Wort chiller

[TomR]

Can anyone recommend a stainless steel wort chiller for less than £50?

 

[NIGHTSKY BREWING]

No ....but being a classic car fabricator I could make one and so could you .

 

[TomR]

What would I need. I'm up for a challenge

 

[ACBEV]

I've got this one...
https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.u...2-Wort-Chiller-50-foot-15-meters.html#SID=168

It's very good, gets my wort below 20c in less than 20 minutes. It fits my 40L boiler nicely too.

I think when I bought mine, it must have been cheaper, as I'm a tight bugger.

If your going to make your own, make it as big as possible (make sure it'll fit in your boiler).

 

[Dutto]

Why stainless steel?

I knocked this one up out of 15mm copper pipe and it works a treat ...

It fits perfectly into the Boiler (*) ...

(*) I had added an extra two coils to the one in the first photograph to speed up the cooling,

 

[TomR]

Very smart. Just thought stainless steel might be easier to keep clean..

 

[Clint]

I made one from a coil of copper pipe bought from Wickes..I think it was 10m long. It's a bit wonky but does the job. If you're a bit skill full,have pipe benders or know a plumber you could make one quite cheaply. Saying that copper ones are quite cheap off eBay.

 

[cerbera84]

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/cfc-build.74343/

 

[robbym123]

I've also got a wonky home made 10mm copper one. I wound the copper pipe around a fermenter to get the correct shape. A couple of jubilee clips to attach standard 13mm garden hose and good to go.

I have read several times that copper transfers heat much more efficiently than stainless steel. Cleaning isn't an issue as you can sterilise by chucking in your boiling wort.

Mine works well with a 100l boiler. I keep meaning to have a crack at making a counterflow chiller, but not sure it is necessary.

 

[TomR]

Well I've bought one...its in the post.

 

[mathorp]

As noted by robbym123, stainless steel has much lower thermal conductivity than copper, so not as good a material for efficient cooling. (at 20°C copper is 386 W/m°C, while SS is in the range 12-45, so copper is about 10 times better). Stainless steel will still work, but slower.

I figured this out after I bought a stainless steel coil!

 

[Dutto]

I went the "coiled copper tube" route to begin with; but "wonky" was too kind for a description!

 

[simonind]

I did this (all from Screwfix)
10m of 10mm copper pipe, wind carefully around a large paint tin or similar cylinder being careful not to kink.
Some Fitt Heavy Braided NTS Wintech Hose as it's temperature rated to 60C which is better than most hose pipes
Jubilee clips and PTFE tape to connect the two.

Works like a charm. Extra hose connectors would be the only improvement but that does mean there's more to go wrong...

 

[NIGHTSKY BREWING]

copper ...check out German forum low oxygen brewing... Fenton

 

[RoomWithABrew]

No leaded solder either is essential.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

What not copper ...check out German forum low oxygen brewing... Fenton

Are we having a bump an old thread day the last post was -

• Nov 28, 2018

 

[MashBag]

Can anyone recommend a stainless steel wort chiller for less than £50?

Yes. Save the money for ingredients and don't bother. Ask yourself if you really need to chill. If you come back tomorrow it has chilled itself. Brewday can be 1.5 hours.

Else... 10mm soft copper and roll it around DJ or bucket or both. Shiney does not mean best. It just means shiney.

 

[JockyBrewer]

Can anyone recommend a stainless steel wort chiller for less than £50?

£38 here, although you need to add fittings to the chiller.

https://www.angelhomebrew.co.uk/bre...brew-devil-88m-10-coil-immersion-chiller.html

Having said that, do think about MashBag's point about not chilling, it's a great method and saves you standing around for ages chilling wort.