Please note: I no longer have my cheapo digital camera, so I'm out of luck temporarily when it comes to supplying you with images that show the details of what I built, but I hope to have another, much better camera in the near future- stay tuned!
 

 

If you are wondering whether or not this type of system is for you, here are a few points to consider:

• If you're brewing less than 10 gallons at a time, I would recommend that you don't even bother! You won't get enough flow through the hop back to extract enough flavor to make it worth the trouble, in my opinion.
• Be sure to tightly clamp all fittings, or use tubing connectors- this is no time to be aerating your wort!
• Use reinforced tubing, not regular, to prevent it from collapsing during the process due to heat sag
• Use of  liquid pump is highly recommended to ensure a good draw through the hop back. Remember, there's resistance as it travels through those hops, and time is a factor.
• It's best to use pellets during the main boil, you don't want bits of leaves clogging your lines, it'll be a mess!
• Leaf hops in the hop back, of course. They'll give more flavor, act as a natural filter, and will stay in the hop back much better. If you do need to use pellets, toss them in the brew pot at the end of the boil, or just before you run the wort through the hop back.
• A big advantage of the hop back: cleaner wort! The hop back makes a great filter while it works, greatly reducing the amount of hops and trub that end up in the fermenter
• Don't forget, you'll still need to finish cooling that wort- either run it directly into a counter flow chiller, or into another sterilized container that can take the heat. ( I simply run it from the 20G brew pot, through the hop back, and into the 15G pot that I used to heat my sparge water in, which is still plenty hot and still sterilized!)
• Be sure to allow for the loss of a little wort along the way, probably about 1.5 to 2 quarts, which you'll sacrifice to fill the hop back, pump, and lines. Maybe more, depending on your setup.
• If purchasing a new pump for this system, remember to consider the liquid temperature will run up to 180F or higher, and purchase the correct style. It should also be rated for continuous duty cycle.
• Be sure to have a ball valve on the "out" side of the pump, so you can control the flow of the wort, preventing aeration and too fast a flow to extract the hop flavor during the process.
• Of course, make sure the out tube reaches the bottom of the receiving vessel, to avoid splashing; A spring clamp can be readily used to keep it from moving, for less than a buck.

 Pipe taps are much larger than they sound; A 1/2' pipe tap requires a hole that's .781 diameter!  How to get a hole in that nice brew pot or keg that big? One rule:  TAKE YOUR TIME!  Stepping up drill sizes is the method used when working metal; The hole tip is not designed for cutting metal, only the "lip", or outer edge should be put to work.  Stepping up the drill size, at about 1/8" at a time works well for soft metals; For SS, it may be better to step by 16th's, if you don't have a big drill press or other suitable equipment. Always use a lubricant, such as those available in hardware stores; WD-40 is not really good for this, it overheats and burns off quickly, although it's better than nothing; Kool Tool is made specifically for drilling and tapping operations, though I'm not sure if you'll find it in your local stores.
 When making large holes that are too big to drill due to size and expense of the bits, I simply drill to the biggest size I have sharp at the time, then I use my Dremel tool loaded with stones and drum sanders to open it up to the final size; You'll go through some stones, but it's fast work and relatively cheap and easy.  Near the end of the grinding, you can cut out a little template of the right size, and use it as a guide to finish the hole.
 Note that when tapping thinner walled objects such as pots and kegs, you don't have to drill to the recommended size for a pipe tap; There's no material interference like there would be if it was much thicker, so you can start with a much smaller hole and use the tap itself to cut the hole a bit larger; This also makes a nice tight seal in thin-walled containers.
 
 

The size you build will be a blend of several choices:  Brew pot size, batch size, and wallet size!
You want the chiller to work fast, but you don't want it to be so big and cumbersome that it's a pain to use;  You also have have to consider your mechanical skills- 3/8 tubing is nice and easy to bend; 5/8"thinwall tubing is great for heat exchange, but certainly requires much more careful handling to avoid kinks which will reduce the water flow considerably.  (My chiller currently consists of 25' of 5/8" connected to an additional 50' of 3/8", nice for 20-gallon batches)   3/8" tubing is simple, so I'll use this for the plans; Other sizes simply need fittings that adapt to the situation.     First,  find (or worse, purchase) the following items:
1      3/8" x 50' coil of copper tubing
2      3/8" compression x 3/8" MPT adapter
2      hose clamps to fit hose
1      garden hose remnant, (or full hose if need be)
2      3/8 MPT x 1/2" hose barbs

 First, straighten out the hose by uncoiling it; A large chunk of back yard comes in handy for this! It doesn't have to be perfect, just pretty straight is fine.   Next, decide how big around you want the coils to be; it should be almost the size of the brew pot, but small enough to easily fit inside; Remember, the coils will expand a bit after you wrap them!
Find a large container a bit smaller than the diameter you want for your chiller, and wrap the coils around it; Be sure to leave about 20" straight out from the walls, that you can bend upward to stick out of the pot later; That way, you can drop it into the hot wort easier, and also monitor the connections in case of a leak later.   Continue to wrap the coils until you are almost done with the whole roll, again saving enough to reach as high as the first "arm" for the second connection. Fold the last bit up and out of the bottom of the chiller, so you now have an "in and "out" arm sticking out of the coils.  Add the compression adapters, and to those, add the hose barbs; Cut your garden hose in half,  or cut off about 10' off each end if using a whole hose; The extra length will come in handy, believe me!   Add the hose clamps, tightening them firmly to the hose barbs, and you're done!
 You'll notice a big difference in both the time you save and the clarity of your brew, as the increased effect will improve the cold break by far.   Happy Chillin'!

