DIY Stainless Immersion or Counterflow chiller?

[StainlessBrewing]

Can you solder the chiller using some Stay Clean Flux? Might be quicker than a TIG anyway.

I want to try a few different options. All welded would be cheaper in fittings all the way up to your hose connections and probably be a little more compact design. Compression and threaded fittings would allow you take take apart the chiller to a certain point for any cleaning and maintenance that it may require but will cost more. I can solder thicker fittings no problems (like you typical couplings and what not) but the tubing I've tried to solder ends up weak at the solder joints. I want this to last as long as the stainless with no problems so I'll tig it.

 

[StainlessBrewing]

Nice i am curious if the chilzilla gets around your kinking issues because of the convoluted copper internal piece. Anyone make convoluted stainless?

I never really had a kinking issue, just keeping the tube round and not flattening out. I now have dies that shouldn't make it a problem anymore. The copper being so soft is a big advantage too. I was thinking about adding a few tacks of .065 wire here and there on the 1/2" to keep it center of the OD tube. Kind of like this setup. http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/homebrewing/wort_chiller/

I'm sure there are companies out there that do make convoluted stainless but I don't think the price would be worth it.

 

[StainlessBrewing]

All I need is a bottle for Argon to do some welding and experiment with the counterflow but for now I rolled up 50' of 1/2" for an immersion to brew a batch this weekend. Not to bad for a rookie!

By zjosey at 2012-04-13

 

[wyzazz]

Wow, looks nice!

 

[Flomaster]

any updates on your SS CFC ventures?

-=Jason=-

 

[StainlessBrewing]

Wow, this is an old thread. I was able to make one up and it worked great but it's pretty ugly. It's a 20ft 1"OD x 1/2"ID with wire wrapped around the inner tube. On a hot summer day here in July using my cooler for the mash tun filled with ice water I was able to get this as low as 45 degrees. Keep in mind I'm in Arizona so chilling down that low is pretty amazing. It's at about 16" diameter at about 4" tall. I said I would never do one again after that one but our coiling tooling has improved along with our TIG welding so I might be try to give it another shot. Willams Brewing provides a 12' SS CFC at a fair price.
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/STAINLESS-CONVOLUTED-COUNTERFLOW-CHILLER-P3452C107.aspx