Sched. 40 vs. CPVC Lauter Manifold

[chevs10drvr]

Hey guys, I've been searching the threads before posting but I can't find the answer to my question.

I have a square mash tun that I will be using for AG soon. It has a copper manifold on the bottom and I wanted to install a plastic manifold to fly sparge right off the bat for the top. I purchased all schedule 40 PVC fittings and pipe to make it, however after skimming through this forum, it has been recommended not to use anything other than CPVC. Does that theory apply to lautering manifolds as well as "discharge" manifolds? Discharge means the bottom manifold to me*

If I must use CPVC for my lauter manifold, does that mean pipe AND fittings are CPVC? I don't remember seeing CPVC fittings specifically in Lowes but I could have overlooked them.

I bought purple primer and cement to hold it all together. Will the 170 deg. sparge water leach chemicals from the glue?

 

[Dynachrome]

You're confusing wall thickness with material.


You can get PVC or CPVC in schedule 40.

The CPVC has a higher melting point. PVC can melt as low as 100 deg F.

I'd guess that if the glue is safe for household hot water that it would be OK for making beer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorinated_polyvinyl_chloride

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_chloride

I had to go look out of curiosity. Dont use PVC glue on CPVC. You need CPVC gue to stand up to the higher temeratures.

 

[Dynachrome]

Another reason to avoid "just straight PVC"...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/what-off-flavor-172903/

It can leach flavors into your wort.

 

[chevs10drvr]

Thanks for the links.

The Cement I purchased is listed safe for use on PVC, CPVC..and some other plastic pipe that escapes me right now.

 

[bendavanza]

I'd use copper, or a stainless braid. Why mess with chlorinated polyvinyl chloride and nasty glue?

 

[Triplebuckshot]

I'd use copper, or a stainless braid. Why mess with chlorinated polyvinyl chloride and nasty glue?

what he said!

 

[chevs10drvr]

I don't think I can use a SS braid as a sparging manifold. That would be too concentrated along a single line across the grain bed. I could use copper, but I used that on the bottom manifold and it was time consuming and expensive. I went and bought CPVC pipe and fittings tonight and the primer and cement I have clearly states for use on CPVC pipe. I am now more convinced that there should be no reason to believe this material is inadeqaute for a sparge manifold if it is safe for hot water supply lines in residential buildings.

 

[gunner65]

Are you talking about a sparge arm/manifold?

 

[chevs10drvr]

Yes. Since I have a rectangular cooler and a whirleybird sparge arm does me no good. I want to build a sparge manifold to lay across the top of my open mash tun that will discharge droplets from my HLT across as much of the surface area of the grain bed as possible. My draining manifold is made of copper only because I wanted to teach myself how to sweat fit copper pipe and I had a dremel to cut the slits. I figure if I am going to do this right, skip the batch sparging and go right for the fly sparging technique. I also want to be able to 10 gallon batches in a 50 qt cooler so higher efficiency is something I am after.

To go cheaper and easier, I was going to use CPVC as a sparge manifold to go on top. Some people attach the manifold to the underside of the lid, but I want to just place mine on the box of the cooler to I can better match flow rates for sparging and collecting by visually monitoring it.

 

[Nova5]

in a no-pressure situation you don't need to glue the assembly together. just press-fit it. it is easy to break down and clean.

I've had ONE pipe under pressure in a house hold together and not even drip a bit of water until they day we went looking for an electrical wire in the ceiling and touched that fitting, it suddenly blew apart and shot water everywhere in the attic area nearby. that was a fun panic moment!

It had never been glued.... in 7 years.

 

[DevilsCreekBrewing]

in a no-pressure situation you don't need to glue the assembly together. just press-fit it. it is easy to break down and clean.

+1 for not using cement in a CPVC manifold. It is rated for the temp, but I would still be worried about a pH level issue causing leeching, from the cement, not from the CPVC.

 

[ReeseAllen]

Good luck with your PVC manifold build.

Having said that, I used to have a copper pipe manifold in my MLT. I used it probably about 20 times. It worked fine, but I was always worried about it putting too much stress on the bulkhead and/or falling out when I was dumping the MLT, and it was a pain to clean. When I built a new MLT recently, I decided to go with the stainless braid. It's like night and day. Better in every way. Your PVC manifold will no doubt function just fine, but if you ever get second thoughts and decide to give the braid a try...follow that urge.

 

[chevs10drvr]

I suppose I will forgoe gluing all the pipe together. However it would not be for ease of cleaning. Since its a lautering manifold, the only thing passing through it would be hot clean water from the HLT.

If I build another MLT in the future, I may try the SS braid for the drainage manifold.