Immersion chiller question

Northern Brewer General
1

Hi,
Took exactly one batch of wort to decide, wort chiller was quite an attractive idea. Now not sure
by product info if the silver serpent offered by NB is designed to attach to faucet of sink or where?
Anyone have experience with this model and is this a good product?

Thanks in advance,
:oops:

2

Immersion chillers are awesome and worth the money if you are brewing 5 gallons or less (some would say even 10 gallons). They are a great way to shorten brewdays and make better beer (not sure if you are doing full-volume yet, but this product will stay with you when you make that move for that and all-grain if you aren’t doing that already).

This product looks fine, its a pretty simple device. Not sure of the benefits/drawbacks of SS vs. copper as a conductor.

They are typically designed to attach to utility sink or hose faucet male threads, so if you plan on attaching to a kitchen sink, you may need an adapter (available @ a hardware store), but if you have one them new fangl’d kitchen sink faucets it may not be compatible.

3

An immersion chiller is also very easy to DIY for less than half the price.

4

I don’t know about this, maybe copper was more expensive when I bought my stuff, but with all the hookups, hose clamps, tubing, and connections, I was pretty close to the price of a pre-made chiller.

But I will concede, if you are relatively handy (ie can assemble a baby crib or ikea furniture), buying some hose clamps, coiled copper, plastic tubing, and barbed hose/utility sink hookup will save you a few bucks, but more importantly, you will know how to fix it when/if something goes wrong because you assembled it.

Make sure the hose clamps are tight unless you want a lower starting gravity :mrgreen:

5

I made a homemade one as well. It cost pretty close to same price less shipping but I bought my items at the local hardware store and they are a little more expensive BUT convenient. I would say if you had a home depot or lowes nearby you can make one for about 40 bucks. Took me all of about 10 minutes to make. Worked great. Wort was cool in about 10 minutes.

6

The resellers on Ebay have the best prices for copper wort chillers. I bought this one and it works like a champ:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-x-3-8-Copper ... 540ee933da

You will also need one of these adapters that you can pick up at your local Home Depot/Lowes:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_396060-72906-SF ... facetInfo=

EDIT
Actually forget those links above and just get both from here. Even with shipping its the cheapest option for both items:

http://www.homebrewing.org/25-38-Econom ... _2734.html
7

I usually support the LHBS, but in this case I made mine. The cost was the same to make as to buy, but the difference being you can get a lot longer coil and larger ID than the LHBS. I used a Corney keg to roll mine, perfect diameter for my MegaPot, just be carefull not to kink it. I choose copper for faster cooling.

8

I was lucky enough to borrow a IC for my first two batches. Then I had to return it. :frowning: It took 1 batch too realize that I needed one. They are relatively cheap, and will last for as long as you need it to if you take care of them. The IC has been one of my best purchases to date, but I’m looking at a temp controllers now…

9

It didn’t take me long either to realize that I needed a better way to cool the wort. I like to build things so I made my own. In my opinion copper is the way to go. Either way it is worth the investment. I bought an adapter that screws into the kitchen faucet that allows it to connect to a standard 5/8" garden hose fitting.