Building a copper manifold

.. for my mash tun.. Got all the 90's and Tee's laid out, cutting the tubing...

Couple questions.. How wide should the slits be? I know many people use hack saws, but I was hoping to use my dremel tool or peanut grinder with a cutoff wheel...

The cut off wheels I have for my peanut grinder are 3/64" thick.. Would probably make a cut that is 1/16".. I think the dremel blade is slightly thinner yet...

Also, I plan to use a short piece of 1/2" silicone tubing to connect the manifold to the outlet.. Can I use 'nylon' barbs? Or do they have to be stainless or brass? Will the nylon barbs handle the heat? With this set up, I'm thinking I won't need hose clamps.. or should I use them anyways?

Those cutoff wheels should be fine. I'm not sure about the nylon. Silicon hose will be OK w/o clamps as long as the manifold can't come disconnected if it gets bumped while stirring the mash.

Use the thin red cutting disks. They make skinnier slits, a slit every inch. Not too deep, you can always deepen, but you can't take the cut back!

Mine sucks the bottom of the MLT dry!

Nylon will not handle heat!

Dremels work great.

I would avoid nylon. For mine, I attached a copper male connector to the outlet and a female to the manifold. I just pressure fit them while mashing which works fine and makes removal pretty trivial.

I understand the fear associated with using nylon but I use a nylon barb in mine with no ill effects.

I cut about a 2 inch piece of the copper pipe and shoved it over the barb. Snug fit. My manifold simply attaches to that.

I connected mine with a length of PEX tubing. It fits snugly into 1/2 fittings and can bend a bit if you need it to.

mariojr said:

I connected mine with a length of PEX tubing. It fits snugly into 1/2 fittings and can bend a bit if you need it to.

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Hey, I'll have to check that out.. I have miles of that stuff laying around...

Did you guys sweat your manifold fittings and tube together, or will it all stay intact without solder?

Mine will stay together without soldering. I will 2nd the dremel tool as well, makes it really easy and quick.

2morrow said:

Mine will stay together without soldering. I will 2nd the dremel tool as well, makes it really easy and quick.

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Ditto. It stays together pretty well without soldering and I have mine built so it fits tight in the cooler.

mariojr said:

Ditto. It stays together pretty well without soldering and I have mine built so it fits tight in the cooler.

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Excellent! Between the pex and the no soldering, this lauter project is getting easier and easier!

Progress....

Okay here is where I am now.. hoping to do a 10G AG brew today (my first ever AG!).. Only things left are to repair the hose bib on the side of my house, build an airlock adapter for a corney keg so that I can secondary the pale ale I got going in that and free up my other carboy, and cut the slits in this manifold..

Is it a good idea or necessary to cut slits in the side rails of this manifold too? I'm definitely gonna cut them in the ones going across, but I was thinking of not cutting slits in the side rails or the one going across that has the tee in it for the pex outlet tube...

The thinking being that I'd keep these free so that if a piece of tubing got clogged somewhere, I'd have a way for all the rest to lauter out.. Or is this not an issue, and I should just cut slits 'everywhere' (the more the merrier)?

Did you read through this?

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-1.html

mariojr said:

Did you read through this?

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-1.html

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Why the heck does he provide so much more info for free on the web, than he does in the same section of his book that I paid for?


So, what I can take from that, is that I should not cut in the runs along the sides at all, and just in the ones going across... and even then, not the ones on the ends... In fact, I might consider shortening the little pieces between the tees along the sides, so that I can add another one going across the side, allowing me to get a couple pieces closer to the ends, but far enough out to avoid channeling?

Or should I just cut the slits in the four pieces in the middle and call it good?

Is this better?

Should I make my cuts on the black lines only, or the black and green lines? (Of course, I'll be placing them on the underside of the manifold, they are marked on top for layout purposes only)

r8rphan said:

Is this better?

Should I make my cuts on the black lines only, or the black and green lines? (Of course, I'll be placing them on the underside of the manifold, they are marked on top for layout purposes only)

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I'm no expert on this, but that looks like a winner based on the How To Brew info. Also, I love that solution. Very ingenious.

What is the purpose of the solid cross pieces on the far ends (Top and bottom)?

Why not just take off the last set of T's and replace them with the elbows you have on the last solid cross tubes and remove those last cross tubes all together?

Did I miss something?

CyclingCraig said:

What is the purpose of the solid cross pieces on the far ends (Top and bottom)?

Why not just take off the last set of T's and replace them with the elbows you have on the last solid cross tubes and remove those last cross tubes all together?

Did I miss something?

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Nothing is to be soldered or crimped.. all just cut and fitted together.. In this configuration, the manifold can not move, nor come apart during use.. even if hit hard with a mash paddle or spoon...

I didn't like the idea of it being 'loose' in there... Palmer's web page also said it shouldn't be able to move around.. (or was it his book)...

Not to mention, this just makes it that much easier for the wort to flow... even if only a little..

I still have a good 40-50 1/2" tee's out in my 1/2" copper/brass fittings box, so I can afford a couple extra for 'this' cause...

Before I start cutting, I want to check with the DIY gurus one last time...

I have marked off sixty slits, evenly spaced, all at least two inches to two and a half inches from the sides or ends of the tun... They are all 1/2" apart..

Is this adequate, insufficient/overkill, good/bad/ugly?

Cut the first two... pipes rotated a little during sutting, so a few cuts are either deeper than wanted or a little rotated.. but not much..

The cuts are 1/16th inch wide... Hopefully, that is not too wide... if so, I have enough bright and shiny copper left to replace these two that I've already cut..

Is this good enough that I should do the rest this way, or should I make changes to what I'm doing here?

That's a sweet looking manifold!!! Great job!

mariojr said:

Did you read through this?

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-1.html

Click to expand...

This was an awesome article I was linked towards when building my manifold. A great read and very informative.

Its my understanding from reading this over and over again.. manifold design is more important with fly not batch sparging.

this second is worth some time.

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-2.html

I batch sparge but its my understanding from what I read that you need to keep the "drain" source away from the sides of the mash tun with fly sparging to prevent channeling down the cooler sides and try and get an even spacing between.

Just my input, for how I take the palmer info.

Looks sharp!

I tried it out with some spent grains I had in the fridge (using them to make dog treats) that were ready to throw out... put about a pound of grains and a couple gallons of hot tap water in there and stirred it all up..

nothing but wort came out.. stinky wort.. but wort none the less. so the slit size is fine.. Cleaned it all out, and soaked the tun and lauter in PBW, then rinsed..

Todays the big day.. My first AG brew!

Brought the grains out of the fridge and am warming them up to room temp now!

Good luck, Have Fun and enjoy your brew day.

Best piece of advice... Relax, take it slow and don't rush, you will be fine.
:rockin: