copper manifold

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

killian

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2007
Messages
1,582
Reaction score
58
Location
western/central new york
I am thinking of building a copper manifold for my keg any one have any measurements/plans for building one? I have seen the one in how to brew but how is the manifold attached to the bulk head. I want to be able to direct fire the mash tun for step mashing/mash out.
-{==]
 
You mean soldering right? Clean the parts with a wire brush/emory cloth/sandpaper. Don't let finger oil on the joints. Apply flux liberally, heat joint, remove flame, run solder on the joint.
 
Soldering is easy! GO for it! The only thing I'd add here is that I made mine such that the manifold is in a ring shape and wraps arount the bottom of the keg about an inch from the side-walls. I ran copper tubing from the SS nipple welded through the keg across the bottom and connected the manifold on the opposite side... That seeems to prevent any possibility of channeling, and I leave almost no wort in there- great for efficiency.

I know a picture's worth a thousand words, but I don't know how to do that stuff.

cheers, -p
 
Here's a picture of the one I made the other day before drilling the holes. I used copper pipe (1/2") and don't plan on soldering. That way I will be able to disassemble and clean as needed. It's not for a keg, but I'm sure you could adapt the size as needed.

10254-Manifold.JPG
 
yea soldering srry

thomcatt did you just buy a long piece of copper and cut it to length and fit joints? I was looking to do the same thing but Im leaning towards soldering the end pieces and leaving the middle loose for cleaning
 
I made mine for a 48qt cooler but it's probably not much different.

I have a shank going through the cooler wall, with a valve on the outside and a nut with olive on the inside.

A couple of pics of mine are here but you can't see too much detail. All up it was pretty easy, you need to have a pipe cutter though, makes life easier - http://denimbrauhaus.blogspot.com/2007/11/couple-of-new-additions-to-brewquipment.html

If you get the hard copy of how to brew there's a diagram of what you need for the bulkhead deal-eo.
 
Think about cutting slices rather than driling holes. I've found the very thin slices work better and let less solids through... on the bottom of the manifold of course :)
 
killian said:
did you solder that denimg?

The only solder is on the 'T' that connects to the 45degree elbow that goes into the nut. Only because I had a female-female there and the elbow was a little too long so I needed to cut it down.

I just gave the 'male' fittings a tiny squeeze in the vice to oval them a little, makes them stay together pretty well but still comes apart for cleaning.

I was going to cut slices but I didn't have the cutting disc for the dremel, and I couldn't be bothered using a hack saw. I've used the manifold once and it seems to be fine, I'm happy with it.
 
With all this talk of soldering I have not heard any talk of removing the spent flux.
I just soldered up a couple of fittings for adding steam to my mlt.
I think it is going to work fine. But there is a crevice or two that I can't get at to clean off.
I don't like the idea of a flux sheen floating on my pale ale.
Any magic elixar to nuke this stuff away? Blast with boiling water a few times??
r
 
White distilled vinegar will clean the copper and silver solder very well. If you don't dilute it, you can stand there and wait for it to get clean and scrub with an old toothbrush, then rinse like your life depends on it. Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes.
 
Back
Top