What size tubing for counter-flow wort chiller

[periolus]

Good morning!

What size copper tubing should be used for a CF chiller? Is 12mm okay? 10mm seems to be very popular on the market, but I think this sounds a bit narrow for wort chilling - any opinions?

 

[Aleman]

Good morning!

What size copper tubing should be used for a CF chiller? Is 12mm okay? 10mm seems to be very popular on the market, but I think this sounds a bit narrow for wort chilling - any opinions?

I bought a supply of 6mm copper to go inside 10mm PVC. so the idea of going lager seems wrong to me.

I have a chiller with 10mm copper inside 3/4 PVC and it is not all that effective . . . even though it is 20m long . . . and splitting it into 2 10m coils separately fed didn't really achieve a lot either . . . . I suspect my pump was too big to transfer the wort slowly enough to cool it effectively.

I never built the 6/10 chiller as I found a large plate chiller for sensible money.

I would say, depending on your pump, that 10 mm should be the largest you would want to go . . . and don't go bigger than 15mm hose . . . 1/2" would be better as you don't want too much coolant around the hose because of laminar flow issues. . . . If you have a BMF pump then consider dropping down to 8 or 6mm . . . but the tubing starts to restrict the flow then . . . Even my March May 809 struggles to get decent flow through 5m of 6mm copper tube.

 

[Springer]

I used 10 meters of 1/2 inch braided with an 8mm copper down the middle, quite easy to assemble and works well

 

[Wendy1971]

10mm copper bendable pipe is good its soft and can be bent around say a fire extinguisher etc to get the shape

 

[Springer]

10mm copper bendable pipe is good its soft and can be bent around say a fire extinguisher etc to get the shape

Very true W. but so is 8mm and its a lot cheaper and the surface area, circumference, :? is not that much different 20 % and its a lot easier to thread up :?

 

[evanvine]

7M of 10mm copper in 1/2" garden hose, gravity fed, cools 23 ltrs down to 20C in 11 mins.

 

[commsbiff]

Did Vossy do a how-to ages ago about making one of these? I've searched but can't find it anywhere.

Mebbe I'm just making it up :hmm:

 

[pjbiker]

Did Vossy do a how-to ages ago about making one of these? I've searched but can't find it anywhere.

Mebbe I'm just making it up :hmm:

Maybe he did but I can't remember seeing it. Here is the one I remember seeing. On the 'other' forum.
Hope that's OK moderators. Pay attention to the 'heating the hose up with hot water' bit, or you will become stuck.

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/view ... 8&start=15

 

[commsbiff]

Here is the one I remember seeing.

TYVM :

 

[Springer]

I'm in the process of building one of these, but started using it before it was finished :nono:

10 metres of 8 mm copper down a 13 mm braided. Easy to thread up and works well. The only problem is all the cooler and connection hose flopping about.
The idea was to box it up in ply but have been busy building a sheet metal folder, so plan to use aluminum, much better job. Will be ordering some fitting from BES to fix the ins / outs to the box to neaten it up. :)

You can see the 8 mm copper inside the braided, that last brass fitting is an 8mm compression turned down one end and soldered into the copper tee fitting, to keep it all water / wort tight.
Went back up to 13 mm to the pump inlet via vossy's hose, 8 mm braided other end, to the FV
I will post when I have done battle with the BES catalog :pray: and boxed it up.
S
P.S. the 13mm blue plastic tee is nothing to do with this project, just in case you were wondering. :lol:

 

[evanvine]

FWIW this is the CFC I built.
The coil dims are 180mm Dia x 120mm H.
It sits very nicely on top of a fermenting bucket!

 

[Springer]

Looks like we are along similar lines E, must admit your cable ties are doing a better job than mine :lol:
You just wait until I get mine in a box. :)

 

[evanvine]

Hope the "box" does it for you. :thumb:

 

[Sean_Mc]

Thanks Jim and S, I actually now understand how a CFC works and how to build one :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

Did Vossy do a how-to ages ago about making one of these?

Not me gov :grin:

Here is the one I remember seeing. On the 'other' forum.
Hope that's OK moderators.

No problem at all with Jims on this forum

 

[pjbiker]

that last brass fitting is an 8mm compression turned down one end and soldered into the copper tee fitting, to keep it all water / wort tight.

I like that solution (and Evanvine's) to that problem. Mine was much more of a bodge with jubilee clips and bicycle inner tube, sealant, chewing gum.......