How did you install weldless hlt coil?

I would like to know how some of you installed you weldless hlt coils in your keggles. Im looking to eventually install a 50 ft coil of ss in my keggle and wanted to see how others did it

I don't have a coil in my HLT but it's a rather simple bulkhead design. Take the 90 degree compression elbow that I sell, apply teflon tape to the 1/2" npt threads, thread a 1/2" locknut all the way down until it stops, push a silicone flat gasket down the threads next.

Install the fittings on the coil, preferably using silicone orings as ferrules rather than the stainless ones, drop the coil into the HLT and push the threads of both fittings into the holes in the HLT and apply whatever exterior 1/2" Female NPT fitting you want. The simplest thing would be two type A camlocks or a type A on the top port and a ball valve then type F on the bottom port.

I just used bargainfitting's soldered bulkhead with a 90 degree stainless elbow and a straight compression fitting.

Female camlock to the outside post

Works great

Bargainfittings: Weldless bulkhead to 90 degree elbow to 1/2 compression fitting. FWIW, I found that a Hex coils made of 50ft of 1/2" refrigeration tubing wrapped around a corny pretty much filled my sanke keggle to the brim. I ended-up chopping my coil down to ~30-35 ft and it's a much better fit. Just something to consider if you can find a smaller coil.

Id like to do it as affordable as possible. After all the fittings , coil and silicone tubing, quick disconnects, you are looking at a few hundred bucks

Cheap. Fast. Good. Pick two.

The elbow compression fittings with some weldless add ons will be cheaper than separate bulkheads and compression. Judging by my own prices, it looks like $44 for the pair of compression elbows, $8.50 for a pair of locknuts, and $4 for a pair of silicone gaskets.

You could sweat some copper male adapters on the ends of the stainless along with a stainless washer to go really cheap but that starts tarnishing the big spend on the stainless coil.

Bobby_M said:

You could sweat some copper male adapters on the ends of the stainless along with a stainless washer to go really cheap but that starts tarnishing the big spend on the stainless coil.

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I'll be doing this for the exchanger in mine. I'm using copper though.

For copper coils, I think it's a no brainer to skip the compression fittings IF you feel comfortable with the soldering.

Ya I'm good with sweating a couple of fittings. I use compression on copper all the time but this application the fewer the joints the better IMO.

Bobby_M said:

Cheap. Fast. Good. Pick two.

The elbow compression fittings with some weldless add ons will be cheaper than separate bulkheads and compression. Judging by my own prices, it looks like $44 for the pair of compression elbows, $8.50 for a pair of locknuts, and $4 for a pair of silicone gaskets.

You could sweat some copper male adapters on the ends of the stainless along with a stainless washer to go really cheap but that starts tarnishing the big spend on the stainless coil.

Click to expand...

Plus the coil plus the quick disconnects plus 20 or so feet of silicone hose. And thats all before a pump. Lol. I understand you gotta pay to play but sheesh! I just finished my control panel

yeah in general... the herms coil addition w/ hardware and hose is several hundred dollars if you go all stainless. That is why I waited a bit before I did mine. Two brews on it though and I think I really like it. Going to try a step mash with it and see how it turns out.

No one ever said a HERMS system was going to be cheap. The benefit to all stainless is that you could use it for 3 years and sell it for almost what you paid. If you do it with copper, it's probably going to look pretty dingy by that time.

Bobby_M said:

No one ever said a HERMS system was going to be cheap. The benefit to all stainless is that you could use it for 3 years and sell it for almost what you paid. If you do it with copper, it's probably going to look pretty dingy by that time.

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very true. And I agree with all the rest as well.

Your statement about copper is why I am considering making a stainless immersion chiller to replace my current copper chiller.

Im in the same boat, i have a 50' stainless coil with 2 90 degree bends to go strait out of the keg. I was looking on how to attach the coil inside with the fittings you mentions bobby. Could you post a link to your site on which fittings you would use for this project. I have the coil but am still trying to figure it out. Seems like your prices are right up my ally.

the coil is 1/2 inch outside diameter.

I have some custom made fittings exactly for this purpose on the way, but probably won't be here for 2 weeks. They are based on the bulkheads I use on my weldless diptubes, but have 1/2" tube compression instead of 5/8".

You can still make a functional equivalent with http://www.brewhardware.com/fittings/103-tubecompression
1/2" NPT male x 1/2" tube.

and the 1/2" make weldless kit on here: http://www.brewhardware.com/thermometers/88-dial-thermometers

Teflon tape goes on the threads of the compression fitting, thread the locknut all the way down, silicone gasket, through the keg wall, then SS washer, then ball valve or type A camlock to create the gasket compression.