Local Home Brew Shop > Home Depot

I hate going to Home Depot, I really do. I've never once left there with everything I wanted, and I bet I've spent five minutes in the store for every dollar I've spent, which is really a pretty awful ratio.

I went there to try and build a wort chiller, only to find out they lacked some of the fittings I needed (in hindsight, though, I could have gotten away with a hose clamp if only I had found directions to do so online).

So when I couldn't find a braided hose at a hardware store the size of five football fields I said screw it and went to buy supplies at the LHBS. They sold me this, which I was happy to buy from someone who actually was interesting is selling me something:



I then drilled a hole in this cooler:


With this bit:


And bam(!):

Chilla

So the wort chiller has arrived and is ready for dispatch.

Not the actual one, of course, but the closest I could find online

I had actually spent quite a bit of time researching how to build one, including watching this highly involved video:

There were immediately problems. That guys garage is bigger than my entire apartment. As you could probably then guess, I don't have half the tools he uses and nothing even approaching a method to solder. I made a trip to the hardware store anyway, following a print out of (I didn't realize this at the time) overly complex directions. This might not be ground breaking news, but the service at Home Depot kind of sucks and I retreated in shame without the proper supplies.

If only I had been able to look at one in real life. It's really quite simple: the tubing would be difficult to wrap, but besides that the hose clamps were a simple alternative the online directions didn't suggest.

Either way, I'm looking forward to using a lot less ice on brew day...now to figure out what I'm going to do with all the water.