Would a repurposed Air to water intercooler core work?

[HellPhish]

The idea is to use an all aluminum A2W intercooler core as an immersion chiller. I would think the added surface area would do wonders. It would be all aluminum, it would be placed in the wort not vice versa, would be fairly easy to keep clean and to sanitize.

I know being sanitary is rule #1 so.. thoughts, comments, questions, insults?

 

[day_trippr]

Running acidic wort through aluminum doesn't sound optimal...

Cheers!

 

[joe_four_strings]

Running acidic wort through aluminum doesn't sound optimal...

Cheers!

Aren't there commercial immersion chillers made out of aluminum tubing?

 

[day_trippr]

Well, I'm not saying they don't exist, but I've never seen one.
I've only seen copper and stainless...

Cheers!

 

[HellPhish]

Well, I'm not saying they don't exist, but I've never seen one.
I've only seen copper and stainless...

Cheers!

I would use a copper core but the intercooler cores are easier to find.

Trippr, I wouldnt be running wort through it. Water would run through the A2W core and the core would be immersed. Plus, as long as it is properly oxidized, its not an issue (theres an faq I read somewhere on here on the stainless vs aluminum pot).

Lastly, any setup would be tig welded together. There would be no solder used.

 

[The_Bishop]

There's an issue on what grade of aluminum it's made of. It was never designed to be in contact with food. Also, cleaning and sanitizing it will be nearly impossible.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Trippr, I wouldnt be running wort through it. Water would run through the A2W core and the core would be immersed.

A distinction without a difference, perhaps. Wort's either passing through the tubing or passing through the core. When you think about it, running the wort through the tubing would expose far less of the aluminum to wort.

Plus, as long as it is properly oxidized, its not an issue (theres an faq I read somewhere on here on the stainless vs aluminum pot).

Might be some substance to that, but as was mentioned, pots were designed to be used with food...

Cheers!

 

[masonsjax]

This comes up pretty often on here. There was a thread a few months back about someone using car parts for a chiller, I don't remember the specifics, but very few people thought it was a good idea. I think the OP had made up his mind before posting, so he might be too sick to weigh in here Do a search, it's been discussed to death, perhaps literally.

 

[Quaker]

Been in the automotive OE heat exchanger business for 20 years. I would not use an aluminum or copper one for anything food related. For aluminum there are 2 brazing methods: CAB/Nokoloc or vacuum. The latter came first and is still used for some heavier duty applications like trucks or off highway. The more common now is CAB which uses a potassium fluoride flux which can flake off. Since most inter coolers/charge air coolers have internal fin, they often have flux residue also inside. But even other heat exchangers get some inside too. Vacuum is cleaner, but I still wouldn't go there.

 

[HellPhish]

Quaker, that is information I'm looking for. Thank you.

Looks like silver, tin, copper, bronze, silicon bronze, and a couple others are safe for this and a very specific set of fluxes. Gives me a couple ideas.

 

[Quaker]

Aluminum could be fine as well if it was processed intentionally for food safe purposes. Ditto for copper, brass, etc. But you never know what solders or fluxes were used in their processing.