Manifold For Mash Tun

[Brewme]

Hi,

I'm in the process of making a manifold for my esky/tun using 1/2" copper pipe following the guidelines of John Palmer.

I can't seem to find the spacings for the slots to be cut in the pipe. Or the depth. Or the thickness.

Would a cut along the length of the 4 pipes (250mm long each) with a dremel blade (about 1mm) be OK ? Or do the slots have to be cut at 90 deg to the pipe.

Any advice is welcome.

Cheers

 

[StraussyStrauss]

I cuts slots 12mm apart. As long as it is uniform all the way along. And about half way down.

A long cut right down the centre would work too I guess...even more uniform... harder to do though.

SS

 

[warra48]

I made a copper manifold from inch pipe.

My slots were cut with a fine hacksaw blade. The slots are about 1 cm apart to about 30 to 40% of the thickness of the pipe, straight across the pipe.
I batch sparge, and have the slots facing downward , and my manifold lies totally flat on the bottom of the mashtun.

I reckon a Dremel blade of about 1 mm thickness will work perfectly well. Wish I had thought of it at the time, but my Dremel lives on my model building desk, not in my workshop.

 

[yardy]

Hi,

I'm in the process of making a manifold for my esky/tun using 1/2" copper pipe following the guidelines of John Palmer.

I can't seem to find the spacings for the slots to be cut in the pipe. Or the depth. Or the thickness.

Would a cut along the length of the 4 pipes (250mm long each) with a dremel blade (about 1mm) be OK ? Or do the slots have to be cut at 90 deg to the pipe.

Any advice is welcome.

Cheers

some info here http://www.homebrewdownunder.com/index.php?topic=948.0

Dave

 

[Barley Belly]

Here is a pic of mine upside down to show the slots.

I cut the slots around 10mm apart and around 40% of the way through.

I started using a hacksaw but it was a pain in the bum, then the old man suggested a 1mm 4" blade on the angle grinder. Went like a hot knife through butter, bit of a cleanup with a rotary wire brush and good to go.

Hope it's a help

 

[MaltyHops]

...
A long cut right down the centre would work too I guess...even more uniform... harder to do though.
...

A bit off centre on both sides would be better I would have thought?
Assuming cuts are on the underside, a centre cut would just be covered
by the tun bottom surface.

T.

 

[MattC]

I made a copper manifold from inch pipe.

My slots were cut with a fine hacksaw blade. The slots are about 1 cm apart to about 30 to 40% of the thickness of the pipe, straight across the pipe.
I batch sparge, and have the slots facing downward , and my manifold lies totally flat on the bottom of the mashtun.

I cut the slots around 10mm apart and around 40% of the way through.

Hope it's a help

Same here, works very well!!

Cheers

 

[rotten]

Same here, works very well!!

Cheers

+1, I have the same as Warra48. In fact he proved to me at least it was worth doing. If you read Palmer properly he states it makes diddly squat of difference whether thay face down, up, sideways or any other way. I however face mine down and underlet to minimise doughballs.
Cheers

 

[Cocko]

 

[manticle]

some info here http://www.homebrewdownunder.com/index.php?topic=948.0

Dave

When I was making mine, this guide was invaluable.

 

[MHB]

1 cut along the pipe, let's just say the pipe is around 250 mm long, the cut would be about 200 mm effective length, to keep it easy say 1mm wide so 200 mm² of void (hole).
In the same length cuts every 10 mm so 20 of them, call it 40% through, diameter of a " (12.7mm) pipe will be 39.9 mm 40 % of that is 15.95 mm, by 1 mm wide, 20 of gives 319 mm²

Strangely enough just of the top of my head I thought the difference would have been greater, it is often good to check a hunch with a calculator.
Now how about 2 longways cuts at say a quarter or third diameter still pointing down, but neither flat on the bottom, gives you 400 mm². Dead space in the tun would drop by 5-6 mm, might not sound like much but losses all add up.
Interesting thought, and yes those 1 mm thick angle grinder blades are very handy, would be the nuts for this job.

MHB

 

[rotten]

Pics please MHB! My hands ain't that steady. :mellow:

 

[Brewme]

1 cut along the pipe, let's just say the pipe is around 250 mm long, the cut would be about 200 mm effective length, to keep it easy say 1mm wide so 200 mm² of void (hole).
In the same length cuts every 10 mm so 20 of them, call it 40% through, diameter of a " (12.7mm) pipe will be 39.9 mm 40 % of that is 15.95 mm, by 1 mm wide, 20 of gives 319 mm²

Strangely enough just of the top of my head I thought the difference would have been greater, it is often good to check a hunch with a calculator.
Now how about 2 longways cuts at say a quarter or third diameter still pointing down, but neither flat on the bottom, gives you 400 mm². Dead space in the tun would drop by 5-6 mm, might not sound like much but losses all add up.
Interesting thought, and yes those 1 mm thick angle grinder blades are very handy, would be the nuts for this job.

