Author: Marshall Schott
Back in May 2013, I was lucky enough to be asked to beta test a new chiller the folks at JaDeD Brewing were working on. The dude I talked with (over email) simply said they’ve been working on a “low profile IC with an odd look.” I was stoked, of course. Upon further probing, it was explained to me this IC would be great for all brewers, though folks who regularly make smaller batches in larger kettles might appreciate it most. Rad… I often make 5 gallon batches in my 15 gallon kettles.
A couple weeks later, I received an email from JaDeD saying they shipped the IC and that they were thinking of calling it the King Cobra, explaining, “you’ll know why when you see it.” The box arrived a few days later.
King Cobra. Yep, the name totally made sense. Indeed, the separate sets of copper tubing were sandwiched on top of each other creating a very low profile design.
In my 15 gallon kettle, it was obvious I’d be able to chill pretty much any size batch I brew, as the height of the top coil was low enough to rest below the wort.
To make connecting to water hoses easier, I attached some inexpensive quick disconnects to the input and output on the King Cobra as well as my hoses.
I couldn’t wait to put it to use!
I planned on brewing my Tiny Bottom Pale Ale that weekend, it was going to be great… then my daughter was born. I finally got around to making some beer and using this monster about 4 weeks later. I reported the results back to JaDeD, which I thought were pretty stellar: 12 gallons of wort (10.5 gallon batch size) from boiling to 67°F in 17 minutes. I received a response saying something must be amiss, it should have taken half as long. That’s when I learned a few more things about efficient chilling. I had already been agitating the wort with great vigor and my source water was on full blast. Where I went wrong was in the length of my hose- at 50′, I was losing a lot of pressure. I cut the hose down to 12′ for subsequent brew days. Since making this change, my chill times have consistently been incredibly low, much more so than I imagined:
Groundwater Temp: 60°F/15.5˚C
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons
Wort Volume: ~6 gallons
Time to Reach 65°F/18.3˚C: 3 minutes 40 seconds
Groundwater Temp: 60°F/15.5˚C
Batch Size: 11 gallons
Wort Volume: ~12 gallons
Time to Reach 65°F/18.3˚C: 6 minutes 52 seconds
I literally watched the dials on my kettle thermometers speedily ease themselves to my target temperature. The IC worked as promised, I was sold. I feel compelled to reiterate that in order to get these great results, I employed all of the IC optimization techniques outlined by JaDeD, I didn’t just throw the chiller in the wort, turn the water on, and walk away.
The King Cobra is now available for a cool $175, a pretty penny, to be sure. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to a more efficient chiller, consider the fact most plate/counterflow chillers run $100+ and work best with a pump, which cost about $135. Plus, they’re a much bigger pain in the ass to clean.
If you have any questions about this IC, please feel free to ask! I’ve used it on over 25 batches at the writing of this and it has consistently exceeded my expectations.
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27 thoughts on “Product Review | JaDeD Brewing King Cobra Immersion Chiller”
When I read this review and saw the insane chilling rates, I thought about how these were as fast or perhaps even faster than plate chillers. But then I noticed you were running the water full blast and even shortening your hose length to eek out another GPM or two. I realize in most parts of the U.S. water is relatively cheap and plentiful, which means that high water use is not really a concern in trying to achieve fast chilling times. However, it does seem like a legitimate technical parameter to consider when comparing chilling methods.
So, yeah, I think these JaDeD chillers are great as far as ICs go. And ICs make a lot of sense if you plan to keep the wort in the kettle for whirlpooling or even fermenting in place. Maybe you could update this article with your typical water flowrate?
Anyway, interesting site with lots of great experimental results. And kudos for pulling it off with young kids in the house! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the comment and support! I went from a plate chiller to the King Cobra (and just actually got a Hydra, woo hoo!), I use less water per chill session now than I did with the plate chiller. Here’s a handy chart JaDeD put together prior to developing the KC that shows water usage data.
Cool, thanks for the tip. I also found this chart from JaDeD, which compares several aspects of a wide variety of chillers:
http://jadedbrewing.tumblr.com/image/75818814081
Though actual water consumption isn’t shown there, one could probably make some inferences based on the times. I will say that even if ICs were to use a bit more water than a CFC/plate type during chilling, they save some during cleanup by avoiding all the back-flushing and PBW washes.
I love this idea, but it looks like a nightmare to clean. I don’t mean sanitize, I mean clean. No space to get between the coils. After a while oxidized hop oils and other little bits will affect the flavor of your beer if you can’t remove them.
I’ve used mine 3-6 times per month for almost 18 months, cleaning is a cinch (there is ample space between coils), and no off flavors.
Really thinking about buying one of these. I do eBIAB and use a 15 gallon kettle. I have a tall 50′ coil IC that works great on 10 gallon batches but leaves half the coils out of the wort on my small batches.
Are you still using the king cobra regularly?
I use it very regularly and love it!
Hi, love your site and how you bust a lot of techniques we believe as gospel.
