Immersion Chiller

[Angry]

Just managed to pick up 18m of 1/2" annealed copper tubing on ebay for $50.
I will use it to build an immersion chiller to fit into my converted keg boiler.

Any suggestions from others who have built one?
Should i use the entire length or use 10m or so for the main coil and the rest for a smaller coil to sit in an ice bath to chill the water before entry to the main coil?


Any last minute advice would be great.

Thanks

[Chris]

Pretty good idea about the two coils! I like your thinking.

I find that my immersion chiller works pretty well without it, but that would greatly increase cooling poential (and consequently lower water use).

Aside from that, just be careful not to kink the copper tubing, and make sure it fits into your brewpot!

[warra48]

I used 18 metres of ½ inch copper pipe for my chiller, and ended up using only about 14 metres of it for the actual chiller. The rest I've used for a pre-chiller to run the water through an ice/water box.

Just one thing, run your cooling water directly through your chiller at first, until you get the wort temperature down to about 30 to 35ºC. This happens pretty quickly in about 10 minutes. From then run the water first through your pre-chiller to chill it down further. It is pointless using the pre-chiller for the first part, as it doesn't really help to chill any quicker at that stage, and you might as well save the ice for when you really need it, which is to knock off the last 10 to 15ºC.

[Tipsy]

Get one of those springy things to bend your pipe without kinking it, they work a treat