Immersion Wort Chiller

Hey everyone, new homebrewer here. I was looking into getting an immersion wort chiller (I’ve done two extract brews, and it’s taken way too long to cool). All of the wort chillers require an attachment to the faucet head using something like a garden hose fitting; my problem is that I cannot remove the aerator cap from my faucet (it is just physically impossible: it’s either really well stuck on there or not designed to be removed). Any suggestions on how to hook up the tubing without the need to remove the aerator cap?

I’m not a plumber by any means, however, the aerator caps do unscrew from faucets. The problem is, most of the time they corrode in place to the point where they don’t want to come off, even with a wrench.

If it’s a simple faucet where you could slide a large piece of tubing over the faucet and get a good bite with a hose clamp, I suppose that would work.

Another possibility would be to buy a pump, like a fountain pump, and use that for cooling. Fill a bucket with water and pump away (or fill your sink and pump from that).

I remember using a portable dishwasher that had a rubber cup thing that went over the faucet for the hose. Look on line, maybe you can find one.

If you have a washing machine you can install a Y and get water there.

I attach my chiller to a utility pump in a bucket of ice water instead of the sink tap.

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I use a small pump with a short 3 inch hose comming out of it with a garden hose fitting attached. It hooks to the immersion chiller garden hose end and in the utility sink it goes. You can change out the water when ever you need to and it could also go into a bucket. I like pumping back into the sink and recycling the water until it gets warm and then you can bucket it for cleaning and run in more cold water. I bought the pump from a moonshine still web site.

Since we replace our Sump Pumps every few years, I just use an old one in a 5 gallon bucket to run through my chiller. 20’ copper, pump (3/4hp in ice with 1/2 gallon water to start) cools the wort in right under 8 minutes to 70 degrees.

But I imagine any recirculating pump will work. want faster add a radiator, or another coil in another 5 gallon bucket.

I use one of these and it works amazing. You don’t unscrew anything. This just slips over the faucet and push the lever down to tighten it. I would highly recommend it to any home brewer.

Under your sink, replace the cold water supply shut off valve with a valve that has two supplies. Attach one to the sink. Attach a fitting to the other that will work with your cooler.