A few things,

CaptainCascade dropped in and didn't say anything!
Capacity issues, reduce cap tube length. You lose in temp and you gain in capacity. Do not pull into vacuum.
I have an industrial water chiller with EK block, it cannot hang with a proper SS.
Lastly, do what you enjoy and what is in your reach, nothing wrong with experimentation within your means. You have lots of experts here to tell you how to do it by the book but go at your own pace and learn from improvements on your setup. Keep asking questions, that's how I got all sorts of stuff built from my dumb ideas.