Making a copper manifold

Hey everybody,

I wanna make a copper manifild for my mash tun and I was wondering if you can get away with doing it without soldering it. ie: can the pieces just be fit together?

I can solder, I've done it before, but I wouldn't say I'm good at it, lol. My main concern is that flux paste, which is as stick as a troll's ear wax, will remain in trace amounts and leach into the wort.

Is this a legitimate worry?


Sorry if this question's been asked before, my search yieled nothing.

Personally I wouldnt worry about soldering it. I havent yet made a copper manifold but my CPVC one does great in its loose state. My guess is that a copper equivelant would be just as good with no solder. Its nice to be able to diasasemble the manifold for cleaning.

You can definitely do it, worst case scenario you would just peen the edges of the females to grab onto the males a little better.

You definitely do not need to solder, there are fittings that fit together very snug. I made my manifold and did not solder and it works great

Thanks guys. I think I'll work on one this weekend.
Now I just need to get a new pipe cutter. I ruined my last one cutting my stainless steel dip tube!

No soldering here! Easy to take apart and clean!

rustym said:

No soldering here! Easy to take apart and clean!

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Did you just hacksaw those slits? I'm going to make a copper manifold, already have the material, and now I'm just trying to figure out the slits. I've also got an angle grinder that I was thinking about using, I've got a metal blade that is 1/16" thick that would surely zip right through the pipe.

I used a dremel for the slits. Made it quick and easy!

rustym said:

I used a dremel for the slits. Made it quick and easy!

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Any problem with stuck sparges or excessive grain passing through with slits that size?

I cant speak for rustym but I did the same thing and have had no such issues.

I've never has a stuck sparge and if you vourlauf correctly, you won't have any grains escape either. My beers are always very clear. I used a stainless steel braid for a couple of batches and had a lousy time with it. I built this and haven't had any problems since. It's easy to take apart and clean also.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/updated-rubbermaid-10-gallon-mlt-w-copper-manifold-build-291326/

Here's a great thread that I got my idea from. Lots of information.