Soldering Stainless steel

I encountered the same issue when I ordered the reducing coupling. It was slightly bigger than the OD of our 1/2" NPT couplings.

My solution was to measure my OD of the coupling with a caliper and made a mark on the reducing coupling where I wanted to stop pulling it through.

BargainFittings said:

I encountered the same issue when I ordered the reducing coupling. It was slightly bigger than the OD of our 1/2" NPT couplings.

My solution was to measure my OD of the coupling with a caliper and made a mark on the reducing coupling where I wanted to stop pulling it through.

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I did that exact thing this morning and have successfully converted my boil kettle to soldered fittings. Thanks again Joe and Wayne.

By the way, bargainfittings.com is awesome, I just spent another $140 there today. I may have a problem.



Still have a little cleaning but it turned out well. Practiced with 2 sacrificial couplers on some scrap stainless before I attempted this one.

And yes, this wasn't the ideal place to put a valve, right over the hole in the bottom of the kettle. Wish I would have read about that before a I drilled a year ago.

Stuff some foil in the hole

Is this correct product?: Amazon.com

thanks
--Dusty

DustBow said:

Is this correct product?: Amazon.com

thanks
--Dusty

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How many connections are you doing? What type of connections? Do you plan on practicing first? If you're dimpling coulings in, you might only get a few connections done with that kit. It's the right stuff it's just very small. Although I'll admit the 1lb roll of solder i bought is overkill. But was only $20. The pint of flux was $17. Lifetime supply I suppose.

Not sure yet, would definitely be a good idea to practice a couple first before anything on my BK. I found a link in this thread for a kit from Home Depot too. I just wanted to make sure this was the right stuff - I have gift cards to Amazon from Christmas so anything brewing related I can find there is "free"

The half ounce kit at $14 is not so bad considering the full pound is $80+

Here's the stuff I used to solder. I paid just over $40 total for both. After practicing twice on the scrap stainless I had, I was ready to try it on my boil kettle. Turned out great.


Here's everything I used from drilling the holes to finishing the solder. The only thing not pictured is 40 grit black sand paper.


Here's how I held the kettle to keep the dimple as level as possible to the solder wouldn't want to wander while molten.


I dimpled the coupling from the outside in. Used one wrap of solder around the OD of the coupling, heating for about 30 seconds from the INSIDE of the keg, then let cool for 15 minutes before cleaning with the same flux.

I also plan on re-applying Barkeepers Friend to everything before I use this kettle again.

Wow after 2 days straight reading this thread and watching nostalgia's great video I am going to start practicing my soldering. I'm in the middle of my first all grain electric build with all weldless fittings and hope that soon enough my soldering will be good enough to use on my keggles. Great thread with tons of information. Thanks all

This will test how good my soldering skills are with my fermentation vessel triclover setup.

You fermenting under pressure, Wayne?

That is the plan at some point. Just did this. I do have a spunding valve.

orangehero said:

For anyone interested in making dimples for 1.5" TC ferrules:

Stainless Steel 316 Cast Pipe Fitting, Reducing Coupling, Socket Weld, MSS SP-114, 1-1/4" X 1" Female


This part is nice because you can use the other end for making dimples for 1/2" NPT fittings.

Stainless Steel 304/304L Pipe Fitting, Concentric Reducer Coupling, Butt-Weld, Schedule 10, 1-1/2" X 3/4" Pipe Size


Make a 1-5/16" hole.

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Has anyone used these parts as suggested? Figured I'd check before I go ahead and place an order to dimple my kettle for tri-clover ferrules.

most hydraulic shops and many welders will have an acetylene torch for use with silver solder, much better imho.

fluxgame said:

Has anyone used these parts as suggested? Figured I'd check before I go ahead and place an order to dimple my kettle for tri-clover ferrules.

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I ordered the concentric reducer but can't for the life of me figure out why I would want the reducing coupling. I ordered a 2" butt-weld coupler to make 1" dimples for heating elements. I'll confirm this configuration when the parts get here, and when I figure out what washers to get to replace the 5/8" washers used for 1/2" dimples.

Stopped by Airgas today and the local branch carries the Radnor Stay Clean liquid flux and Stay-Brite silver solder kit for $10. However, they don't carry any documentation on whether it is the same as the Harris kit, or whether it is FDA certified for food contact. Can anyone tell me if this is the product I want?

http://www.airgas.com/browse/productDetail.aspx?Category=26&product=RAD64001776

I don't see it listed earlier in this thread as most of the links are broken to the Radnor products, but it is listed here:

http://www.airgascatalogs.com/guide/RadnorProductsCatalog/159.asp#

And there it says it's NSF 51. From here:

http://www.nsf.org/business/food_equipment/standards.asp

I would deduce that it is likely food safe... Any help would be greatly appreciated to determine if this is the same kit as the Harris.

kincade said:

...
I would deduce that it is likely food safe... Any help would be greatly appreciated to determine if this is the same kit as the Harris.

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That is the same as the Harris Stay-Brite kit. No problem. The solder in the kit is labled "Harris" and the flux is the same as the Harris Stay-Clean flux.

I got the reducing coupling because you can use the large end as a backstop for the 1.5" TC flare, and then if you want to make dimples for 1/2" coupling you can use the other end as a backstop for that. You want it to be a fairly close diameter to the hole and fitting you're pulling through.

I had to figure out a way to stabilize the TC fitting on the bolt with some pvc pipe scraps I had laying around as it did not want to go in perfectly straight. A larger bolt would probably help also.

P-J said:

That is the same as the Harris Stay-Brite kit. No problem. The solder in the kit is labled "Harris" and the flux is the same as the Harris Stay-Clean flux.

