Thu Jun 22, 2006 8:54 am
Copper, as well as most other raw materials have been outrageously high for the last year at least. I deal in Aluminum, Brass, Zinc, etc. in China. All have been jumping up by hundreds of percentage points in some cases.
Some of it is due to speculators buying up the material and then holding it to get the price up. More of it is due to the fact that we use so much of this shit that demand is way outstripping supply.
And FYI, the Chinese sell more goods to us than we could ever provide the raw material for. They get it from all over. They are not just buying from us and re-selling it back. You can be sure that if it was enitrely processed here in the US it would cost double what it costs now.
As for the chiller issue, one thing I used to do with 5gal batches was use an aquarium pump to circulate the water through a bucket with ice packs, etc. in it. For the first few minutes I would let the output run down the drain and fill the bucket with cooler tap water so the hot output wasn't melting the ice too quickly. Once the kettle was cool enough to touch I would put the output into the bucket and re-circulate until I hit my temp. Aqaurium pumps are cheaper than copper is right now AND you can save some water too... Just a thought...
Rob
