boil kettle dip tube questions

I'm building a dip tube for my keggle. I'm planning on soldering some copper together, and then holding it into the coupler with a compression fitting. I hear everyone talk about replacing the metal collar in the compression fitting with an o ring or two. Do these need to be silicone o-rings like the weldless bulkhead uses? I'm guessing they do huh? Also, I boil with whole hops. Should I plan on needing a hop sack, or will a ss scrubby work well enough to filter whole hops? I'll be gravity draining through a CFC..

Thanks for any feedback!

If you're using whole hops, there's no need for a hop bag. They won't clog anything. Here's a picture of my dip tube. It works great and sucks all but about 1 cup out of the keggle. I just put a strainer on top of my fermentor to keep all the sludge out.

RegionalChaos said:

I hear everyone talk about replacing the metal collar in the compression fitting with an o ring or two.

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Why would you do that?

bja said:

Why would you do that?

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It will seal without permanently crimping the tube.

pickles said:

It will seal without permanently crimping the tube.

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Why would crimping the tube be a problem?

BTW, my comp fitting seals and I can still take it all apart. It doesn't need to be crimped completely to seal.

I don't know if its a problem but thats why its done.

I hear it recommended by a lot of people, many of which seem to have a lot experience building keggles or systems. Like Bobby_M. Anyone have pictures of scrubbies under there dip tubes that act as filters? I can't imagine that hop sludge isn't going to get sucked through the system. Hate to have that clog the CFC..

RegionalChaos said:

I hear it recommended by a lot of people, many of which seem to have a lot experience building keggles or systems. Like Bobby_M.

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OK, but are they reccommending it just to sell you o-rings or is there an actual reason for doing it?

So that it can be taken apart and cleaned easily as needed.

You don't need the Orings to do that.

pickles said:

It will seal without permanently crimping the tube.

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Allows for easy removal and resue of the diptube as the crimping of the solid ring doesn't happen

All I know is that my keggle and CFC are ready to go. The only thing I'm missing is my dip tube, and some way to filter out the hops and / or hot break.. I'm aching to go 10g here...

Compression fittings work well without o-rings. I do ship my stainless steel pick up tubes with both the ss ferrules and o-rings to give some choice how you want to install.

You can still remove the fitting with the stainless ferrules crimped onto the tubing so either way will work out fine.

Well great. Thanks for the feedback all. I'll just use the standard compression fitting. I have all those pieces ready to go, and don't have the right sized o-ring anyway. Now what about the scrubbie? Will it filter whole hops fine? How do I fit it in the tube? Just shove it up there and pinch it against the bottom of the keggle?

A scrubbie will plug up with hops and break. I tried using one once but it wasn't worth the agravation.

Then won't my CFC get clogged? What do I need to do to keep hops and break out of my CFC?

RegionalChaos said:

Then won't my CFC get clogged? What do I need to do to keep hops and break out of my CFC?

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Whole hops don't create sludge and won't get sucked up your dip tube. If you're using pellets, that's a different story. You'll need to try whirlpooling or a hop bag during the boil. There will still be break material regardless of what hops you use, but I don't think it will clog your chiller.

OK, so use the compression fitting as is, and don't worry about trying to filter whole hops. Sounds easy. Love it. Thanks for the advice all, I'll come back to this thread and b!tch if I get a nice clog or something

I don't sell O-rings so I have no biased reason to push it. I wouldn't do that anyway. One benefit to replacing the ferrule with orings is that you can get a seal by simply hand tightening the compression nut instead of wrench tight. If you're using a stainless fitting, you have to tight the bloody hell out of it to get it to seal the first time and then the ferrule is stuck on the tubing.

OK So what size o-rings are being supplied for a compression fitting of say 5/8 (copper dip tube) is 5/8 O.D.?

I picked up 5/8 ID high temp o-rings at True Value. They said they were Buna-N for the material, I also picked up an HNBR o-ring but just read HNBR is another name for Buna-N.

I made it seal with just going finger tight... I like that.

1+ on the hop bag. I don't have any type of filter on my dip tube. It goes ALL the way down too. I only leave about 2 tsp of liquid in keggle after a boil. I use the cheap paint bucket filters from Lowe's as a semi-reusable hop bag. I have a 25' 3/8" CFC that is gravity fed. I have yet to have any issues with clogging. I also filter out any excess trub on the fermenter side with a stainless steel stainer and a second paint bucket filter. I probably don't need to go that far with the filtering, but I always end up with a very clear finished product.

Bobby_M said:

I don't sell O-rings so I have no biased reason to push it. I wouldn't do that anyway. One benefit to replacing the ferrule with orings is that you can get a seal by simply hand tightening the compression nut instead of wrench tight. If you're using a stainless fitting, you have to tight the bloody hell out of it to get it to seal the first time and then the ferrule is stuck on the tubing.

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Exactly why i had to use the O rings. I wasn't getting a complete seal and when the level of wort would drop below the top of the fitting I would lose suction and leave almost a gallon behind. O ring solved that. Now I have just under three cups of wort/break material left in the kettle after draining.

I've got my dip tube installed. Soldered together a ninety and ran it to the bottom of the middle of the keg. Used the compression fitting as is. Not sure when I'll get to brew next, but it (and the CFC) is ready to go. I guess I need to run hot oxi through it all, then rinse it a few times first. Maybe I'll get to do that ahead of time. I don't use a hop bag, and I'm not going to filter (as per advice in this thread) so we'll see how it all turns out. Thanks again all.