W3850-CV Super Efficient 3/8 x 50' Copper Wort Chiller

I am really happy with this. Novice brewer, have only used it once, that being yesterday. For an assembled apparatus, it cost about what 50' of copper tubing would have cost me. Here are some details: No, it really has no packaging to speak of, but arrived in perfect condition. The stems (inlet and outlet) may be short, but if you are worried about leaking over your wort, gently bend the whole neck so they are nowhere near the edge of the pot. Furthermore, if you are worried about leaks, get a couple more hose clamps - use two per connection (alternate their orientation) and importantly, heat the hose gently before sliding it on the copper, so when you tighten the clamps, they rally crush it down.In use, I found it cooled faster with a more moderate flow of water (which saves water) and also agitating the wort with the cooler helps tremendously. Up and down, side to side ... in fact .. if I let it sit still, the outflow would be cooler, yet if I moved it around, the outflow tube would get hot quickly. That is the heat from the wort going away! I didn't time it, as I was too busy doing it ... but it felt like 5, maybe 10 minutes at most to cool below 80 F with a full 20qt. kettle.One other thing ... I sanitized my cooler with Star-San prior to use, rather than putting it into the boil 10-15 minutes before the end. Reason I did this was that I had my cooler rigged in the basement sink (where I had plumbing that would work) and was doing the boil upstairs in the kitchen. Eliminating dangling hoses and complication during the carrying of a full kettle down stairs seemed like a wise move. Other than the use of some Star-San, I don't see what the big deal is with that, and it actually seemed to make my life easier (and avoid preheating the copper, which is just more mass to cool)I'd buy this again in a heartbeat, and am sure it would cool larger batches quickly too, if I move up in size. I don't think I'll have to though!

Makes cooling the wort easy.

This chiller is well-made and great value for the price, compared to similar models available at higher prices. I have always used a counterflow chiller, but needed an immersion chiller to be able to the control the wort temperature for hop additions and steeps at specific temperatures. It works perfectly for that as intended. Everyone's equipment is different, but I was surprised to find that chilling with this is faster and significantly more efficient than my counterflow chiller. I wish I'd bought this years ago!The fitting and hose that ships with this are of good quality, and the amount of hose is appropriate for most possible set-ups I can imagine, unless you have a long way to go to connect things.I wash this carefully between uses, and sanitize by submersing in the kettle for the last part of the boil. Please be careful- even though I blow the water out after each use, there is always some residual water in it, and the first shot of water through it will be insanely hot, and can create a jet effect enough to blow the outgoing hose out of whatever sink or bucket you run it into. I learned this the hard way when it rocketed out of my sink and blasted me from head to toe with a shot of boiling water. Secure the hose well, or let the first flow of water through it carefully! This is not a fault of the chiller- just my failure in managing some basic physics, so please learn from my mistake.

When I received this there was only one tube, so I had to go to a hardware store and pick up a second tube and some clamps. But once I was able to finish building it, and modify the spout attachment, it works amazingly well. I was impressed to see that several rows of coils are taller than my brew pot. I had to build my own attachment for the sink because it is narrower than a standard sink, so I used the garden hose attachment as a weight to hold the drain side to the bottom of the sink. Without a weight on the end of the tube it wants to jump when you turn the water on and while moving the brew pot. For anyone else who has an extra small faucet head, I went to the hardware store and picked up the same faucet head, popped the guts out of it, dropped a nipple with a ball socket inside it and siliconed all around it and let it harden. then I clamped that on to the tube. Works great.

Lets start with how well-made this chiller is. When I saw the price i was worried it was going to skimp out on build quality, but that is NOT the case at all. Coming from a counterflow chiller and having used copper in the past I knew what i was looking for. I wanted, no needed something that would cut my chilling time down, while being much more efficient.I have this hooked up to a pump that circulates the water at 2GPM and have it circulate through ice water (bayite BYT-7A014A DC 12V Solar Hot Water Heater Circulation Pump with DC Power Supply Adapter Low Noise 3M Head 8LPM 2.1GPM) This has brought my 10gal chill time to under 15 minutes, and 5gal to under 10. That's wicked fastThe hosing and connectors are good, They do clamp on, and if that bothers you for cleaning, you'll want to take note. Ample length of hose for every set up that I've ever seen, and the hose connector.As with every piece of brewing equipment, wash this carefully between uses, and sanitize. I do so the latter by placing in the boil for the last 5 minutes. the stainless cleans better than copper does, and doens't pose the risk of pitting out and blowing out ruining your hard worked wart. Keep it clean and i can't see how this doesn't last you for many years to come!