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Author Topic: Counterflow Chiller.  (Read 2723 times)

Offline HappyHax0r

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Counterflow Chiller.
« on: March 04, 2012, 10:56:04 PM »
Oh... my... god...

After having brewed tonight (3 hours or so, including all cleanup!), I have to say, I will never brew without a counterflow chiller again.
I borrowed Richards chiller today... as well as snarfing the grain and hops required for the Dunedin Dumber... The brew went swimmingly... hit my strike temp, no stuck sparge, vorlaufed perfectly, conversion test was perfect... boil went without a hitch... during the boil Don did the dealings while I cleaned out and washed the tun and sanned the chiller... Then I helped finalize the brew and brought it in the house. After doing so we hooked it up to the chiller and started chilling...

When it was in the carboy, it was 59F (yeast says it's good to 58F) so I let it come up a bit and then pitched.

OG was a few minor points high because I missed my boiltarget slightly (less wort), but that's ok, nothing serious.

I am absolutely, positively, speechless. These chillers work freaking awesome. I will be looking for the copper insides and fittings tomorrow at noon and pricing them. I already have the hose.

Dean, pick a time some night this week if you're available and I'll get in touch if you're willing to help me construct one of these. I need to have one of these as well as the braided siphon stick.

I doughed in at 6:52, and we were done the brew, completely chilled, cleaned up and carboy moved downstairs with blow-off attached by 10:30 sharp.

Un... freaking... real.
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Offline Richard

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Re: Counterflow Chiller.
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2012, 11:00:36 PM »
:D

Good job man - look forward to trying the 70/- :)
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Offline HappyHax0r

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Re: Counterflow Chiller.
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2012, 11:05:36 PM »
Me too! :).

Also, I'll drop the chiller off at your house on the way home from work tomorrow  :)... Thanks for the lend man.

I'm utterly stunned by this.
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Offline Richard

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Re: Counterflow Chiller.
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2012, 11:13:30 PM »
Yeah... the old immersion chiller I made the CFC out of took about half an hour to cool even with regular stirring. That thing does the job in maybe ten minutes. Definitely a must-have for a brewer :)
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Offline fakr

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Re: Counterflow Chiller.
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2012, 08:40:53 AM »
Looking back, I could have greatly reduced the cost of my CFC.  Could have saved about $30 in just the hose.  I bought thick black insulated hot water hose, for $1.70 a foot, when I could have just used cheap thin $0.39 a foot green garden hose.  I thought the better insulated hose would help with cooling efficiency but that's not the case.

Mine's 25 feet, and is really too long.  probably could have gone with 15-20 feet.  My wort hits 12-13 degrees going through 25 feet.  I now have a restriction valve on the end of my hose to turn the water down to a trickle and still hit 17 degrees or so.

I was pretty impressed when I first used mine too Hax.  I went from ice baths taking hours, to 10-15 minutes with a CFC....unreal.
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Offline HappyHax0r

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Re: Counterflow Chiller.
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2012, 12:28:35 PM »
Just checked my account... Cfc will have to wait until next pay...

Damn. Would have been fine too except for an unexpected expense this am.

--- Edited ---

Actually, I may still be able to swing this but now I'm confused. I went to HD to look at parts (pricing) and I found 20 ft of 1/4" OD copper tubing...
I then grabbed a 1/2" to 1/4" reducer only to find that a 1/4" ID reducer still had 1/16" of space around it when over the copper tubing...

What size tubing do I need? 3/8" ?
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Offline chrismccull

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Re: Counterflow Chiller.
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2012, 01:26:20 PM »
I need to build one of these also, do you want to split on a hose?
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Offline Chris Craig

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Re: Counterflow Chiller.
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2012, 02:13:59 PM »
Quote from: "HappyHax0r"
Just checked my account... Cfc will have to wait until next pay...

Damn. Would have been fine too except for an unexpected expense this am.

--- Edited ---

Actually, I may still be able to swing this but now I'm confused. I went to HD to look at parts (pricing) and I found 20 ft of 1/4" OD copper tubing...
I then grabbed a 1/2" to 1/4" reducer only to find that a 1/4" ID reducer still had 1/16" of space around it when over the copper tubing...

What size tubing do I need? 3/8" ?


This is the list of parts Dean gave me:

5/8" garden hose (and you're going to cut it in half)
one 20' coil of 3/8" flexible copper tubing
about 12" of 1/2" copper pipe (I've got some for you)
two 1/2" copper tees
two 1/2" to 1/4" copper reducers
4 3/4" stainless hose clamps
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Offline HappyHax0r

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Re: Counterflow Chiller.
« Reply #8 on: March 05, 2012, 07:20:19 PM »
Quote from: "chrismccull"
I need to build one of these also, do you want to split on a hose?


I already bought an 80 foot hose at costco for $19...

If it is the right size then you can get your chunk from that free of charge.
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Offline HappyHax0r

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Re: Counterflow Chiller.
« Reply #9 on: March 05, 2012, 07:33:19 PM »
Quote from: "ChrisCraig"
Quote from: "HappyHax0r"
Just checked my account... Cfc will have to wait until next pay...

Damn. Would have been fine too except for an unexpected expense this am.

--- Edited ---

Actually, I may still be able to swing this but now I'm confused. I went to HD to look at parts (pricing) and I found 20 ft of 1/4" OD copper tubing...
I then grabbed a 1/2" to 1/4" reducer only to find that a 1/4" ID reducer still had 1/16" of space around it when over the copper tubing...

What size tubing do I need? 3/8" ?


This is the list of parts Dean gave me:

5/8" garden hose (and you're going to cut it in half)
one 20' coil of 3/8" flexible copper tubing
about 12" of 1/2" copper pipe (I've got some for you)
two 1/2" copper tees
two 1/2" to 1/4" copper reducers
4 3/4" stainless hose clamps


Thanks for the heads up, I figured it had to be the 3/8" stuff instead of teh 1/4" but I wanted to be sure. Will pick this stuff up tomorrow.
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