Why?!!

[S.F.B.]

I have been brewing for almost 3 years. I have slowly moved from extract to extract and specialty grains and finally part mash recipes. In all this time, I have used many different methods to cool the wort. From pouring it over a block of ice in the fermenter to ice water baths. Yesterday I decided I was tired of the cooling process taking almost as long as the brewing. I broke down and bought a wort chiller. Used it last night. Oh my! 10 minutes to cool 5 gallons down to 75 degrees.

Why didn't I do this sooner?! :(

[sullydavid]

I know the feeling. I bought a lot of "toys" that do neat things or are kinda fun. A wort chiller along with a siphon starter are the two things I consider a must now. Very well worth the price.

[danno]

SFB, funny how when you see all those people up on their soapboxes we don't pay attention, huh? :D

OK, once again, I'll get up on mine... All you extract brewers that are doing partial boils, do yourselves a favor and go get yourself a cheapie turkey fryer kit, and then head on down to your local home improvement / hardware store and build yourself a counterflow chiller. You can go straight from boiling wort, through your CFC, and into a glass carboy at 60º...

I'd be happy to write up detailed instructions for those that may be interested....

[evh5150]

I'd love to get some setailed instructions. Anything I can do myself, save money, and save time would is great.

[ray m]

I thought the same thing, SFB...first with my wort chiller, then when I bought a turkey fryer kit & started full wort boils (in one pot & not 2). Life, through experience, seems to get infinitely easier.

[michaewa]

Danno, how do you transfer the beer from the 5-gal pot into the carboy? Do you have a funnel to pour it in or do you siphon? Seems like siphoning would not aerate the wort enough.

I'm thinking of stepping up to the full boil option with the turkey fryer, but envisioning lots of broken toes and spilled beer (broken hearts) trying to manage the full pot.

[Tweek]

The reason I havent done the counter flow is because it seems like an easy infection spot. In concept I love tehm, but due to the fact that you cannot see inside when cleaning them, they make me nervous. Maybe one day they will figure out a way to make them clear with cheap material.

michaewa- Lots of guys just siphon the cooled wort into there carboy. However if you purchase your brewpot wisely you can get one with a spigot. What I do is I put my turkey fryer on a table and do all my brewing up higher (this also saves a lot of bending). Then when my wort is cool, I hook a food grade hose to the spigot, open it up and viola gravity fills the carboys for me.

[Beerconnoisseur]

Tweek: I think most brewers use some pretty strong chemicals to get their counterflow chillers clean (you'll see clean in place, or CIP used to describe this), and just periodically replace them as needed.

When selecting a pot, I would highly recommend one w/ a spigot and handles, which let you tie off hop bags during the boil. It's one of the few niceties I did not get, and wish I had.

[hemogoblin]

I recently made myself an all-copper counterflow out of about $45 in materials (had to buy solder and flux too). Before use I put it in a 300F oven for about 20 minutes to sanitize. Afterwards I run some boiling water through after use to get the sugar out, let it dry and cap the ends.

The first time I tested it, boiling water went in, and the stream that emerged was cooler than my hand. They are awesome!

Oh and this is my first post. Hi everybody. ("Hi, Dr. Nick!")


(p.s. potholders are a necessity after the oven trick)

[Tom C]

prior to sending cool water through the counter flow...run some hot wort during the end of the boil through the counter flow. The temp of the wort will kill anything that is in there.

Tom C

[danno]

OK, got some pics posted... go here (http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/dan_prokosch) and click on "CFC". (no other pics in there yet...)

the first pic shows all the stuff you need to build a CFC and put a valve in your boiling kettle. I believe the whole package ran me about $35. the only thing not pictured is some 1/2" copper tubing and solder, and more clamps... (and also, this is why I call it "Badkitty Brew")

the second and third pic shows the one part of building a CFC that could be a challenge. Compression fittings have a lip inside them to stop your tubing from going all the way through. we want the tubing to pass through, so you have to drill out the lip... I drilled it out best I could and then used a dremel to smooth it out...

the fourth pic is the bit of soldering you have to do to make the end pieces.

The fifth pic is the completed setup in action last November on my deck...

the sixth pic is a feature that I added after a few batches. When I built my CFC, I used compression fittings on the kettle valve. Well, since you need to take the CFC off and put it back on repeatedly, the compression fittings start leaking. My first fix was to switch to a flare fitting. That took care of the leaking, but it was still a PITA to keep connecting/disconnecting all the time. So I spent another $20 on some high temp polysulfone QD's...

Putting the whole thing together isn't that tough, basically you unroll the copper coil, get it as straight as possible, and stuff it through the garden hose or plastic tubing. Cut the plastic tubing 8" or so short of each end of the copper tubing, slide on your soldered T's, install your compression fittings to seal it all up. Then one end of your CFC goes into a flare fitting to connect to your brewpot valve, and the other end is what you put into your carboy...

hope this helps...

[tubetek]

Howdy-
If you don't have soldering ability, there is a kit of parts available at www.listermann.com called the PHILLCHILL PHITTINGS that are about $15. You supply 25 feet of 3/8 soft copper tubing and about the same length
of 5/8 garden hose...Works great!
Enjoy!

[paul84043]

I thought alot about the counterflow chiller, but the regular coiled chiller works so good, I haven't been able to justify the added complexity.

Even in the summer when my water is pushing 50 to 60 degrees, it still cools the wort down in under 10 minutes.

In the winter it's truly impressive!! Under 4 minutes easy.