Help with a Kettle Dip Tube

Hey guys, I was looking for some help with a kettle dip tube. I just installed one of the weldless bulkheads from weldlessfittings.com. I installed it as low as I could, but i feel like there is going to be a decent amount of loss.

Normally I wouldn't care about the loss as much, but I am going to be doing 3 gallon batches until the weather gets warmer, and a half gallon is a decent percentage there.

My problem is this, I haven't sweated or soldered copper before, and don't really want to start yet. Right now there is a 1/2 inch coupler on the inside of the kettle. I was thinking about just putting a barb on the inside of the coupler, and throwing a sure screen over it. I just figured I could tip the kettle to get that last bit.

Just a few more specs if it helps, I am gravity feeding from the kettle to the carboy. I am using an immersion chiller in the kettle. Any help on how I could get as much of the wort as possible without soldering would be greatly appreciated.

 

if you dont want to solder copper you could use compression fittings and copper to make the dip tube. Although soldering is really easy and it doesnt cost much to get a kit with everything you would need to get started

 

A soldering torch kit should be less than $20 and it's really easy.
Sand the copper till it's shiny.
Put some flux on the parts.
Assemble the parts.
Heat the joint and touch solder on the seams.
The solder will get sucked in and seal the joint.

 

If you're not up to sweating some joints (completely your choice, it's your gear, make it how you want), you could get some 3/8 or (better) 1/2 inch soft copper tubing, attach a compression or flare fitting to the inside of the bulkhead, and then bend the tubing down so it's about 1/2 inch off the bottom of the kettle. Stick a stainless scrubby over the end of the tubing as a hop strainer, and you'll lose more wort to hops than to the kettle.