DIY Wort Chiller for HALF the cost!!

[@Javaman92]

Hi Dennis, I made myself a chiller right off too. My kettle was too big to put in the sink and I didn't want to be lifting that much anyway. I stripped back some solid copper wire and used it to tie it all together and to space the coils some. It worked fine. I bought a 3/8ths copper pipe bender but found out that my pipe was 1/2 inch! I ended up bending it by hand and it worked. The fittings I had wouldn't fit but I just bought a small food grade hose at Walmart for about $10 and cut it and clamped both side onto my pipe. It works like a charm.

[@CityscapeBrewing]

Awesome! Definitely makes it 100 times easier and faster! Thanks for sharing! 🍻

[@Javaman92]

Oh and do I need to take the posts off still even though I have done this?

[@CityscapeBrewing]

Nope. I run mine through without taking them off. Cleans and sanitizes at the same time running it through the keg.

[@Javaman92]

Oh I have yet another question. Since my keg is now empty, I have cleaned it. I got the idea that while it had the OxiClean in it to hook it up and run it through the lines. It was only after that I wondered if I should have done that. Right now the stuff is still in the lines. Should I flush it with water right way, and should I have done it in the first place?

[@CityscapeBrewing]

That's exactly what I do, but I do not leave it in the lines.. I would do the same thing with sanitizer. I flush out the keg, fill it with sanitizer and then run the sanitizer through the lines to flush out the cleaner and then I leave sanitizer in the line until I hook it back up with more beer.

[@Javaman92]

@@CityscapeBrewing That's most likely where I got the idea from. Thanks once again!

[@CityscapeBrewing]

No problem! Glad to help

[@ShortBusScotty]

I am still doing it as I did in the olden days (1980's) I pour 2 gallons of wort over 3 gallons of 34 degree water. faster boil faster cooling. I don't know what affect this has but the beer taste good to me. Would a chiller make a difference?

[@CityscapeBrewing]

For extract Brewing when you're adding it to cold water then it cools it down anyway. So not really unless you wanted to go colder than what your final outcome is. This is really meant for people who do full boils with 5 to 6 gallons that they need to cool down from boiling temperature

[@ShortBusScotty]

@@CityscapeBrewing Thanks again for giving me your time. I am trying to keep cost down while I bring taste up. I'm trying hop resin extract in my next batch. I'm hope I will have the flavor without the waste.

[@Javaman92]

Oh and I had about the worst thing that can happen happen to me today. My dry erase board came unstuck from my kegerator, fell, and opened up the tap to my IPA while I was out mowing the lawn. I came in to find a river of beer on my floor. 😳 Luckily it was fairly close to empty. I probably lost a few glasses worth. And my drip tray is big and it had a lot of beer in it. I tried drinking it all. Yeah... LOL ;-)

[@CityscapeBrewing]

Oh no... Worst thing ever! LOL You need those self closing springs for your faucets!