HERMS coil in Keggle

For everyone that is using a herms coil in a keggle how much pipe did you use?

For about 2 hours this weekend I have attempted to bend 50' 1/2 od ss coil to fit. Without kinking...

I'm wishing now I went the copper route what a pain the rear... Besides that the coil is just at 10.5" from top to bottom which almost puts it at the top of the hlt I have to leave space for the element.

I feel your pain. I started to coild 50' of SS and wound up only have a calcuated 35' when it was all said and done. I tried so many ways of bending it but everything kinked it. I finally found that wraping it around a bucket while my wife stood on the bucket to keep it steady worked the best. This actually gave me a great result ..... but for only 35 feet of tubing.

Most people say 50' gives them spot on thermal transfer when compared to the HLT water temp. If this is the case I'm guessing that 35' for my system will work rather well but only time will tell as it's not operational yet. If you need advice on how to coil it better let me know.

Why is the coil so tall? Pictures would be awesome.

I tried to wrap it around a keg but was missing my third hand... I'll take few pictures tonight.

This is the coil and the keggle. I had to have it higher than the element and I didn't want it to land on the rib since I was soldering the couplers in.

Sorry for the crappy lighting on the pics.

I use 50 feet of 3/8 copper tubing and it works great for me.

I just bought a 1/2" stainless IM chiller from Midwest and cut it apart. Pounded the tubing round agian and mounted it with stainless compression fittings. Mine is 50', by the time I cut the uprights I figure it is more like 42 feet. It ususally takes about 10 degrees above my target temp. I just run the pump full open when I recirc, if I recirc. Haven't been using my HERMS coil lately since I bought my MaxCold. Lost 1 degree on a 150 degree 90 minute mash, with an ambient temp of 29. Not much need for my HERMS.

That would have saved me about two hours of frustration...