What wire for spacing stainless steel immersion chiller?

[BigJoeBrew]

What kind wire for spacing my stainless steel immersion chiller?

I have found this at HD: https://www.homedepot.com/p/OOK-18-Gauge-x-100-ft-Galvanized-Steel-Wire-Rope-50131/100125749

Any certain gauge of wire to use?

 

[BigJoeBrew]

Or something like this?
https://www.homedepot.com/p/OOK-100...H=REC-_-rv_search_plp_rr-_-NA-_-100204195-_-N

 

[ancientmariner52]

Hey Big Joe. Galvanized means 'coated with zinc'. I'm not sure you should dunk zinc into boiling wort. Yeast needs some zinc, but not that much. Copper or stainless steel are your friends here.

Of course your IC is sanitized when it goes into the hot wort, but twisted or braided cable will be hard to rinse out after the brew. It would probably be best to stick with solid wire. The solid copper wire sold for household grounding will be the easiest to find.

 

[BigJoeBrew]

Hey Big Joe. Galvanized means 'coated with zinc'. I'm not sure you should dunk zinc into boiling wort. Yeast needs some zinc, but not that much. Copper or stainless steel are your friends here.

Of course your IC is sanitized when it goes into the hot wort, but twisted or braided cable will be hard to rinse out after the brew. It would probably be best to stick with solid wire. The solid copper wire sold for household grounding will be the easiest to find.

Will the copper react at all with the stainless steel of the chiller?

 

[MaxStout]

I used stainless steel safety lock wire for my IC. It's annealed well, so bends easily, and you can twist the ends without it breaking. It's used for keeping bolts in place on aircraft. The stainless will not react with the copper.

Don't use anything galvanized, as the zinc will eventually corrode off, then you will have iron wire exposed to your wort.

 

[ancientmariner52]

There's a chart here somewhere showing the range of galvanic activity of different metals. The further apart the metals are, the greater the reaction. Zinc is way out on the end of the scale, which is why it is used for sacrificial anodes on ships and water heaters. Better to have your zincs rot away than your big bronze propellers!

Stainless steel and copper are so close together on the spectrum that any reaction is negligible. I have copper, lead-free brass, and stainless in my mash tun and kettle, and I've never seen any evidence of reaction. As long as you rinse well and store dry, it will be fine.

 

[ancientmariner52]

As Maxstout says, safety wire will work also. I use it to fasten SS screen and braid on to copper pipe manifolds, because it is much less bulky than hose clamps. Harbor Freight sells the wire and clever little pliers for twisting the wire quickly and easily.

 

[MaxStout]

I use that safety wire for lots of things. The stuff is robust and made to be twisted.

 

[BigJoeBrew]

Great information! Thanks a bunch. I will see what I can get easiest and go from there.