Immersion Chiller Build Question

[Spicemon1972]

Hey all, tomorrow I'm building an immersion chiller and I have a question that I hope you can help me with. My local hardware store only sold 20ft coils of 3/8in copper tubing. I wanted at least a 25ft chiller so I bought two coils and a brass joiner to link them together to get the length that I wanted. The trouble is that I don't know if there will be any ill effects to having the brass joiner in the wort.
I'm thinking it is no big deal but I was hoping someone out there could let me know if that is a potential problem before I build.

Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

No problem if you sweat solder the coupler using non-toxic "silver" solder and the flux for same. You should be able to pick everything up at any decent hardware store...

Cheers!

 

[brewguyver]

No problem if you sweat solder the coupler using non-toxic "silver" solder and the flux for same. You should be able to pick everything up at any decent hardware store...

Cheers!

+1 - if possible you should soldier the joint. The brass *should* be fine, but the plastic parts could have an issue with the boiling wort and leak.

When I was a new home brewer I tried joining two chillers with vinyl hose in the wort. Had a lot of really watery beers until I figured out the problem.

 

[allenH]

Solder them together with 0% silver solder (0% refers to lead content) and a copper coupling. 0% silver solder requires no flux and is made for plumbing household water supply lines. Scuff all copper surfaces with sandpaper and the solder will flow well without flux.

 

[Spicemon1972]

Thanks a bunch - I knew I would get good advice from this crowd.

 

[jlb307]

would there be a problem using brass swagelok compression fittings?

 

[kh54s10]

I made my chiller(s) with two 20' sections. I use one in an ice bath and the other in the wort. I also coiled one tighter than the other so I can fit the smaller inside the larger and use both in the wort if I want to. They are joined with vinyl tubing and hose clamps.

 

[Spicemon1972]

I'm going to go with joining the two sections together with a copper joint and securing with lead free solder. Not only will I have a nice, 40ft wort chiller, I will learn to sweat copper pipe too.
I am considering adding a per-chiller at a later date too.
Gotta love brewing and the skill sets you acquire out of necessity.

 

[runbad]

Swage them two pipes. No coupler required.

 

[ArrowheadHops]

20' chiller will work fine and no chance of leaks or infection in a joint. IMO