Copper to brass union?

I've never worked with copper before, but I'm trying to connect a pipe to a brass bulkhead on a cooler MT. I've been following the Cheap and Easy MT thread, but I've decided to use a copper tube inside the SS braid. Is there a particular type of copper tubing I should get? Should I use a compression fitting to attach it to the brass nipple that goes through the cooler wall?

On a related note, what gauge copper wire should I wrap the tubing with?

Should I use a couple elbows to get the copper tubing closer to the bottom of the cooler?

Anything else I should be thinking about?

Note, I am not outfitted to do any soldering.

thanks!
kman

u don't need a copper tube inside your braid...it's overkill
12 bucks at lowes will outfit you for soldering, and its a good skill to learn, especially when you wanna see if a manifold is any better than the braid

I was planning on using SS hose clamps, but in another thread I was told to go with the copper tubing inside and avoid the clamps. True SS clamps also seem to be hard to find, at least locally. The copper tubing is something I can pick up at Home Depot.

kman

To attach copper tubing to pipe thread, you'd use a fitting called an "adapter". In your case it would be a female adapter. The other end of the fitting requires you to sweat (solder) the tubing in. If that's not doable, a female NPT to compression is one way to go. As mentioned, you could get away with a simple hose barb but I would figure out how high above the bottom of the cooler that barb would sit because that would all be dead space. I like the idea of using some 3/8" soft copper if you have some laying around because if you get the typical braid, it's not going to fit over a piece of rigid 1/2" copper which is actually 5/8" OD. The braid meant for water heaters is large enough however.

The basic idea is to have the copper tubing provide a siphon tube effect and also hold the braid from moving and getting crushed. It worked extremely well in that regard and I'd use it again if I weren't direct firing my tun.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/sanke-mlt-stainless-braid-56183/