post photos anyways since tghe threads here...
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: barkar on April 11, 2013, 10:29:33 PM
Quotebarkar had a spare pipe there, already bent and all so all ill have to do is bend the two ends so theyll peek out the pot and attach hose and clamps, pretty much setup already, delighted. Will post photos anyways since tghe threads here...
No bother thanks for the beer, I would put 2 elbow compression with a barb fitting on the ends rather than trying to bend the ends which is hard to do , without kinking
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: Damien M on May 03, 2013, 08:24:44 AM
I had bought the standard one from one of the shops but found it was too tightly wound so opened it up to a larger diameter to cover more area of the Plastic Bucket type Boiler. Just start at one end and just progressively unwind a bit at a time to a larger diameter  . I also kept most of the coils to the top ( heat rises an all) by using the bottom coil as a stand and spreading out the 2nd and 3rd coil to extend the height.

It gave a much quicker cool down rate reducing by perhaps 5 to 10 minutes.

I have bought one of those solar pumps to boost the circulation and thus the cool down rate as still want a quicker cool rate.
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: Hop Bomb on May 03, 2013, 09:56:55 AM
That little solar pump is the business.
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: Damien M on May 03, 2013, 10:32:43 AM
Good to hear!

Any tricks or tips for the Pump install. To recirc do you use a rigid copper section to set up a circulation around the bucket? Is it necessary.??
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: DrowningManatee on May 03, 2013, 07:52:17 PM
nice one, precision chilling :)

mine has the two ends poking out unbent - as in, it sits on it's side in the pot(90 degrees from the way its meant to be), i was gonna bend em and stick the 90degree connection on as barkar said, but i showed pics to the lads in the club and they reckon it's sound as is, also they peek out nicely so most of the lid can cover it while chilling (though im not gettin the height you are - heat rising and that), and I dont get why the copper has to be bent that much at all when the hosing can do all that for you? im not doubting there's perfectly good reasons, just trying to get away with the lazy option.

Had a look there, and cant grasp what the pump does, it says recirculating the water(wort) back in, does this mean just mixing the wort so its hot at the bottom as well?(mixing the wort to even out temp) and can this lead to aeration of the wort before its cooled? technology and diy are a bit new to me...

i have pics and will post em but i have to work out how these online photo webpage addresses work and stuff, and get my hosing and clips....
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: DrowningManatee on May 14, 2013, 01:07:08 AM
got some pipe for 7 euro in aldi there (5m) plus various hose clamps for 1 euro in woodies, plus a tap adaptor (6euro)that was supposed to fit an indoor tap (that didnt fit)
but i dont see how, since its expecting a hose adaptor to attach it to, gonna post pics in the mornin...
and then see about gettin another adaptor...
there was one there for a tenner (multifunction), but ill see if its another 1/2 part effort
Title: Re: home made wort chiller
Post by: Ciderhead on May 14, 2013, 10:00:27 AM
Probably need closer to 10M for it to be effective but let us know how you get on?