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Basically the
problem is this: you need to cool your boiling wort as quickly as
possible which means you drop your immersion wort chiller into the
liquid and pass cold tap water through it. Obviously to a great
extent the faster the cold water runs through the chiller the quicker
the wort will cool, but to obtain a fast supply of cold water, you
need a good method of connecting your hose pipe to your wort chiller
because there’s a fair amount of water pressure to contend with.
For more years than was healthy, I put up with sticking my hose pipe
onto my chiller with yards of gaffer tape, with results that can best
be described as variable. I eventually got my act together and took
my chiller to my local Plumb Center and asked for their help.
Surprisingly the guy who served me quite cheerfully announced he
didn’t have a clue and couldn’t help me! (Maybe I was
unlucky enough to get the trainee). In the end I worked it out myself
and it goes as follows:
You will need
two six inch (150mm) lengths of syphon tubing about 8mm in diameter
and two small Jubilee clips. You’ll also need a good length of
cheap and narrow hosepipe (the ‘kink-free’ type is the best
but most expensive option) and the right Hozelock connection to fit
the pipe to the cold water tap of your choice.
As this is
very probably not going to be completely watertight no matter how
well everything fits together, I suggest you cool your wort outdoors,
in your back garden. That way, the inevitable drips will only serve
to water the lawn, and not your kitchen floor. As you‘ll be
doing your boiling outdoors in the back garden too this is doubly
sensible, as carrying fermentation bins full of
boiling wort is An Accident Waiting To Happen, and we
don’t want that. Work out how many feet of hose you will need to
run from your cold water tap (I have an outdoor tap, so lucky me, but
if you don’t, you’re talking running the hose through the
open kitchen window nearest the sink) and cut to length, with a
couple of feet to spare in case of error. Next, work out how many
feet of hosepipe you’re going to need to run from the wort
chiller to a drain or grate of your choice and cut that to length,
again with a bit to spare.
Next, dip the
ends of the two bits of syphon tubing in boiling water for a minute
to make them pliant, and push them onto the copper ends of the wort
chiller, far enough up so they won’t ever come off. Next, put
the jubilee clips over the syphon tubing and up the copper pipe of
the chiller, thread the end of the hose lengths up the syphon tubing
and screw down the jubilee clips so it is gripping hosepipe, syphon
tubing and copper piping all at the same time. Screw the clips down
as hard as they will go and there you have the finished product. |