Anyway, I have the 5 gallon electric blichman breweasy (10 gallon boil kettle). I am currently using a plate chiller that I absolutely hate to clean. I’ve spent so much money on hop filtering contraptions and metal hop spiders. Nothing seems to work and I end up spending almost an hour back flushing my chiller. So thanks for the information here!
With that said, you said you have the hydra and king cobra. For 5 gallon batches in a standard 10 gallon kettle, which do you think would perform better?
Thanks again!
The King Cobra was designed precisely for setups like yours, it’s what I use most often.
Hi similar setup to above,
i have a 15gallon BK and usually do 5 gallon BIABs but 1-2x/yr might do a ten gallon batch. Should i invest in a king cobra or will the hydra work best for both situations.
Wort volumes heights are typically 7.5″ for 5gall batch and 12-13″ wort height for 10gallon batch.
Didnt want to get a chiller that would stick out of wort and become inefficient.
Thanks for any advice!!
I’d be inclined to recommend the King Cobra for this setup.
First of all, thank you for your website, nice to have so much info available.
Is anybody concerned about using copper in their wort? I use a homemade chiller. 50′ of copper tubing. It works like a champ but it goes into the wort tarnished and comes out clean. What am I putting into my beer? Should I be concerned? How does it affect the flavor? I am in process of upgrading to a 10 gal system and want to enlarge my chiller and wonder if I should consider stainless tubing.
I don’t worry about it at all. Tarnish is generally a teal color, you don’t want that in your wort, but a little darkish color isn’t a problem. Copper is actually said to help with some aspects, like assisting in beer clarity.
While I don’t disagree with you about the amazing quality of jaded chillers, I love and prefer the hydra. 10 gallons from 210 farenheit to 60 f in 8 minutes. 5 gallons goes even faster. Either way, best chillers on the market.
I love my Hydra as well!
I just recently switched to an immersion chiller based on your reviews. I made my own 50 foot 1/2″ chiller, and get great results, better than our plate chiller or counter flow coil. Since switching to the immersion chiller we do a very long and fast whirlpool after chilling and let the whirlpool settle for 20 minutes, however, our trub is always flat on the bottom and not in a cone. My question is, how do you rack your wort off your trub? We have been using the valve on the pot and chugger pump to transfer to the fermenters but this method has been picking up too much trub. We are starting to lean towards racking off the top to avoid this, but it will be slower. Any suggestions? Thanks.
I don’t worry much about kettle trub making it into my fermentors, largely because the 2 xBmts I’ve done on the topic have shown higher amounts of trub only seem to improve clarity without having a noticeable impact on flavor/aroma.
I picked one up a few days ago and my first test was a failure. Started at about 190 and after 30 gallons was sticking at 110. I gave up so I could test again later. I’m emailing Jaded to get tips. Hopefully they can think of something. I was surprised because I thought my built in whirlpool port would be a perfect match. Maybe the electric element at the bottom is getting in the way.
What do you do for cleaning? The coils are so close there isn’t a way to wipe them all down.
What was your groundwater temp? Stuck at 110F sounds… odd.
I simply spray it down with my water hose when done, I’ve never wiped an IC down before.
I did another test. With about 10.2 gallons of water at 200 degrees and 78 degree ground water it was able to hit 100 degrees in about 4:50, then 87 degrees in 7:00, and then 84.7 degrees at 8:00. The part that bothers me a bit is how much more water this uses compared to my plate chiller. I filled both of my square coolers early and the rest ran down the driveway. My flow rate was at the recommended level of 5 gallons per 50 seconds even though I’m using a .5″ braided hose that is 25′ long with cam locks that might reduce flow a bit. I used my mash paddle along with my pump to whirlpool and I think that made a difference. I could reduce the hose to 15′ but not sure how much it would help.
hmm. debating upgrading my totally crap tiny IC. I typically do full volume boils in a keggle. I think I might need to pick one of these up. Just not sure which one yet.
I’ve got a King Cobra and The Hydra, they’re both badass. While The Hydra does seem to work a bit faster for larger (10 gal) batch sizes, it’s not as effective as the King Cobra for smaller (5 gal) batches since coils are often left sticking out of the wort. Since the King Cobra does damn good even on larger batches, that’s what I’d recommend if you’re not strictly a 10 gal batch size brewer.
Hi Marshall,
It looks like you’re using a 15 Gallon SS Brewtech in the pictures and I see it listed on your gear page. Is your king cobra the typical size of 14″ OD for the largest coil? Do you have any clearance issues with the diptube/trub dam?
I have the standard King Cobra with extended neck. No issues at all with clearance in my 15 gal Ss Brewtech kettle.
They list 2 heights on their website, 20″ and 25″ to the bottom of the bend. It appears yours just clears the top of your kettle. Can I ask what size spike kettle this is? And just to clarify, this is the 25″ tall neck version of the king cobra?
20 gal kettle with 25″ KC.
Sorry, just read that this is a 15 gallon ss brewtech. Not sure how I missed that