Anyway to tell if you kinked you CFC

I just made my first CFC last night and while coiling it, there was one section that felt like it bent to fast. Hope I did not kink it. Is there any way to tell how bad a kink is or if you have one. Blowing through it, I feel no resistance. I used 5/8 soft copper, so 1/2 ID. I was thinking that I would fill a keggle and time how long it takes to drain. Then refill it to the same level and time it through the CFC. Would comparing the drain time tell me anything? Since the ball valve ID is smaller or the same as the copper ID.

any other ideas? Thanks

 

sounds like a good idea to test. good luck, hope it's not kinked.

 

That will give you a rough idea, but I suspect it will drain slower due to the resistance in the cfc. You should notice any dramatic decrease though, I'd think.

 

Role a marble or ball bearing down it Start with a small one then keep going larger.

 

thats a great idea, thanks!

 

If you kinked it badly you should also perform a leak test. The copper is soft, but it can crack at those pinch points. Cap the output of the cooling circuit, then hook up the input and turn the hose on. If any water comes out of the inner wort circuit you'll have to disassemble, cut out the kink and sweat in a coupling. I did this with mine anyway just to guarantee that it would hold pressure just in case. I'd hate to have it explode on brewday and dump a bunch of cooling water into the bucket or kettle.

 

Flow will be reduced fairly subsantially w/ the CFC as opposed to straight out the barb even if unkinked, this test is invalid.

 

it does not leak, I am not 100% sure I kinked it. I would hate to take it apart and find I did not kink it. I will try the ball bearing this weekend. maybe I will just take it apart and take a look. wish I had an xray machine

any tips on uncoiling? do not want to introduce more kinks.

 

My favorite way to test for leaks in something like the CFC tubing is to apply suction (yes, with your mouth) while holding your thumb over the opposite end of the pipe. With a little finesse, you can get your thumbs over both ends and hold the vacuum for awhile. If the vacuum holds, you have no leak. This is much easier to do than it sounds.

 

I would definitely not try to unroll it...Even if you can unroll it without introducing more kinks, you'll have a hell of a time rolling it back up... I unrolled my IC (very very carefully) to make a CFC out of. I unrolled it just fine, but when I tried to roll it back up again, it kinked and cracked in several places. The copper hardens just a little every time it gets bent, so straightening and re-rolling might be asking too much. I'd say if you still have half way decent flow and no leaks, then just run with it as is... kink or no kink.

 

Are you planning to pump through it or gravity feed? What flow are you expecting?
If it were me, I'd try it and see if it is acceptable before I did anything other than a leak test.

Ed

 

i believe i have a similar problem in mine, though i haven't used it yet.. if it did kink, and there is no leak, would there be a long term issue? like would it be prone to a link at that location after a handful of batches? i dont' know how strong copper is

 

You both have broken your CFCs. Please see here for solution

 

Running fluid through it at the pressure we typically use should not cause a kink to break... If however, you don't have it secured and let it bounce like a slinky a kink could be more of a problem.

Ed

 

Darn, I'm slow... I actually scratched my head... said "Whaa??? OHHHH!"

That's pretty smooth.

 

mine is secure inside and out, i used a tutorial that had me solder an extra copper wire coiling around the entire inner pipe to help disrupt the water flow which also gave it a nice tight fit, as well as wireties holding the entire assembly together