Brewery Construction

[Archie]

Gday Everyone,

I have a quick question and hope that someone can help me out. I am in the process of cunstructing my brewery and have come to the realisation that i am a very bad copper pipe solderer. What other piping do you use. Plastic tubing perhaps maybe pvc.
What has everyone else used in the past.

Cheers
Archie

 

[fixa]

with copper pipe soldering, the trick is to get the joints nice and clean. then heat both of the surfaces you wish to solder, only when they are hot do you put on flux and the solder. the molten solder should then flow nicely into the joints, so remove the heat.
Give that a go.
Cheers

 

[tangent]

good advice fixa
damn i wish i had an oxy kit but i hate paying rent on one bottle already.
a big O2 bottle would be handy though

 

[goatherder]

Any copper joins I have done are using compression fittings. No soldering required. They cost a little more however.

 

[tangent]

what's the damage ($) for a fitting goatherder? do you have to use a pipe flaring(? flare the ends out after the fitting is on) kit?

 

[Archie]

so evryone uses copper tubing hey, okay i guess i will persist with the copper soldering

Cheers

 

[tangent]

i use a collection of hoses because i don't have an oxy kit
my immersion chiller is 1 roll of copper pipe.

 

[lokpikn]

I have been using a food grade plastic hose. I have been told that it will handel the heat and not leach any off flavours but the heat will tend to break the hose down over a period of time. So you will need to repalce it every 6 or 12 months. I have been using it for 6 mths and replaced a small about. I found the thing of the front packet so here is a pic of the brand and stuff.

 

[Archie]

Cheers everyone i just tried to re solder my copper tube by to no avail im not sure what i am doing wrong I might try the food grade plastice tube

Thanks Everyone

 

[oldbugman]

What type of solder are you using?


I hope your not trying to use soft solder....(the type you solder electronics with)

Do yourself a favour and go buy some brown tip.(insert whitty joke) and dont let bunings sell it to you for $18. most plumbing places would sell it for ~$4 a stick

 

[willanth]

I have moved from copper to a polybutyl food grade pipe at the advice of my plumber. Evidently at the low ph that the wort is sitting at will leech copper from the pipe and cause corrosion. That's what I'm told, anyway.

So that, and silicone hose is what I've used to plumb until I end up with some commercial hardware.

Cheers,
Will

 

[goatherder]

what's the damage ($) for a fitting goatherder? do you have to use a pipe flaring(? flare the ends out after the fitting is on) kit?

Sorry tangent, I missed seeing your question.

Say you wanted to do a 90 deg join, you would need a male-male 90 deg elbow - I'm guessing around the $5-$10 mark depending on where you shop. Then couple of bucks each for the nuts and the olives are pretty cheap at 30c each. I think they are sold as "Yorkshire" fittings. You don't need to flare the ends - you just need to ensure that the pipe ends you are joining are very round (not bent out of shape). Just give them a tickle up with some emery, fit the olives and tighten the nuts until it doesn't leak.

Like I said, a little expensive especially if you had to do a lot of them. I think they are the perfect solution for tooltards like myself.

 

[Justin]

Or just buy some 1/2" silicone hose. It's not cheap but it is really good stuff. Last I looked it was around the $10-$12 per meter. Saves messing with copper pipe.

Cheers, J

 

[Andyd]

Or just buy some 1/2" silicone hose. It's not cheap but it is really good stuff. Last I looked it was around the $10-$12 per meter. Saves messing with copper pipe.

Cheers, J

You still have the problem of dealing with joins, which for silicon hose are just as expensive as most of the copper flared or compression fittings.

As far as cost goes, soldered (aka sweat) joiners are the cheapest, but yuo don't have the luxury of being able to dismantle the system.

It seems strange that you're having trouble soldering. What are you using to heat the copper?

Most of the metalurgical arguments about what you should and should not be using have been put to bed by people like Palmer (who is a metalurgist by trade), and it appears that the use of both Aluminium and copper on a homebrew scale is safe. If you were brewing 24 hours a day, you might see an issue. Likewise if you were fermenting over a long period in contact with copper there could be an issue. But for the purposes of brew day itself I haven't seen evidence that there's a problem.

