Holes in the Manifold

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Sir Humpsalot

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I'm building up my MLT. I am piecing the copper together. I have a hacksaw and a cordless drill, so I'm thinking that drilling holes will be a better option than sawing slits. How far apart should my holes be? And what size hole should I drill?

I'm using 1/2" copper tubing.
 
It would probably be much easier and faster to cut slits, half inch apart is good. For holes, I would stick with no larger than 1/16 inch and lots of holes, maybe 3 or more holes every half inch.
 
John Palmer says 3/16" holes 5/16" on center. Might be hard to do with a drill on pipe. I switched to stainless braid after the last stuck sparge with the hacksaw manifold.

Good luck.
 
I'm starting to like the idea of slits more and more... makes more sense. With the liquor pulling the grains toward the opening, a long skinny opening will be far tougher for the grain to plug than a little round hole.
 
My copper manifold has slits cut by hacksaw that are about 3/8ths of an inch apart. It was easy to do by hand, never plugs, has never stuck so far and is easy to clean.
 
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