DIY plate chiller with aluminum - safe?

[aggiejason]

I have a large piece of 3/8" thick aluminum sheet metal (2'x2') and was considering cutting it up and bolting it together to build a plate chiller. Aluminum doesn't conduct thermally quite as well as copper but still pretty well and I figure I've got enough to make a pretty decent stack.

My question: is aluminum safe? Didn't know if I needed it to be anodized or something. I mean, we use it for cans and aluminum foil...but no idea how that is treated.

Thoughts? Anyone tried something similar ?

 

[heckels]

A lot of folks use aluminum kettles with no issues. I don't think a plate chiller would be any different. You'll want to passivate the aluminum though

 

[day_trippr]

Regardless of whether it'd be safe or not, 3/8" thick aluminum plate would pretty much define the pinnacle of uselessness for building a plate chiller. Real plate chillers have plates that are 0.3 mm (.0118") thin to be able to actually transfer thermal energy at a useful rate. A 3/8" thick plate might as well be a perfect insulator...

Cheers!

 

[ryan_george]

I'd be interested to see the actual plans for the fabrication of the chiller, sealing-off the plates, etc.
Also, 2' x 2' doesn't seem like a lot of material for this.

And yes, 3/8" is pretty beefy for heat transfer at this level.

 

[joshjv]

What they said.

On the subject of the aluminum though.. Cans tend to have a coating over the aluminum, so that the beverage does not come in direct contact with the aluminum. When Aluminum kettles are used for boiling, they are typically boiled with plain water first to generate a protective aluminum oxide layer to isolate the beer from the aluminum. One then needs to use care to not use any cleaners that will damage this oxide (don't use PBW, Oxy, etc..).