New IC build

Thanks to everyone who has chimed in on the design and construction of immersion chillers on this site.. After A little digging and "how to" research here I deciced to learn how to solder and make one myself this weekend. Total cost of the build was $73.00.. $46.00 for 50 feet of refrigerator copper tubing and all of the elbows needed and $27.00 for a torch and solder kit. Per suggestions here, I wrapped the tubing around a corny keg to create the coils.. Overall the process took about an hour doing it by myself and was a pretty easy project. Im happy with the results!

Very nice! How about a close up of some of the soldered joints?

I have a whole new appreciation of the skills involved in welding when I struggle with clean solders!

The key to soldering is (1) flux'ing both soldered parts well and (2) applying heat directly to the fitting (an elbow or coupling) not the soldered area itself...just wait for the fitting to heat up enough to melt the solder upon touching and the flux will draw it in. Anything more than that is excessive and doesn't really gain you anything.

Ha! yea looking back I should have posted up some questions about soldering PRIOR to getting at it on my own.. but learning is half of the fun.. Ill get some pics tonight of the joints but I would call them...well.... Less than attractive.. But hey, at least they dont leak!

That's exactly what mine looks like.

I have been thinking of using a larger diameter rigid pipe to make a handle though. With 50ft of coils it can be a little tricky to pick it up out of the kettle once I am done with it.

As requested.....Close up of the 3rd grade solder job..ugly but no leaks!

You wipe the solder with a rag while it's still hot to make a nice clean joint.
Pat

I got a chance to use this chiller for the first time this past weekend... WOW.. This type of thing is probably old hat for most of you but I was blown away at the cold break using this thing!



Next up is a redesign of the dip tube in the Keggle.. I ended up picking up most of the trub and hops that was in there.. Next time I would like to leave it behind so I dont have to go through the trouble of racking off of it before I pitch..

Oh and heres a pic of my Sculpture.... :rockin:

Nicely done! I love having rigid copper as a handling point on mine. It really helps a lot. Your solder joints look fine.