Building my own mainfold and or sparge arm

[asterix404]

I have had great luck with a square cooler and a torpedo tube, I am currently having great luck with a stainless braided tube and a circular cooler (which I love way more FWIW) but I keep on seeing really cool manifolds and I sort of want one.

For a start, I am slightly handy, I saw, use wood working power tools and generally fix things around my apartment but I have never used a torch or done any plumbing what so ever. I have never bent copper tubing or done pipe fittings short of putting together 2 pieces of PVC using the connector. I have done quite a lot of soldering though, a long time ago when I was a EE major.

Should I or can I attempt to make a manifold, if so out of what material? I think I saw an example of one made out of PVC or IPVC or something like that. What are the benefits of making a manifold?

My second question is, should I make a sparge arm if I can? I currently do batch sparging and get very high to awesome efficiencies (high grav single infusion 75-80%, normal grav single infusion 80-90%, high grav decoction 85-95%, normal grav decoction 90-97%). At this point, it's not about getting better efficiencies so much as building something and making my setup cooler. I have never seen a fly sparge in action, are there benefits to doing it? What is a fairly simple design for a fly sparge setup?

Thanks!

 

[shortyjacobs]

If you want to make one, make one! CPVC is what you want if you go the plastic route. It's easy to work with. Copper if you go the metal route.

A few notes:
Don't glue/solder it together, or only glue/solder strategically. You want to be able to take it apart to clean out crap inside of it.

Cut slits, or holes, in the *bottom* of the thing only. Holes can be up to 1/8", slits as wide as whatever you are cutting with. Slits only halfway (max) through the pipe, 1/3 is better.

I am of the opinion that it is impossible to have too many slits or holes. I did slits in my CPVC manifold, and have probably 5-6 slits per inch.

No slits/holes in the bit that goes from the manifold to your spigot...you need to maintain siphon to minimize dead space.

Look up Palmer's How To Brew online and look for where he talks about making a manifold....he lays out ground rules of how big it should be, where to put slits/holes, etc.

If you want to try fly sparging, sure. You can make a sparge arm, or hell, a piece of 3/8" silicone tubing to rest on top of the grainbed works great for most. I made a sparge arm, but it was too much of a PITA to make it work right, (I actually made a sparge "square", but if it tilts at all in any one direction, the weight of the water on that side pulls the whole thing that way, and all the water pours out of one hole!). Now, I just use a piece of tubing.

 

[1MadScientist]

Here's one I made for my round cooler;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madscientistbrewhaus/page4/

giving credit to BierMuncher and if you put a hop bag over it, no vorlaufing is necessary. No soldering is necessary too. Get you a small pipe cutter and a hacksaw.

Soak your finished pieces in 2 parts vinegar and 1 part hydrogen peroxide for 3 mins. in a well ventilated area, (outside). After that, it's ok for it to have a patina, but not green.

 

[Spartan1979]

Soak your finished pieces in 2 parts vinegar and 1 part hydrogen peroxide for 3 mins. in a well ventilated area, (outside). After that, it's ok for it to have a patina, but not green.

Soak copper parts? I thought that was only for brass.

 

[dougdecinces]

I made a CPVC manifold for a 48 quart cooler. It only cost $12. I don't have fancy tools, so I had to use a hacksaw to make ~150 little slits in the pipe, but it was worth it. It's cheap and it works well.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Soak copper parts? I thought that was only for brass.

Me too. Copper's lead free....it's copper. All you're doing is rusting it with H202 and vinegar.

 

[ChillWill]

I soaked mine in cola for a day on my step dads instruction (plumber), cleaned it up nicely! It was to clean the weld points though, not the copper itself.

 

[rebel80]

Also, a short soak in StarSan really makes copper shine.

 

[asterix404]

So thank you all for your responses! I have decided to go with the square manifold for my round cooler (square peg, round hole) made out of copper since it was not that much more expensive and I got to buy a new tool (a pipe cutter). I know that soaking the parts in star san will clean up the copper, I suppose my main question here is do I need to worry about the wort acidity eating away the copper and the copper getting into the wort affecting the flavor?

I am not going to solder anything for ease of cleaning and I know the pipe will oxidize because that is just what copper does when exposed to oxygen. I assume that the wort will eat away this protective coating or will it?

Thank you all so much, this has been very helpful!

 

[shortyjacobs]

So thank you all for your responses! I have decided to go with the square manifold for my round cooler (square peg, round hole) made out of copper since it was not that much more expensive and I got to buy a new tool (a pipe cutter). I know that soaking the parts in star san will clean up the copper, I suppose my main question here is do I need to worry about the wort acidity eating away the copper and the copper getting into the wort affecting the flavor?

I am not going to solder anything for ease of cleaning and I know the pipe will oxidize because that is just what copper does when exposed to oxygen. I assume that the wort will eat away this protective coating or will it?

Thank you all so much, this has been very helpful!

Copper is your friend. Many folks will purposefully use some copper in their boil kettles, or throw a bit of pipe in, during the boil to get some copper into the wort. It's good for yeast, believe it or not.

The pipe will oxidize, (take on that duller copper look), and then shine up again when you give it a starsan soak or use it in a batch of wort. This erosion is no problem, and it would take decades/centuries of use to wear the copper away enough for you to notice. The oxidation layer is on the order of nanometers... a 1/16" wall thickness 1/2" ID copper (5/8" OD) is about 1.6 million nanometers thick.

If you feel really paranoid, a starsan soak before use will remove the oxidation layer. I never worry about it.

 

[asterix404]

Oh wonderful! I was actually wondering if this was one of those very useful minerals for yeast. I will just clean it regularly then without an acid bath. I didn't really expect that the pipe would be eaten away from a 1min star and soak but I was more concerned with the mineral flavor getting into the beer. Yeast, I love them!

 

[maltoftheearth]

I made a sparge arm, but it was too much of a PITA to make it work right, (I actually made a sparge "square", but if it tilts at all in any one direction, the weight of the water on that side pulls the whole thing that way, and all the water pours out of one hole!). Now, I just use a piece of tubing.

I made a square sparge as well and I love it. Really easy to dis/assemble and clean. I use twist ties that are tied to the side of the mash tun to keep it level. It is the most low grade piece of brew equipment I own but I have come to love its simplicity and effectiveness!