Regards,

Andy

 

[Pumpy]

You still have the problem of dealing with joins, which for silicon hose are just as expensive as most of the copper flared or compression fittings.

As far as cost goes, soldered (aka sweat) joiners are the cheapest, but yuo don't have the luxury of being able to dismantle the system.

It seems strange that you're having trouble soldering. What are you using to heat the copper?

Most of the metalurgical arguments about what you should and should not be using have been put to bed by people like Palmer (who is a metalurgist by trade), and it appears that the use of both Aluminium and copper on a homebrew scale is safe. If you were brewing 24 hours a day, you might see an issue. Likewise if you were fermenting over a long period in contact with copper there could be an issue. But for the purposes of brew day itself I haven't seen evidence that there's a problem.

Regards,

Andy

These work well from Bunnings got the idea from Justin

 

[Chris]

Gday Everyone,

I have a quick question and hope that someone can help me out. I am in the process of cunstructing my brewery and have come to the realisation that i am a very bad copper pipe solderer. What other piping do you use. Plastic tubing perhaps maybe pvc.
What has everyone else used in the past.

Cheers
Archie

Hi Archie,

You can use CPVC, Chlorinated Poly Vinyl Chloride. Its whats used in new houses for water temps up to ~90 degrees.
I used it in my mash tun and its worked fine for the last few years.
I havn't glued anything together, so it pulls apart if needed.
Also, I put the slots facing down, so that the weight of the grain isn't pressing down on them, causing a stuck sparge (which I have never had). I dont know why people face theirs up as horizontal pressure are ~1/3 those of vertical.
Pics:

 

[user 1153]

I think they are the perfect solution for tooltards like myself.

hahahha classic. "tooltard". Glad to hear I am not alone. Seems like everyone in this forum has a shed full of gucci equipment and the know-how to use it.

The flared fittings will suit my needs perfectly. Now to find some copper pipe offcuts..... hmmm

 

[SJW]

Hey Archie,
Sorry to be Mr Negative (again) but when u get that mash tun up and running dont be suprised if you get crap eff. That looks just like my old one that I put up with for far too long. So my sugestion is start thing about getting your hands on a keg and a false bottom, it uped my eff. by 5-10%. Also with the PVC maifold you have made, you need to connect the ends together, not have them capped. The way you have it set up it will pull more wort from the side with slightly bigger or more slots in it. Check out the John Palmer book http://howtobrew.com/ he has a great section on all that stuff.
Sorry but when I see that type of set up it drives me nuts because I spent years trying to work out why I could only get 65-70% eff. After trying everthing else, just ask Mark from MARKS HOMEBREW, we worked out it was the dumb PVC manifold and esk mash tun.
But all this stuff is a mystery so I hope u have more luck than I did. And I am sure you will make a fine beer anyway.

Steve

 

[gnewell]

Hey Archie,
Sorry to be Mr Negative (again) but when u get that mash tun up and running dont be suprised if you get crap eff. That looks just like my old one that I put up with for far too long. So my sugestion is start thing about getting your hands on a keg and a false bottom, it uped my eff. by 5-10%. Also with the PVC maifold you have made, you need to connect the ends together, not have them capped. The way you have it set up it will pull more wort from the side with slightly bigger or more slots in it. Check out the John Palmer book http://howtobrew.com/ he has a great section on all that stuff.
Sorry but when I see that type of set up it drives me nuts because I spent years trying to work out why I could only get 65-70% eff. After trying everthing else, just ask Mark from MARKS HOMEBREW, we worked out it was the dumb PVC manifold and esk mash tun.
But all this stuff is a mystery so I hope u have more luck than I did. And I am sure you will make a fine beer anyway.

Steve

Your comment is true for fly sparging but untrue for batch sparging. Guess it depends on the sparge method of choice what lautering arrangement you choose.

Geoff.