MHB

Would 3 cuts along the length of the pipe be better? I did a practice run using the Dremel with a 1/2mm blade with no problems. Easier to control than a 4" angle grinder.

Would 3 cuts @ 1/2mm be enough, or is it better to go with 1mm ?

Another alternative would be to use 4 of those SS braided water connectors. I can't see the point of using just one.

Any further advice before I start putting my mash tun together ?

Cheers

 

[MHB]

Remembering that I have never done this, it was just an interesting idea.

General rules (well guidelines really) slots in lauter bottoms are usually 1-1.5 mm, small enough to keep chunks of grain out, but not so small that they block up too quickly.
The optimum amount of void would be around 20-40% of the surface area of the tun for a commercial high speed lauter (high speed means under an hour and a half). For a home brewer, if you only have a " outlet pipe once the total void area is 5-10 times that there probably isn't much point in trying for more. 12.75 mm copper pipe is going to have an ID of around 10 mm, but even at 12.7 mm the area is only about 125mm².
That really is going to be your limiting figure.

So I figure three pipes with two 200 mm slots would be heaps, as would the conventional cutting system. Just a matter of which is easier for you.

MHB

 

[Brewme]

1 cut along the pipe, let's just say the pipe is around 250 mm long, the cut would be about 200 mm effective length, to keep it easy say 1mm wide so 200 mm² of void (hole).
In the same length cuts every 10 mm so 20 of them, call it 40% through, diameter of a " (12.7mm) pipe will be 39.9 mm 40 % of that is 15.95 mm, by 1 mm wide, 20 of gives 319 mm²

Strangely enough just of the top of my head I thought the difference would have been greater, it is often good to check a hunch with a calculator.
Now how about 2 longways cuts at say a quarter or third diameter still pointing down, but neither flat on the bottom, gives you 400 mm². Dead space in the tun would drop by 5-6 mm, might not sound like much but losses all add up.
Interesting thought, and yes those 1 mm thick angle grinder blades are very handy, would be the nuts for this job.

MHB

JUST FOR INFO:

I made 2 cuts (1mm blade) along the length of the 1/2'' pipe about 90 deg apart.

Bad move. The thin piece just flopped around.

The next piece of pipe I made a series of cuts about 55mm along the line leaving about 3-4mm between each cut. Then turned the pipe 90 deg and done it again starting at a different point.

Turned out better than a bought one

I opted for the 4 pipes according to John Palmer's diagrams for best flow.

Cheers

 

[cdbrown]

+1, I have the same as Warra48. In fact he proved to me at least it was worth doing. If you read Palmer properly he states it makes diddly squat of difference whether thay face down, up, sideways or any other way. I however face mine down and underlet to minimise doughballs.
Cheers

Listening to Brewstrong podcast you'll hear Palmer and Jamil stating it's best to have them facing down - it's nothing to do with flow, but the amount of liquid you can extract from the tun, if facing up, anything below the cuts will be left behind, by turning it over you'll get more liquid out. They also go into spacings and the benefit - having too many you might get more liquids coming out near the tap rather than uniformly across the manifold, too little can be the same effect. They recommend around a 1/2" spacing which generally provides alot of slots for draining.

 

[Barley Belly]

JUST FOR INFO:

I made 2 cuts (1mm blade) along the length of the 1/2'' pipe about 90 deg apart.

Bad move. The thin piece just flopped around.

The next piece of pipe I made a series of cuts about 55mm along the line leaving about 3-4mm between each cut. Then turned the pipe 90 deg and done it again starting at a different point.

Turned out better than a bought one

I opted for the 4 pipes according to John Palmer's diagrams for best flow.

Cheers

Any piccies??

 

[Brewme]

Any piccies??

Hi,

I got the pipes, fittings and copper wire soaking in sodium percarbonate at the moment for a clean.

I will post the piccies, to the best of my limited ability, tomorrow after the soak. Hope they clean up OK.

I'll also have a tap fitted to the esky/tun to control the flow of the liquid.

Cheers

 

[Brewme]

Here are the pics, reduced in size. Not the best quality.

I used 3 lengths of copper wire to hold the manifold together as I didn't want to solder. Easier to take apart and clean.

I didn't have to drill any holes in the esky for the bulkhead. Just used what plumbing fittings I had. Easily converted back to ordinary esky. Just screw in the original bung.

Cheers

 

[pokolbinguy]

You might want to attach the photos Brewme