Silicone Tubing in Boil

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lustreking

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I know the temperature ratings say it should be ok, but would there be any issues with having the high temp silicone tubing in the kettle throughout the entire boil? Also, does anyone know if it floats?
 
No problems at all with it. When i first put my keggle together i didn't get the copper tube i wanted in time for my ball valve's pickup tube. I wanted to brew, so i put a piece of silicone tubing in its place. 13 or so batches later and no ill effects. If the tube has liquid on the inside it wont float, at least the stuff I have.
 
You have to tell us what you're thinking now.
I was thinking about switching back to an immersion chiller and using the pumped whirlpool method, but instead of mounting the whirlpool manifold to the IC, I would mount it in the top rim of my kettle. I was thinking of using silicone tubing because I was hoping that it would float at the top of the wort. I was planning on leaving enough tubing in there so that it reaches the bottom of the keg and I would also use that for filling it from the mash tun to prevent splashing.

Since it won't float, I'll probably re-think the idea.

No problems at all with it. When i first put my keggle together i didn't get the copper tube i wanted in time for my ball valve's pickup tube. I wanted to brew, so i put a piece of silicone tubing in its place. 13 or so batches later and no ill effects. If the tube has liquid on the inside it wont float, at least the stuff I have.

You're from Bethlehem? Do I know you? Are you in the LVHB?
 
You could use a coolant line like The Pol has in his recent build. Search for that thread and you'll see what I mean. You could adjust the line at wahtever angle/depth you need to get a vortex.
 
The weirdest thing is that I kept meaning to post a request for MLT sparge ring/ RIMS return method examples. The requirements I have are height adjustability for various grainbed heights and it being able to deal with particulates and not get clogged. I want it to be installed while mashing obviously and need it to be easily removable.

What I eventually came up with (in my head so far) is to put a weldless bulkhead in just under the top skirt of the keg and put a male QD on both the inside and outside. The female QD on the inside would be an elbow with hose barb and I'd put about 3' of silicone tubing on there. The tubing would have a bunch of 1/2" long slits cut all down the length and the end would be plugged.

My theory is that it would just coil down and around the keg to adjust its own height. It would fill with water/wort and then force itself out of the slits mostly equally. It's like a copper sparge ring but with self adjusting orifices that could let husk through if necessary.

For a simple kettle whirlpool thing, I'd just put a bulkhead up high with a copper elbow to drop down, a short pipe, then turn right or left. I think the silicone would be too floppy to direct one way or another.
 
The weirdest thing is that I kept meaning to post a request for MLT sparge ring/ RIMS return method examples. The requirements I have are height adjustability for various grainbed heights and it being able to deal with particulates and not get clogged. I want it to be installed while mashing obviously and need it to be easily removable.

What I eventually came up with (in my head so far) is to put a weldless bulkhead in just under the top skirt of the keg and put a male QD on both the inside and outside. The female QD on the inside would be an elbow with hose barb and I'd put about 3' of silicone tubing on there. The tubing would have a bunch of 1/2" long slits cut all down the length and the end would be plugged.

That is vaguely like mine, but I think your's sounds a bit better.

I drilled a hole through the top skirt of my MLT and put a copper tube through it. On the out side is a male QD, and on the inside is a three-way valve. One output of the valve routes to a fixed copper ring manifold that I installed just under the curved upper rim of the 12 inch diameter opening in the top of the keg. The copper recirculation return ring has 9/64ths inch holes drilled in it every inch or so.

The other output of the 3-way valve goes to a short length of pipe that terminates in a 1/2 inch hose barb. I connect a short length of silicone hose to the barb, then to a similar barb mounted via a compression fitting to the top of one of those stainless rotating sparge arms that I mounted through the middle of my MLT lid. I cut a window in my MLT lid so I can monitor flow and water level for either the recirculation return manifold or the sparge arm.

I used it for the first time this past weekend and I learned some things. First, my sparge arm has about 7 inches of height adjustment, but it doesn't really need it. The sparge water is so fine coming out of it that it doesn't disturb the grain no matter how far it falls, especially since I kept 1 to 2 inch of water above the grain. Second, my fixed copper manifold goes all the way around the keg just under the top opening. I could go six or eight inches and it would do as well at the low recirculation flow rates I'm using. I didn't notice any significant grain bed disturbance caused by the fixed recirculation manifold, even though it is a fair distance above the grain. The 9/64th holes I drilled are a little small. Grain that got through my false bottom tended to clog them. I need to drill them out to 5/32nd or turn them into slits instead of holes, and maybe shore up my false bottom. It seems like a lot of grain was getting through.
 
That's one thing that I don't like with my false bottom having gotten so used to the stainless braid. With the braid, one quart of vorlauf was enough and it never had any husk coming through after that.
 
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