 First, get some scrap plywood, 3/4" is best, but 5/8" will do.  Cut a square out that's a couple inches bigger than the size of the carboy you'll be moving around, and add four heavy-duty rubber swivel-type wheels to the bottom. They can be found for around $3 each for the good ones.  A quick sanding of the rough edges, and you'll LOVE moving them kegs & carboys around the garage!  (NOTE:  These are not for use in the kitchen- your wife would have yet another reason to wanna kill ya!)     If making a multi-carboy carrier, it's best to reinforce the underside of the plywood with a couple lengths of 2x4,  to make it plenty strong.

 To the serious home brewer, having a grain mill handy becomes a real quest, but the price of a truly good mill often prevents us from attaining one. So, we go on either paying for grains to be crushed upon purchase, or trying to make do with an inferior but at least affordable version, such as a Corona mill or the like.

 Personally, I purchased a JSP mill for use in my homebrew shop, but instantly found it to be a bit lacking in design integrity. Using the hand crank is all but out of the question for any significant amount of grinding (over a couple pounds at a time), but a drill attached will surely help.  (A word of caution- that drill will certainly be doomed shortly, it takes a lot of torque to crush grains!)
 Soon after I received the mill, I rebuilt it to a motorized version that hangs off a bench, with a 20 lb. capacity hopper. Much better than before, but still not good enough for vigorous use. I think that it would serve well  for  most cases though, so it's worth considering.
 
If you happen to be the demented type like me, where too much is never enough, read on!
 
... Update:  Ok, I scrapped the plans for the single-roller mill, and opted for a two-roller mill built with the following features:  The rollers are both knurled- the master, or motor-driven roller has a very deep knurl, while the slave roller sports a finer one; The master roller is driven directly by the speed reduction gear, while the slave roller operates at a much slower speed- it's driven by a friction roller that has a much larger diameter than the portion of the master roller that drives it, resulting in a system that prevents both clogging and escaped grain that's not crushed.  It produces a very efficient crush, yielding an average of 80% extract with no difficulty sparging.
 The mill is quite efficient, producing about 5 pounds per minute effortlessly- using only a 1/3 hp motor.
 Sure I'll beef that up when I fry the old motor, but hey- this one's got some serious life left in it!
  Both rollers are fit to a set of 4 SKF sealed bearings, which will most likely outlast me before needing replacement- they're heavy duty industrial use bearings, and the load on them is quite minimal compared to their load rating.   The grain hopper holds about 7 pounds of grain at present, but can quickly be adapted to hold up to 30 pounds just by changing the container- a plastic five gallon pail would work just fine, after fitting it with a large funnel to guide the grain to the center of the mill rollers. ( the current hopper doesn't have this feature, but will before I gear up for the next spring session; 'Tis the season for equipment improvements)
 The mill is mounted on its own stand, but can be taken down and brought anywhere, as it's mounted on a plywood base that's easily portable.      Total out-of pocket expenses for the mill: About $3 for the hopper!
 
 

Many homebrew suppliers offer a  product (hint: it begins with "Phil~")  that you complete by adding your own tubing and garden hose, and for all intents and purposes, they do work. Unfortunately, once again, they just aren't designed for the big-batch brewer.  My last 15-gallon batch would have been wrapped up in 5-1/4 hours, from crush to last pot scrub, had it not been for the sadistically slow trek the wort had to make through 25' of 3/8 tubing!
The solution, at least for me, was to simply increase the diameter of the tubing to 1/2" instead.

After some experimenting, a quick, simple, and inexpensive setup came to mind, and it works quite well.
Here's how it's put together:

 Part list for one complete Killer Chiller:

(2)    1/2" Copper Tee
(2)    1/2" Compression Fitting, 1/2" Tubing to 1/2" MPT (male pipe thread; these are brass fittings)
(2)    1/2" MPT to 1/2" Hose Barb (these are brass fittings)
(2)    1/2" Copper water pipe, about 2" long

Leave a Comment	Handy Hop  Chart	Beginner's Guide to Home Brewing!	Brewing with Yeast Cultures	Reviews, Tips and Tricks	A Twin Pepper Brew Session
Beer Facts	Kegging Your Beer	Beer A-Z	Cats 'n Crap	The Humor Page	Beer Recipes
Beer History	Beer Quotes	Fun & Games Downloads	View my Will	Songs, Sounds,and Screen savers	The Gadgets Page
How to Treat Your Beer	Make Your Own Mead	A Quick Guide to Beer Styles	Guide to All-Grain Mashing	Important Self-Test	The MO-Ron Page
Home		Site Map			PICTURE OF THE WEEK
Twin Pepper Pizzeria	Bread and Dough Recipes	Favorite Food Recipes		Some Favorite Links	Learn How To Fix That Bad Batch!