Bazooka Tube

Anyone else make the mistake of using a bazooka tube made with material other than SS. My first was made using a fibre material braid in which I had placed a length of coiled copper wire so as to keep the braid stiff enough to prevent it from being flattened. After an adjustment (cutting a little off after each use) because of holes wearing into it I said heck with it and bought a SS washer hose in which I cut off enough to make a new one. I must say this tube is easier to use that the one I used previously used. I expect this tube to last me a long time as well.

Personally, I find ther bazooka tube to be a waste. While Zymico has some great products/ideas, I feel there is better out there. Yes, A bazooka tube is cheap, reliable, and inexpensive...... but so is a copper manifold.

Being an engineer, I enjoy building copper manifold, and even doing nerdy claculations about fluid flow and heat transfer to optimize the copper manifold. Granted, in the end, both the bazooka and the copper manifold will result in the ballpark of the same effieciency, the copper manifold will mak you feel like you've acomplished something. That's why I love all-grain..... It truly feels like you're "making" something, rather that "assembling" it. I was an extract brewer for a while and loved it, but all grain is SO worth the time and moeny.....

To make a copper manifold, you need to know how to weld correct?

GABrewboy said:

To make a copper manifold, you need to know how to weld correct?

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Not at all. You need to be able smear some flux on a joint, put it together, then heat it up with a propane torch while touching it with a piece of solder. It's about one more step complicated than gluing together PVC.

GABrewboy said:

To make a copper manifold, you need to know how to weld correct?

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No, solder. And it's not especially critical like in plumbing, because so what if one of your joints is slightly leaky--you're making a giant strainer anyway.

Soldering copper is pretty easy. Any DIY-oriented friend who has done any plumbing could show you how or do it for you.

And I think it's usually recommended to not solder some of the joints, so that it can be disassembled for cleaning.

Hmmm......well that is pretty cool then.......I know I have seen that stuff in the tubes at Homedepot that says NO Soldering needed to put pipes together......is this stuff good?

I have seen those, I think they are already fluxed and have solder on them already. You just heat them up and bam, done. Could be nice, since you stur up the mash I would like some stability in the manifold so I know that it won't come apart during the mash.

If you are using 1/2 inch copper ID fittings, then I would think that as they are reasonably tight on copper pipe as is you wouldn't need to solder.
Not having used any to mash with however, I couldn't say for certain.

I didn't solder mine and it stays together just fine. Actually, I'd probably have a heck of a time even to pull all the fittings apart.

I'll stick up for the bazooka. as said above: A bazooka tube is cheap, reliable, and inexpensive.

no need to recirculate to clear, just drain off a quart or two, pour back on top. we have never had a stuck mash and consistantly hit 78-80 efficiency on promash. i happened to have a pile of stainless screen from an old job, and made my own, but cheap reliable and inexpensive AND super easy is a feature in my book.