Building an Immersion Chiller

[Mikael]

Heyy guys!
I have a question about immersion chillers. Instead of buying one, I'm looking into building one, The question I have is this...which would be the better to buy, a 3/8"s x 50' tubing or 1/2" x 50' tubing? would the greater circumference of the 1/2" flow faster cooling faster or would the more coils of the 3/8" be the faster, or is this potato pototto? thoughts? opinions? ideas? epiphanies? revelations? Let me know! CHEERS GUYS!!!!


Mikael

 

[rjb222]

I made mine from 3/8 copper. I can bring the temperature down to 75 deg. F in about 15 minutes with tap water. When you build yours make sure to bring the out end up through the middle of the coil not to the outside. This way you will have a better surface exchange of heat with the pot. If you bring it up the out side your coil is smaller and further away from the pots metal the better the heat exchange there the quicker you will cool and that is what you want.

 

[dessertmaker]

I know nothing about immersion chillers, but our family business is a home inspection company and we recently ran into an issue with an AC unit icing up because one set of coils was too small.

To me that would indicate that the smaller coils cool faster than the larger coils.

I'm not an HVAC expert, I just take the pictures and type up the reports for the licensed inspector, but that's what I gathered from the conversations going on.

 

[BeerAlchemist]

I'd spend a little more and go 1/2. It can handle more water and has greater surface area so it will work faster. This is particularly important as you bring it from boiling to 140 as S-Methyl methionine (SMM), which is a DMS precursor is generated at that temp range. As well, if you are going from a an outdoor faucet which is 3/4" you will not have as large a step down and thus not as much a pressure on the system...and if you are weird like me, once the temp drops it makes it easy to run the exit line to a sprinkler and use that water for the yard instead of wasting it down a drain.

Another though on construction to go with rjb222 is that when you get the coil, keep it coiled, don't try to unravel it or it will mess it up. Just put the coils around a cornie keg or something similar in diameter and work the coils up tighter around that.

 

[rjb222]

I'd spend a little more and go 1/2. It can handle more water and has greater surface area so it will work faster. This is particularly important as you bring it from boiling to 140 as S-Methyl methionine (SMM), which is a DMS precursor is generated at that temp range. As well, if you are going from a an outdoor faucet which is 3/4" you will not have as large a step down and thus not as much a pressure on the system...and if you are weird like me, once the temp drops it makes it easy to run the exit line to a sprinkler and use that water for the yard instead of wasting it down a drain.

Another though on construction to go with rjb222 is that when you get the coil, keep it coiled, don't try to unravel it or it will mess it up. Just put the coils around a cornie keg or something similar in diameter and work the coils up tighter around that.

You still need to bring your hot end up the center of the coil also make sure you have a good end out side of the pot edge so when your garden hose leaks a bit it will not drain into your wert. You are correct in that you do not want to straighten the coils rather gently change direction on the bottom coil and bring it into and out of the center. soldering on the right ends to fit a garden hose is no problem with either size of tube just a matter of a step down then the hose fitting.

 

[dessertmaker]

I think I get how this would work.....

Is there a certain grade of copper tubing that is used for this?

What if you used 3 coils? Sounds like it would work a lot faster.

First coil immersed in an ice chest full of ice water. Connected from garden hose to first coil, from first coil to second coil.

Second coil immersed in wert. Connected to first coil, discharges to drain. (Better yet install an inline pump with a fill valve and reserve tank and discharge it back to first coil, like a car radiator... Maybe that's overkill though.)

Third coil coiled inside of first coil immersed in ice water. Connected to a siphon or pump that pumps the wert through the coil. Discharges directly back into the wert.

One other question:

Could this possibly double as a distiller (used to make higher alcohol content liquids for my........

Organic homemade mouthwash concentrate!)

 

[BeerAlchemist]

I think I get how this would work.....

Is there a certain grade of copper tubing that is used for this?

What if you used 3 coils? Sounds like it would work a lot faster.

First coil immersed in an ice chest full of ice water. Connected from garden hose to first coil, from first coil to second coil.

Second coil immersed in wert. Connected to first coil, discharges to drain. (Better yet install an inline pump with a fill valve and reserve tank and discharge it back to first coil, like a car radiator... Maybe that's overkill though.)

Third coil coiled inside of first coil immersed in ice water. Connected to a siphon or pump that pumps the wert through the coil. Discharges directly back into the wert.

One other question:

Could this possibly double as a distiller (used to make higher alcohol content liquids for my........

Organic homemade mouthwash concentrate!)

Get a 50' coil of refrigeration grade in the diameter you choose to go with. You would not want to go from a coil in ice to the main IC coil as it would provide little if anything. Going from boiling down to under 140 in a 1/2x50 coil only takes a few minutes if you are stirring or running a pump driven whirlpool which is plenty fast. Commercial brewers take much longer as they flame out, whirlpool, then go to the plate chiller...so I'm really not worried about DMS. However, if you are lagering and need your wort down to the 40's-50's there are some who switch over to running the water through a coil in an ice bath as you suggested to get it cold enough. I personally cool down to the 60's, toss the wort into my lagering fridge and then cool the rest of the way before pitching. I also wouldn't recirculate water like you suggested unless you have strict water consumption laws, otherwise let it go and use the "waste" to water your lawn.

Distilling is illegal without being blessed by the government...doesn't matter what you are using it for. Discussing distillation is likely a violation of site rules so if you are going hillbilly that is up to you to find resources...just best not attempt here.