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Thanks for the clarification, I figured as much but wanted to make sure before using it! Don't want anything not food safe in the kettle.

What gauge solder are you guys finding works the best?
1/8 inch or 1/16 ?
Does it make much difference?

DustBow said:

What gauge solder are you guys finding works the best?
1/8 inch or 1/16 ?
Does it make much difference?

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Are you planning on coiling it around couplers or using it as standard soldering, such as feeding the solder to the heat? I've never tried the thin solder in a coil, but I imagine it would work very similar to the thick solder, possibly even better because more surface area to heat. However, it may be a little harder to control if feeding it to heat, because it would be consumed to fast you'd really have to move. So, basically, I use the thicker solder because that's what I bought, and it's what most everyone else uses.

I planned on wrapping it around couplers, coiling it under lock nuts - basically not feeding it to the heat.
I noticed the kits come with a really thin gauge, but when buying the solder separately it seems to be much more common in the 1/8 size

Swagman said:

I don't know about resident genius/guru

1500 watt iron will = 13 AMP iron don't think so


Swagman

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150 - 250 or so was used for auto body repair (before everything was plastic...).

That is a big soldering iron.

Solder is softer than steel so the connection is not as "strong" but it also has more give so it should be durable enough.

A reason to go with brazing or silver solder is that they are higher temperature materials. Plumbers solder melts at around 350 degrees so it should be OK but if it ever gets direct head from a big burner or gets boiled dry it might fail.

Of course the flip side is you will have to use a torch to do the high temp solders/ brazing.

I'd say go for it, you can always buy more solder if you run out. My 1lb solder roll and 1 pint flux was about $40. I went with Orchard Supply lead free 440 degree solder and Mcmaster.com stainless flux.

noiz2 said:

Plumbers solder melts at around 350 degrees so it should be OK but if it ever gets direct head from a big burner or gets boiled dry it might fail.

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Almost 80 pages and no one's had this issue yet. Although, one nice thing is nothing will leak if it fails from burning a dry kettle. Buried in here somewhere, someone either jumped on a fitting or dropped a keg right on it and the solder held strong. This is an effective method and it's hard to mess up. Soldering FTW!

Didn't say it would fail just that it could be an issue to be aware of. As long as it's not a pressure vessel it is pretty hard to get a surface that has gallons of water in contact with it to get much over boiling so generally not an issue. With some of the burners on high though you do get flames licking around the sides and then it would be possible for the fitting to get directly heated.

I was just pointing out possible issues since few posting on this thread seemed to know much about the differences between solder, silver solder, and brazing.

Solder is not used generally for structural purposes where silver solder and brazing are.

But as you point out nobody has had problems so...

It's certainly simpler to do.

Had a couple extra rolls of solder. What should I do with these bad boys?

You should decide how much you want per roll and sell them. ;0)

I'm afraid to ask how much for the Stay Brite 8

l3asturd said:

Had a couple extra rolls of solder. What should I do with these bad boys?

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Wow! I could use a couple of those. I'm running low on Stay-Brite #8.

Hey l3asturd, I thought I might find you in here. I liked your demo the other weekend. Next time I have a keg to do, I might be asking you a few questions or pointers.

I might sell a few to help pay for my auber pids.

humann_brewing said:

Hey l3asturd, I thought I might find you in here. I liked your demo the other weekend. Next time I have a keg to do, I might be asking you a few questions or pointers.

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Hey I'd be happy to help out!

l3asturd said:

I might sell a few to help pay for my auber pids.
...

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If you do, please let me know. I'm interested in 2 of the Stay-Brite #8 solder.

Thanks.

P-J

Mmmmmm, Sta-Brite...

l3asturd said:

I might sell a few to help pay for my auber pids.

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I'd love to buy 4-8 ozs of the S-B #8 from you as an entire spool would be more than a lifetime supply for me....but I completely understand if that's too much of a hassle.

Might be an odd way to do this, but here's my element mounting solder job. I used a single gang stainless plate. I punched a hole but to be honest they sell them with circles punched in them already, so it was dumb to punch my own. I did dimple with a larger version of "The Tool". I pulled the 1" half coupler through the faceplate and soldered, then pull the coupler/faceplate combo through my keg wall.and soldered.


Here's the finished product (besides the steel weatherproof enclosure, which will mount backwards.


Looks like I forgot to clean the inside Leak testing has begun!

Wow, heavy duty. Looks good - I can see how the silver soldering thing could become kind of addictive once you get the hang of it

Honestly it's a hobby in itself! I've been walking around looking for things to solder together! Haha. My fingers are all cut up and dead though. I ordered new fingers from China so they'll be here in a few weeks.

By the way, I wasn't planning on splitting the rolls up. I don't have a digital scale or anything so I'd have no idea how much to send.

I will sell a roll for almost half what the stores charge though. $40 a lb. if anyone wants one or 2 send me a pm. If not, I better start a silver soldering business so I can use these rolls up.

l3asturd said:

Might be an odd way to do this, but here's my element mounting solder job. I used a single gang stainless plate. I punched a hole but to be honest they sell them with circles punched in them already, so it was dumb to punch my own. I did dimple with a larger version of "The Tool". I pulled the 1" half coupler through the faceplate and soldered, then pull the coupler/faceplate combo through my keg wall.and soldered.

Here's the finished product (besides the steel weatherproof enclosure, which will mount backwards.

Looks like I forgot to clean the inside Leak testing has begun!

Click to expand...

I don't get it by the pics. Why solder to a cover plate that has a threaded fitting? Did you solder fittings to your keg? I can't tell. Pretend you're water folks. Where are you going to squeeze through?

Two layers of protection. Keep water inside the keg and keep water away from electricity.