8mm copper pipe wort chiller, sufficient?

[aeddon]

hey guys

Went out today to buy some copper for either an immersino or a counterflow (not sure which yet) and was a bit hasty! They only had 10meters(bout 30ft) 8mm so i took that, £23. will it do or shall i take it back and get some 10mm, that would be an extra tenner, but these http://www.leylandhomebrew.com/item2086.htm do a immerssion for £30 so would be cheaper to buy than to make!!!

some advice would be good, cheers

 

[BrewStew]

take it back... that's CRAZY money!

even wickes only charge £18 for 10 meters of 10mm microbore! a local plumbers merchants will be even cheaper!

 

[Vossy1]

The smaller the diameter the greater the surface area and hence the more effective the heat exchange.
I spent a good deal of today making the rest of my quad 8mm x 5m IC, it's almost finished, I'll take a pic and post it in a min.
I got a 10m coil of 8mm from a local plumbers merchants for £9.78, I bought a second roll at a different merchants for £12.65

 

[A T]

I'll look forward to that, i still need to do a decent chiller and i'm feeling more comfortable with an IC

 

[Vossy1]

I found 8mm slightly harder to work than 10mm in that it tried to flatten at bends more easily. It was really easy to roll around a 2ltr pop bottle though. The picture above is deceptive, the top of the coil lies at the 65ltr mark on my 100ltr pot.
The bottom half of the coils lie under 30ltrs on the sight tube. I did this so I can still use the IC when making small batches.
5m of tube made 13 coils around a 2ltr pop bottle.

 

[BrewStew]

The smaller the diameter the greater the surface area

eh? :wha:

please explain?

 

[Vossy1]

The smaller the diameter of the tube the greater the surface area in proportion to the volume of the tube.

 

[BrewStew]

that's still making no sense to me... i'm probably thinking too much Pi r squared for area or something cos a 10mm pipe has a greater surface area in section than and 8mm, both inside and out, which means more hot wort contact and more cold water contact for every millimetre of piping.

save me from my own brain melting out of my ears i'm confused :lol:

 

[aeddon]

well i got ripped off and i was a pluming supply too, rubbish! good job i kept the receipt. i like your quad chiller, gpna aim high and get that ont he go.

cheers for the adive, will go on the hunt for cheap tubing

 

[Vossy1]

:lol:

a 10mm pipe has a greater surface area in section than and 8mm, both inside and out, which means more hot wort contact and more cold water contact for every millimetre of piping.

10mm tube does have a larger surface area inside and out, but proportionally it doesn't. Think about volumes and surface areas. It's only the surface, inside and out that comes into direct contact. An 8mm tube carries less water/surface area than a 10mm tube and so on. That's why plate heat exchangers only have a few mm's between sheets, it would be pointless to have more water flowing through them when it doesn't come into contact with the surfaces and hence won't improve heat exchange.
Larger bore tubes are used, but to get as an effective heat exchange as narrower bore tubes, you have to use longer lengths as the heat exchange isn't as efficient.

 

[Vossy1]

well i got ripped off and i was a pluming supply too, rubbish! good job i kept the receipt. i like your quad chiller, gpna aim high and get that ont he go.

I'm not sure what brew lengths you make aeddon but I made mine a quad as I brew up to 85ltrs. A single coil chiller is very effective for 23ltr batches. The quad is a pain to make also :lol:

 

[BrewStew]

ah ha!

"I see" said the blind man to his two deaf dogs :lol:

 

[Vossy1]

I'll let you know if it works :whistle: :lol:

 

[BrewStew]

if it does, i'll be rethinking my 10L pico brewery design, and fixed IC in my kilderkin brewery

 

[Aleman]

BES are having a special on copper coils for March

10m by 6mm - £6.14 (PN 6939)
10m by 8mm - £8.72 (PN 8921)
25m by 10mm - £26.79 (PN 6941)

I already have 25m of 10mm in the shed for my next IC project . . . but am thinking of a twin 10m CFC in 6mm Copper for the femtobrewery

Edit: Added the Part Numbers in case they are different from the standard catalogue

 

[Vossy1]

Nice spot Aleman :thumb:

 

[aeddon]

Just got some from screwfix 25m of 8mm for £24, couldnt wait for postage, i'm a bit compulsive. patience is a virtue i'm still after if anyone knows if its on special anywhere?

 

[Vossy1]

:lol:

 

[aeddon]

oi, i'm serious. i'm gona end up with a HERMS 100l system and fat as a monkey if i'm not careful

 

[Vossy1]

I don't doubt it, looking forward to all the pics