sorefingers23
Well-Known Member
i see some people keep their wort chillers compressed with zip ties, and was thinking of doing the same for mine, but my question is, wouldnt they melt in the boiling wort??
wort chiller and zip ties
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BrewBeemer
Well-Known Member
Ties would hold nasties. I would use thick copper app 14 to 16 gauge strips cut them 1/2" wide soldered vertically to each coil in thirds or quarters top to bottom. JMO.
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I've seen CFC's that use zip ties, never seen an immersion chiller with them???
In the case of a cfc, the ties are not going to come in contact with the wort or temps high enough to cause a problem.
In the case of a cfc, the ties are not going to come in contact with the wort or temps high enough to cause a problem.
Sanspareil
Active Member
One thing to keep in mind, IC's work on thermal transfer, the more surface area the more transfer. There is an insulating property happening during the cooling. Tying the coils together tightly keeps the hot wort from utilizing the coils to their highest efficiency. I understand the need to feel like the unit is solid, however, it is best to leave a space between each coil.
I agree with the soldering suggestion above (just leave a space between coils) or if you don't want to solder, I would suggest taking some fairly heavy copper wire, wrap it around the bottom coil, then twist them (like a bread bag twisty tie) until you have a 1/4 to 1/2 inch space, then wrap around the next coil up and repeat the process until you are to the top. Do this three more times around the coil and you are good to go.
I agree with the soldering suggestion above (just leave a space between coils) or if you don't want to solder, I would suggest taking some fairly heavy copper wire, wrap it around the bottom coil, then twist them (like a bread bag twisty tie) until you have a 1/4 to 1/2 inch space, then wrap around the next coil up and repeat the process until you are to the top. Do this three more times around the coil and you are good to go.
bigjoe
Well-Known Member
I used house wire I stripped the insulation off of. I wrapped around one coil, twisted the wire between the coils, wrapped the next coil, etc... I haven't had any success trying to solder the wire to the chiller after repeated attempts of clean and fluxing the wire and copper coils.
Honestly what I did on a recent IC I built was to make sure the inlet and outlet tubes are secured to each other. The coils seem to hold up just fine without the wire. I'm only using 25 feet of copper tube, and use hard pipe for the inlet and outlet, which I think really helps the stability of the rest of the IC.
Honestly what I did on a recent IC I built was to make sure the inlet and outlet tubes are secured to each other. The coils seem to hold up just fine without the wire. I'm only using 25 feet of copper tube, and use hard pipe for the inlet and outlet, which I think really helps the stability of the rest of the IC.
