I’ve been telling myself for years that I was going to go all-stainless (on the cold side, you can pry my plastic mash tun from my cold dead hands) and finally figured out a way to make it happen on the cheap.
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Build a Better Counterflow Chiller « SeanTerrill.com](Build a Better Counterflow Chiller « SeanTerrill.com)
It may not be the most elegant of chillers, but did I mention cheap? ;D
Looks awesome!
But Sean, did you ever find a stainless connector to replace the carbon steel in your spunding valve? Inquiring minds want to know! (I know, those are very old posts…)
Finding it isn’t the issue… Justifying it on the other hand…
Yikes. I always wonder when the word “yikes” is really appropriate. Yup, this is it.
PS my valve uses all brass parts. ~$20 from Amazon for the CD PRV you used and a gauge, about $11 at the corner hardware for the rest. The PRV is brass anyway. Just sayin’.
I definitely don’t see the issue with non-stainless hardware there. If there’s beer in contact with it, something has gone badly wrong.
For $20 shipping, are we talking the full marching band to deliver it or just the drum corp?
Sorry, I know this is way OT now, but, another reason not to go with that way expensive part. My cheapo build also used a SWIVEL connector. (Pictired, that’s tee, to NPT-to-flare adapter, to flare swivel connector. Nylon flare washer in metal to metal flare connection, I just use a lot of gratuitous thread tape.) Minor detail maybe, but handy to make sure everything can be tightened up and still have the gauge positioned conveniently. Back to topic, nice new build Sean, and good to see you maintaining the blog again on occasion. Congrats.
Nice!
I have been using the same plastic MLT for years and am trying to justify spending the $$$ for a shiny stainless insulated purpose built piece with a built in manometer. Oooh. Ahhh.
I’m like you: I just can’t bring myself to pull the trigger and get rid of “that damn blue cooler” as Annie said about Denny’s.
Ain’t broke. Don’t fix it.
Did you build the CFC?
PS. It looks great to me.
Thanks! I did, build details are in the link.
Will be building one of these myself in the very near future. Thanks!!!
Looks good - how efficient is it? I have stainless CFC but run through a pump and recirculate with a SS WIC also… but I am sure that copper is quicker. Yes?
In any event - Cheers to a nice build!
With the caveat that there’s a lot of hand-waving involved, I’d say it’s ~2/3 as thermally efficient as a properly-sized plate chiller, but in a home brewing setting that means using maybe 11 gal of water to knock out a 5 gal batch, instead of 8 gal.
I ran a couple quick trials (they’re below the actual build instructions) and for an “ale” knockout (wort outlet 12°C above water inlet) it ran a 2.3 ratio, about the same as the copper chiller. At least in theory, the longer the tubing is relative to its diameter, the less effect wall material/thickness will have on heat transfer. The all-stainless CFCs that are on the market (KegCo et al) use shorter runs of larger tubing, so this should be significantly more efficient.
From the looks of it, the wort only travels through the stainless tube, so is there any reason to make the rest of the parts stainless?
Partly for durability, partly for geekiness, partly to eliminate galvanic response (see: geekiness), mostly because when ordering online there’s no price difference.
