question about home made wort chiller

building a wort chiller ,using 1/2 inch tubing my question is is it ok to solder a fitting to the lower part of the coil it will be submerged in the brew when cooling will the solder bother the brew?

I would use lead free solder if it were me, just for peace of mind

Ditto on lead free. Standard solder used for home plumbing. The same stuff your drinking water passes through. Solder melts above 400 degrees, there's no worries at boiling temperature.

often called silver solder, can be found at any home improvement shop.

When I did my wort chiller, I calculated that using silver solder would cost me more then buying solder-less fittings. If you're not planning on soldering other stuff later on, especially if you don't already own a torch, go for solder-less fittings.

good point jfsp! If you only need one fitting use a compression fitting, you should be able to get a good SS one for $10. Gas + torch + solder + flux will run you $30-$60. Since you'll be boiling the chiller in the wort at the very end you won't need to worry the nooks and crannies on the fitting.

You don't need to buy silver solder, just regular lead-free pluming solder from the plumbing department. You do need a torch, though.

I made mine with 5/8 copper tubing and soldered my fittings on. I used lead free solder and have not had any issues on over 20 batches.

I made mine with 3/8". I bent so that both ends were outside the lip of my pot. My choices were 20' or 50'. I opted for the 20'. After 1 use, which went great by the way, I decided to get another 20'. I bent this coil small enough to fit inside the first. I connected the 2 sections with a foot and a half of vinyl tubing and hose clamps. I put both in the wort but ended up pulling the small coil and putting it in an ice bucket. It worked very nicely cooled from boiling to 67 degrees in less than 20 minutes. My water is getting cooler every day so it should get even quicker.

i bought 1/2 soft tubing {more surface area} as far as fittings go they are cheap, a disposable bottle for soldering is cheap, and the mickey mouse torch head is about 15 bucks,i will be soldering the hose adapters on the top also,so there is no chance for leaks and it is permanent,a couple of parker hanafin push on hose clamps complete the operation

I guess I just thought that the ability to sweat copper was kind of a prerequisite of getting your man card out of probationary status. When in doubt, learn a new useful skill.

Yes, regular plumbing solder is fine but darn do I hate the new eco friendly water based flux.

Bobby_M said:

I guess I just thought that the ability to sweat copper was kind of a prerequisite of getting your man card out of probationary status. When in doubt, learn a new useful skill.

Yes, regular plumbing solder is fine but darn do I hate the new eco friendly water based flux.

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shouldnt be a prob soldered ,brazed,or flared i have the technology

jfsp said:

When I did my wort chiller, I calculated that using silver solder would cost me more then buying solder-less fittings. If you're not planning on soldering other stuff later on, especially if you don't already own a torch, go for solder-less fittings.

Click to expand...

Are solderless fittings designed to be immersed in boiling liquid? We are talking about the Shark Bite type of fittings, aren't we?

Spartan1979 said:

Are solderless fittings designed to be immersed in boiling liquid? We are talking about the Shark Bite type of fittings, aren't we?

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Heat sensitivity is not a listed disadvantage of Compression fittings

I'm going to be trying this stuff out: Jaco Just-For-Copper
If it works as well as it says, I'll be able to save hours...

Bobby_M said:

Yes, regular plumbing solder is fine but darn do I hate the new eco friendly water based flux.

Click to expand...

does this mean i need to stock up on the normal stuff?