Help me with my heat stick

I am building a heat stick per these instructions: www.3d0g.net/brewing/heatstick

I am having trouble attaching the element to the pipe. Here is a picture of my setup and the issue I am having: http://imgur.com/a/nNL0y

Any ideas on how I can get the coupler to screw down onto the pipe thus holding the element in place and providing a nice seal?

I'm not sure if it's the only problem, but the white plastic compression ring is facing the wrong way. The flat side should be toward the nut & the bevel toward the tailpiece.

Those compression rings are meant to seal a piece of pipe passing through the nut. You may have to omit it entirely and/ or replace it with a rubber gasket.

Adam

You shouldn't use that white compression ring, you should be using a silicone gasket. That will be thinner, and allow the metal ring to screw down and create a water-tight seal. At least that's what it looks like the issue is to me.

I built the same heat stick and it looks like you are using a different "reducer" than what is specifiedin the instructions you linked to. If you go back and get the 1 1/2 inch to 1 1/4 inch coupling reducer you should be good to go. The coupler than comes with the drain pipe is not used. The inner diameter of the coupler you need to buy is 1 1/4, not 1 1/2. That's not to say you can't make do with the parts you have. Good luck.