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Message |
    
Nephalist
Member
Username: Nephi
Post Number: 213
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 162.116.29.68
| | Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 08:12 pm: | 
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I want to take my 50 ft SS jockey box coil and form it around my 15 gal brewpot. Then I'll run a coolant through to maintain fermentation temperature inside (I use the no-chill method of wort cooling). I plan to wrap a sleeping bag around it to maintain the chilling for the short term, but I'll make some kind of insulated box for it eventually.
I'm not sure how to approach the forming of the coil to my pot. The diameter of the pot is much larger than the coil is now. And I want to have as much contact between the coil and the outside of the pot. I predict I'll have kinks in the coil as I try to unwind it. Any advice? |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 10897
Registered: 01-2002
Posted From: 24.141.103.148
| | Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 09:56 pm: |
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See if you can spread the coil *very carefully* until it just fits around the pot and springs back tightly against it. It's sort of like a Slinky in this regard.
For it to work well I suspect your are going to have to permanently affix the the coil to the pot in order to maintain good thermal contact. I know Paul Muth is a big advocate of Stay Brite silver solder. Your application sounds like it might be a candidate for that.
[A wild-••••• question here: Would thermal heat sink compound, as is used in computer and electronic applications, help to maintain better heat transfer?]
(Message edited by BillPierce on November 05, 2009) |
Brewzz
Advanced Member
Username: Brewzz
Post Number: 742
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 67.11.214.140
| | Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 10:52 pm: |
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It would Bill.Although it would be pretty messy...
Cheers,Brewzz |
Nephalist
Member
Username: Nephi
Post Number: 214
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 162.116.29.69
| | Posted on Friday, November 06, 2009 - 12:33 am: |
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Bill, I plan to do a test run as soon as I get the beer out of my pot and into my kegs (hopefully tonight). I agree that more contact=more chilling to the liquid in the pot, but if I can insulate the coil and pot well enough (a sleeping bag for now), then the air that chills around the coils should help chill the pot as well. It's no different than putting it in a fridge in my mind. |
Paul Muth
Intermediate Member
Username: Pjmuth
Post Number: 481
Registered: 10-2002
Posted From: 66.157.100.193
| | Posted on Friday, November 06, 2009 - 12:34 am: |
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Bill Pierce,
Man Oh Man, you have my secret passion down pat. 
Nephalist,
This is what I'd do: (Do not uncoil or straighten the tubing. This will only harden the metal and make it 10 times more difficult to reform.)
Choose the form that you want to use. (A cook pot?) Position the pot and the coil so that you can begin to stretch the coil over the bottom of the pot. You want to do this a little bit at a time. Just drag the leading edge of the coil over the bottom of the pot, a little bit at a time. (This will probably require a second pair of hands.)
Once the coil is completely wrapped onto the new form, I'd manipulate it some so that it would relax its grip on the pot. (Think about it. You get what I mean. If not? PLEASE email me and I'd be happy to call you and walk you through it.)
Once this is done, you are good to go.
Paul |
Nephalist
Member
Username: Nephi
Post Number: 215
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 162.116.29.68
| | Posted on Friday, November 06, 2009 - 06:06 pm: |
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Paul,
I sent you an email. |
Andrew S. Webster
Intermediate Member
Username: Tacomabrewer
Post Number: 319
Registered: 02-2003
Posted From: 76.121.201.10
| | Posted on Saturday, November 07, 2009 - 06:02 pm: |
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Wouldn't you get better heat transfer using a copper coil, instead of Stainless Steel? SS doesn't conduct as well, right? |
Tim C.
Member
Username: Timc
Post Number: 180
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 98.209.225.175
| | Posted on Sunday, November 08, 2009 - 01:34 am: |
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If this is just a fermenter and not a boil kettle: Instead of a sleeping bag you gould use expanding spray foam. Just spray over the coils on the outside of the fermenter and trim after it hardens.
(Message edited by timc on November 08, 2009) |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 10910
Registered: 01-2002
Posted From: 24.141.103.148
| | Posted on Sunday, November 08, 2009 - 01:55 am: |
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Yes, copper has better thermal transfer characteristics than stainless. So does aluminum, which is why some stainless pots are clad with an aluminum bottom.
The reason stainless coils are often used in jockey boxes is that the acidity of the beer slowly leaches oxides from copper. These oxides are not toxic but they can contribute to a metallic flavor if the beer stands in the coil for a long time. This is not a problem, of course, if you are serving a lot of beer relatively quickly. |
Andrew S. Webster
Intermediate Member
Username: Tacomabrewer
Post Number: 322
Registered: 02-2003
Posted From: 76.121.201.10
| | Posted on Monday, November 09, 2009 - 08:24 pm: |
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Certainly, for a jockey box, I'd want a SS coil.
I suppose using a SS coil that he already has is cheaper than a copper coil he has to buy, but I couldn't do it :-) Of course, a jockey box is on my wish list right now, so I'm biased. |
Nephalist
Member
Username: Nephi
Post Number: 219
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 71.133.240.192
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 05:07 am: |
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I started to expand the SS coil. It is hard work, and I don't see it fitting the circumference of the kettle very well.
I was walking around Lowes looking for another solution. There's some aluminum 'conduit' wire if I'm describing it correctly. Something that comes with electrical wires already in it or without the wires. It's very flexible and can be shaped around the kettle.
Another solution would be to avoid the curvature of the pot altogether. I thought about cutting 1 foot sections of copper pipe and linking them with tubing serially. I can them arrange them around the pot vertically, as frequently as I choose. I could even flatten them with a hammer to increase contact surface. Similarly, I could flatten the aluminum conduit.
Am I nuts or does this seem possible? I only need the wort in the pot to chill to 65 or so. And I have days to get it there since I no-chill.
Now that I'm changing directions I think that the best solution is to put the kettle in my fermentation fridge prior to siphoning the wort into it. I can boil it with the bucket heaters in the fridge (unplugged). I just don't trust the electricity in the garage. The outlet is a converted light-bulb socket. I'd need to run an extension cord to get the other bucket heater powered. |
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