Counterflow Chiller Showdown: Bräu Supply vs. Spike Wort Chiller

When it comes to wort chilling, speed and precision make all the difference. A properly designed counterflow chiller (CFC) isn’t just about convenience — it directly affects beer quality by reducing the time your wort spends in the bacterial “danger zone” and improving cold break formation for clearer, cleaner-tasting beer.

Two popular stainless counterflow chillers on the market today are the Bräu Supply 30-foot all-stainless model and the Spike Wort Chiller, which uses a hybrid 16-foot copper-inside / stainless-outside configuration. Both are aimed at serious home and small-scale brewers looking for professional-grade results. In this in-depth comparison, we’ll look at what separates these designs — from thermal performance and durability to fittings, usability, and value — and explain why Bräu Supply’s approach offers the best long-term solution for dedicated brewers.

1) Coil Length: Surface Area Wins Every Time

The heart of any counterflow chiller is its coil length. The longer the tubing, the greater the surface area for heat exchange — and in real-world brewing, that’s what truly governs performance.

Spike’s wort chiller uses a 16-foot inner copper coil surrounded by a ¾″ stainless shell for the cooling water. The Bräu Supply version uses a 30-foot ½″ inner tube, also enclosed in a ¾″ stainless jacket, but both inner and outer tubes are made from 304 stainless steel.

That difference in length — nearly double the surface area — is significant. It means that at any given wort and water flow rate, the Bräu Supply chiller provides considerably more contact time and surface exposure for the heat to move out of the wort and into the cooling water.

In warm-climate brewing, where groundwater temperatures often reach 75–85 °F (24–29 °C), that extra surface area becomes critical. With coolant entering at ~80 °F, no single-pass chiller can cool wort below that inlet temperature, but the longer coil lets you get much closer to that limit in a single pass.

2) Material Choice: Why Stainless Makes Sense

There’s no denying copper’s excellent thermal conductivity — about 25× higher than stainless steel on paper — but in a real brewing environment, the story is more complex. The actual limiting factor in heat exchange isn’t the metal wall itself but the liquid boundary layers on each side of it. Once flow is turbulent, these boundary layers dominate, and the material difference shrinks dramatically.

At equivalent coil lengths, copper may give a modest performance edge. But when you double the stainless coil length, that advantage disappears — and you’re left with a chiller that’s stronger, cleaner, and far more durable.

304 stainless steel is the professional brewer’s material of choice: it’s chemically stable, resists oxidation and corrosion, tolerates caustic and acid CIP, and it retains its structure and finish after years of use. By keeping the entire wort path stainless, Bräu Supply’s counterflow chiller delivers the same sanitary performance standards found in commercial breweries.

3) All-Stainless Construction: Simplicity and Strength

• Seamless welding — both inner and outer coils TIG-weld to stainless fittings with precise, repeatable joints.
• No dissimilar-metal junctions — no copper-to-stainless brazes or compression transitions to manage long-term.
• Consistent expansion — inner and outer tubes expand/contract at the same rate during heating/cooling.
• Uniform finish — stainless maintains its polished appearance and matches pro brewery hardware.

4) Flow, Pressure, and Heat-Exchange Balance

A good chiller isn’t only about heat transfer; it must allow reasonable flow without excessive back pressure. Bräu Supply’s 30-foot chiller balances these factors by using a ½″ inner tube to maintain turbulent flow — crucial for high heat transfer — while keeping pressure drop low enough for common brewery pumps. At 2–3 L/min wort flow, it maintains strong cooling performance without risking cavitation or forcing you to slow down the brew day.

5) Designed for Real-World Conditions

Many performance claims assume tap water at 50 °F (10 °C). That’s not realistic for most of North America, where groundwater often sits at 70–85 °F in summer. Under those conditions, any single-pass chiller is limited by the coolant temperature. Bräu Supply is transparent: with ~80 °F water, expect wort-out around 95–110 °F in one pass. From there, you can either add a small ice pre-chiller for one-pass pitching temps, or transfer to the fermenter and finish with glycol / jacket / immersion. Either way, you shorten the hot-side exposure dramatically and keep the brew day efficient.

6) Built for Cleaning and Maintenance

Because every surface that touches wort is stainless, the Bräu Supply CFC can be cleaned just like your fermenter or kettle. Run caustic, acid, or sanitizer — no corrosion, no tarnish. It’s truly CIP-capable, and you can even sterilize by recirculating boiling wort before chilling — a standard pro technique that stainless tolerates easily.

7) Thoughtful Details: Fittings and Included Accessories

Every Bräu Supply chiller ships with our tubing connection kit, including stainless quick-disconnect (QD) fittings with silicone seals. That means instant setup, fast cleanup, and easy swapping between water sources. No mismatched threads, no non-sanitary adapters — just plug-and-brew convenience that matches the rest of your stainless hardware.

8) Value and Price Transparency

Premium engineering shouldn’t require a premium price tag. We offer our fully stainless 30-foot chiller at a lower retail price than shorter hybrid models — and we include the QD connection kit. In plain terms: you get more surface area, an all-stainless wort path, and better usability for less.

9) Reliability and Long-Term Ownership

Stainless offers a long-term advantage that’s easy to appreciate brew after brew. There’s no tarnish to scrub, no metal taste risk, and no creeping discoloration. The smooth inner surface resists residue and keeps heat-transfer performance consistent. It’s built once, then trusted for years.

10) Side-by-Side Summary

Final Word

Both chillers are capable, and Spike’s is well-made. But when you weigh performance, cleanliness, included accessories, and value, the Bräu Supply 30-foot all-stainless counterflow chiller is the better long-term investment. It eliminates corrosion concerns, offers superior surface area for warm-water climates, ships with a stainless QD kit, and does it all at a lower retail price.