???? Is this a -"Ban the use of copper" post?
If so, most of the world is in serious trouble.
Just saying...
50 foot 1/2 inch SS coil
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If so, most of the world is in serious trouble.
Just saying...
OK I made one the other day, it turned out pretty good, only thing was the bottom bend didn't turn out as I would have wanted it to, out side of that, looks really good. I used 3/8s in place of the half inch.
akthor
Well-Known Member
spearko520
Well-Known Member
try using an adjustable wrench opened to the exact OD of the tubing (set it on unkinked tubing) and you can work it around small kinks and "re- round" the tubing. It takes a little practice to work them out- and real bad kinks are probably goners, but you can fix the little ones...
Nice I will have to give at a try, I only got one in mine, where the bottom coil comes back to the top.
akthor
Well-Known Member
My coil is on it way to Texan to bend for me and I gotta I am relieved I'd have been so pissed if I ruined a $70 coil of SS 
akthor
Well-Known Member
Texan has my coil, we talked on the phone, he's feeling a bit under the weather so I told him no rush. He's going to send me pics when he's done and I'll post them here.
StainlessBrewing
Well-Known Member
Going to try bending a piece of 3/4" OD with a stick of 1/2" OD inside...in an OD around 11".... wish me luck! I coiled up a piece of 1/2" x .035 304/304L welded tube around a 12" piece of pipe, not to hard. The picture below that is with a tube bender but it would be a lot of labor to coil up a 20ft piece.
By zjosey at 2012-02-13
By zjosey at 2012-02-14
The tube already had the dents in it before it was bent.
By zjosey at 2012-02-13
By zjosey at 2012-02-14
The tube already had the dents in it before it was bent.
StainlessBrewing
Well-Known Member
Well I tried... no luck as I got greedy. I was however to bend the 3/4" with 1/2" inside into a 12"OD with no kinks but the 3/4" started to collapse. I think 3/8" inside 5/8" in a 10-12"od would work though but it seems everyone wants 1/2" for the wort to flow through.
By zjosey at 2012-02-14
By zjosey at 2012-02-14
By zjosey at 2012-02-14
no luck as I got greedy. I was however to bend the 3/4" with 1/2" inside into a 12"OD with no kinks but the 3/4" started to collapse. I think 3/8" inside 5/8" in a 10-12"od would work though but it seems everyone wants 1/2" for the wort to flow through.
By zjosey at 2012-02-14
By zjosey at 2012-02-14
By zjosey at 2012-02-14
Texan
Well-Known Member
Well I am back in action.
I am posting the before and after pictures for your scrutiny!
This is the coil as shipped diameter -
I am posting the before and after pictures for your scrutiny!
This is the coil as shipped diameter -
Texan
Well-Known Member
This is the Coil height as shipped -
Texan
Well-Known Member
Shipped coil unwrapped -
Texan
Well-Known Member
compressed to 10" diameter -
Texan
Well-Known Member
10" coil Height -
Texan
Well-Known Member
10" Coil compressed to ship -
Texan
Well-Known Member
Talking with Akthor on the phone, he told me that his fitting from the side of the keg to the center of his 90 degree fitting was 2 1/2".
I made his coil as close to 10" as I could to hopefully center his coil in the keg. ( 2.5 x 2 = 5" less the 15 keg ID = 10" or there about)
I made his coil as close to 10" as I could to hopefully center his coil in the keg. ( 2.5 x 2 = 5" less the 15 keg ID = 10" or there about)
akthor
Well-Known Member
I'm so excited!!!!! 
Yes if I had seen pictures of peoples HERMS mounted with the 90 degree compression fittings I would have bought them originally and we could have made my coil wider but I scored straight fittings for cheap on Ebay thinking I was doing my HLT like the Electric Brewery one.
I didn't want to rebuy 90 deg fittings so I decided to use a couple 90 NPT street elbows to mount the coil using the straight compression fittings (pic below) so that it doesn't have to cross straight across the coil to the wall. So my fittings will extend about 2.5" out from the keg wall hence we had to make the coil 10" So it goes from outside the keg in: camlock male fitting/weldless bulkhead/90 street elbow/straight compression fitting.
Are there better ways to accomplish this? Yes, but having spent $400 or so on SS valves and fittings already I chose to make what I have work instead of buying more.
I will post pics of it installed when I get it and install it.
BTW John has been very helpful and communicative and his charge for this service is very reasonable. Wish I lived closer to Texas so we could hang out! Great guy to work with! Thanks John!
Yes if I had seen pictures of peoples HERMS mounted with the 90 degree compression fittings I would have bought them originally and we could have made my coil wider but I scored straight fittings for cheap on Ebay thinking I was doing my HLT like the Electric Brewery one.
