Homebrewing is what it is to each person. I do enjoy seeing the end result from an art and creativity perspective but to myself and possibly others the goal is to make beer, preferably great beer, for as cheap as possible. I have been brewing on a semi regular basis since 2003 progressively improving in technique and equipment.
Once stepping up to a full volume boil six gallon BIAB, an immersion chiller was a must, an ice bath just wasn’t an option anymore. Like many I found that even with an immersion chiller it was 30 - 45 minutes to get to the high end of pitching temps with ground water. You always want to chill and get your yeast pitched as soon as possible not only from a beer quality and bacteria issue but really just to save your own time. I didn’t want to spend the money on a counterflow chiller or a pump so I chose the next best thing as cheap as possible; I built a pre-chiller.
The benefits of this are: it’s cheap, easy to clean, you don’t have to worry about clogging if you brew a hop monster and you don’t have to worry about matching flow rate to hit a specific temp. I read many reviews with some mixed opinions on whether it even really worked. Most reviews confirm that a pre-chiller works well namely to include Chris Graham from MoreBeer on a podcast with Brad Smith the author of Beersmith. He goes on to recommend even chilling a few degrees below pitching temps which with room temp water would be impossible without further measures.
I chose to do 50' full feet of copper at 3/8" OD along with a ball valve to easily control flow. I know I can fill a bucket with ice water to get right down to around 33 degrees and if you watched Mythbusters episode 29, you can add salt to allow it to drop to around 24 deg (confirmed). I thought about a cooler to accomplish this but hopefully I can reach my desired temp in about 20 mins or less. I had a spare free bucket vs the price of even a cheap cooler. Plus I have no issues drilling into a bucket even if this plan doesn't work. I’ve read reports of people getting an ice/salt ‘brine’ and achieving single digit temps. It's all about the differential of temperatures. The goal obviously being to get to pitching temps as quickly as possible.
Parts Needed: (I went to Home Depot but any store should have)
1 - 50’ soft copper refrigeration coil ⅜” OD
1 - ½” Ball Valve
2 - ⅜” to ½” MIP compression fittings
1 - ½” to ⅜” Male hose barb
1 - ½” to ¾” Garden hose male adapter
1 - ½” female to ¾” Male garden hose female fitting
4 - ¾” flat washers
2 - Stainless steel hose clamps
2 - Rubber hose washers
1- Bucket or cooler
Teflon tape, Pipe cutter - (hopefully not)
I seen some tutorials on this with many extra fittings, yes it will work but I wanted to keep my cost down and connections to a minimum. Originally I bought O rings for sealing but ended up losing them. I used garden hose washers, turned out with the gap from the washer and curvature of the bucket, they worked perfectly with no leaks.
Tools:
Don’t need a step bit, they are kind of expensive. A ¾” wood bit would work; I drilled a 13/16”
Don’t need a caliper; I used it to verify the size hole I needed and to verify the step bit
The bender is optional; turned out not working that well
corny keg 27 inches diameter
2 liter soda bottle, 13.5
party keg, just right at about 22"
50’ x 12 = 600 inches / 22” = about 27 wraps
Test the fit of the compression fitting, want it to be nice and snug with as little gap as possible to help with sealing.
On the bottom, I had to mount the barb 1.5" or so from the bottom not only to clear the washer on the inside but to easily allow hookup of my wort chiller without scraping my knuckles on the ground if my bucket was full.
I may use some type of epoxy, adhesive or Loctite on the male hose adapter if it starts to be an issue loosening over use of time.
I didn't really like the big washers but turned out to be perfect adding stability to the connections mainly the ball valve that will see wear and tear with use.
Brought the end of the copper up back through the 2nd coil from the bottom to allow the coil to still rest its weight on the bottom of the bucket and not on the fitting.
On my top bend I pushed my bend into the coil and came back up for my connection, worked well with way less stress on the coil.
Lessons learned.
My first connection on the bottom fitting was way too long, I wasn't paying attention and went to install it with not enough clearance to get the fitting pushed into place. Had to remove and cut down the copper a few inches; RIP one compression fitting. I tried to salvage it but it ended up coming apart after it was installed. I was however able to just purchase a crush sleeve and another nut to place on the ½” male fitting for less than three bucks.
Using my bender didn't work well. Almost ended up with a hard kink which if you look at my bottom connection it's pretty rough. Ended up using different radiuses such as the 2 liter bottle and a 2.5" piece of exhaust tubing I had laying around. You can do it by hand and don't need these but they certainly helped with preventing a kink. You could easily find something around the house such as a can of food if necessary.
All done. Tested for leaks; first time go.
Ultimately this thing came together just I had hoped with just a few hiccups. I can't test at this time as it's already freezing outside negating the need at all; however I'm sure once summer months hit it will work as necessary with more info to follow. I plan to do a few tests with temperature readings but I’m sure the time to crash my wort to pitching temps will satisfy all I need to know. I figure if it doesn't work I can always reuse the copper for a jockey box or something.
At some point I will probably invest in a pump and a counterflow chiller as my brewery continues to grow. If I need further cooling without getting a counterflow chiller I can step up to making a 50’ immersion chiller; I’m at 25’ right now. I can also get just a pump which will create a whirlpool and provide good circulation.
Hope this helps people out, happy brewing!
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