Hey all, long time follower, first time poster. I'm also in the process of buying tube to hard pipe my brew stand and came across this thread. Two follow-up questions for the group:
1. If I've got 1/2" threaded fittings, don't I want something like 5/8" O.D. S.S. piping so the interior is 1/2"? Or would hand bending that thick tube be a complete pain (I'm about to learn all about the joys of bending when I do this). I noticed in the responses above that you suggest 1/2" o.d., so I'm guessing that means the wall thickness is so thin that it won't be a big loss for the I.D. correct?
2. Are sites like McMaster or Buyfittingsonline about the cheapest places one can find pipe-to-tube compression fittings? The rest of the fittings/tubing for the setup seem to be relatively cheap. But paying $25 per compression fitting seems a bit steep.
Thanks for all the postings. It's been great to read up on this before sinking a bunch of money into it.
-gc