I didn't want to rebuy 90 deg fittings so I decided to use a couple 90 NPT street elbows to mount the coil using the straight compression fittings (pic below) so that it doesn't have to cross straight across the coil to the wall. So my fittings will extend about 2.5" out from the keg wall hence we had to make the coil 10" So it goes from outside the keg in: camlock male fitting/weldless bulkhead/90 street elbow/straight compression fitting.
Are there better ways to accomplish this? Yes, but having spent $400 or so on SS valves and fittings already I chose to make what I have work instead of buying more.
I will post pics of it installed when I get it and install it.
BTW John has been very helpful and communicative and his charge for this service is very reasonable. Wish I lived closer to Texas so we could hang out! Great guy to work with! Thanks John!
akthor
Well-Known Member
BTW way John no f'ing fair wearing sandals in February! Grrrrrrr it's like 20 degrees here and with the 30mph winds it feels below zero!
Texan
Well-Known Member
Nice winters, but hot as Hades in the summer!
Texan
Well-Known Member
Got home from work, 40 minutes to set up (finding tools), 20-30 minutes to coil, then 10 minutes to clean up.
Fair to say 1 to 1.5 hours.
something that I need to talk to you about someday, but I just did one the other day,, looks nothing like yours bt works.
akthor
Well-Known Member
Texan
Well-Known Member
I have alot of guys asking for me to bend thier SS coils, and I have a hand written list of them. This is becoming a larger project that I first anticipated and I am in the process of setting up a way to handle requests better.
I don't mind the Pm's just understand that the way I am doing it now is extremely slow due to the business side, not the actual work of coiling. I am going in order of PM's recieved, and being this is a side gig for me that I did not see coming, I am playing catch up.
I don't mind the Pm's just understand that the way I am doing it now is extremely slow due to the business side, not the actual work of coiling. I am going in order of PM's recieved, and being this is a side gig for me that I did not see coming, I am playing catch up.
Texan
Well-Known Member
FYI,
Dover97 lives close to the house and he came over to have his coil made. After we finished his coil we put it in his Keggle that he had brought with him.
He had an electric set up with the heating element already installed. This raised his coupling penetration height on his keggle where the coil would attach.
This gave him a 12" height from coil inlet to coil outlet. The 50' coil could be compressed with wires or zip ties to just fit into this dimension but it was a pretty tight fit. We figured that a 25' coil in this application might work better.
He is going to use a tubing cutter to cut his coil down to achieve more of a custom fit to his keggle.
Dover97 lives close to the house and he came over to have his coil made. After we finished his coil we put it in his Keggle that he had brought with him.
He had an electric set up with the heating element already installed. This raised his coupling penetration height on his keggle where the coil would attach.
This gave him a 12" height from coil inlet to coil outlet. The 50' coil could be compressed with wires or zip ties to just fit into this dimension but it was a pretty tight fit. We figured that a 25' coil in this application might work better.
He is going to use a tubing cutter to cut his coil down to achieve more of a custom fit to his keggle.
Texan
Well-Known Member
Not sure how much he is going to use, we just thought 25' would have fit better.
Forcabrew, what is the distance between your inlet and outlet?
blakeseven
Well-Known Member
Great minds think alike I PM'ed him just before you . I have yet to build my hlt so I can be flexible. What do you suggest for hight in a keg glue?
Fellow Brewers. If you are somewhat handy and want to build your own DIY tubing bender/coiling device I have some directions you can download (PDF) on how I built mine. I was able to reduce my 23" diameter coil down to ~11" diameter with no kinks. Cost about $70 for materials, a few tools, and about an hour to build.
Link to Build Instructions: http://home.comcast.net/~bkerby/DIYTubingBender.pdf
Enjoy!
Link to Build Instructions: http://home.comcast.net/~bkerby/DIYTubingBender.pdf
Enjoy!
kal
Well-Known Member
Wow. Nice work on the instructions. Good job!
Kal
Kal
Wow thanks for sharing V-twin! Does the coil look nice and uniform when it's compressed down to 11"? Like professional looking, if you know what I mean? I was just in Livermore today too.
I was thinking of a way to build something similar, but also motorizing it, and using a rubber or soft plastic pulley that would pull the tubing through, but this seems simple enough that I may not want to motorize it after all.
One last thing, the very last thing on the parts list (1-1/2" x 1/4" x 2ft) doesn't say what it is. Although with a little problem solving I figured out it was the flat steel.
I was thinking of a way to build something similar, but also motorizing it, and using a rubber or soft plastic pulley that would pull the tubing through, but this seems simple enough that I may not want to motorize it after all.
One last thing, the very last thing on the parts list (1-1/2" x 1/4" x 2ft) doesn't say what it is. Although with a little problem solving I figured out it was the flat steel.
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