Brew rigs: hard plumbed lines vs flexible tubing

[jordanpace]

i recently hard plumbed my rig, before i was using silicone tubing.

since going to copper, i never have any issues with my march pumps. before it was like trying to milk a cow to get the liquid moving.

i am 100% satisfied with going all copper, never looking back.
plus it looks more professional..lol

 

[beerthirty]

Just finished the first wet run on my hardplumbed rig. It worked well and I seemed to get more flow than I did with hoses. All SS so no polishing required. Now to mask it all up so the frame can be painted.

 

[bendavanza]

I really like the AHS Silicone 1/2" tubing, and the white quick clamps they sell. The clamps are really easy to open and close, and they do not chew up the outside of the hose. I only need 3 hoses for my gravity 3 tier. Nothing seems to stick to them , a quick rinse and they're clean, and as it was already stated, you can see liquid in the tubing.
Obviously Yuri's system is going to need some hard plumbing for the steam mash, etc. but for transfer of Wort and HL the silicone is hard to beat, esp. knowing how much fun it is to tinker.

 

[CodeRage]

Bling Bling

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

CodeRage-

You need to get a couple coats of clear-coat on that stuff asap! Lock in that shine. That looks awesome:rockin:

 

[Cape Brewing]

Hmmm... looks like I need to buy some Cameo and get my copper cleaned up... a LOT... that looks great.

 

[TommyBoy]

CodeRage-

You need to get a couple coats of clear-coat on that stuff asap! Lock in that shine. That looks awesome:rockin:

Agreed. Don't waste all that time and effort you have put into the polishing...

 

[CodeRage]

yeah, I was going to hit it with some Brasso tonight and wax it. Though spraying some clear on it may be better. Have to go make my weekly tithing to Lowes this week any how... Any suggestions? rustoleum clear in a rattle can?

Polishing wasnt the pia part, it did take a long time though. The pain was cleaning out the excess solder from the joints with a bastard file.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Just make sure you use something rated for boiling temps or higher. I would do three thin coats at least to make sure it is even, well bonded, and thick enough to last.

 

[sleepystevenson]

That baby does look nice, CodeRage!

We went with the pex-al-pex tubing for our system. We really like it, but it is pretty much all function and no bling. It is a 5 layer pipe - aluminum sandwiched between in and outside layer of pex. Typically it is used for high end in-floor radiant heat systems. Good for potable water to boiling temps. The nicest thing about it is it has "memory" - stays wherever you bend it at any temp, never flops or droops onto your hot stand/burner, etc. We actually rarely use our returns / sparge ring in the top of our mash tun / boilkettle now, as it is easier to just bend the tubing to return wherever you want on top of the mash. When we are done, we just wrap them around an ale pale to coil them and hang them on the peg board, or set them on the shelf under the rig. Quick disconnects each end. Attached are a couple pics, you can see how the piping stays in shape over both the mash and boil kettle. More pics in my profile.

 

[msheraw]

I did not see a thread for those single tier brewers out there.

I too went from tubing to hard plumbing. Awesome. Why didn't I do that to start with??



Ok, I have the pics in my profile but I do not know how to resize??

 

[JKoravos]

What are you going to do Mr. Rage?


I'm going all stainless hard plumbed with Swagelok connections. I've already sunk several Benjamins into compression fittings and solenoids, so it's a done deal now!

I've done hard plumbed copper and flexible tubing with disconnects. I started with hard plumbing, which worked well, but sometimes you could get liquid from Point A to Point B very easily, though that was mostly a design issue. I originally liked the tubing/QDs, but over time it's become more annoying to always be flipping hoses around and having to sanitize them and then after I sanitize them, trying to remember if I sanitized hose A, B or C. It's just a bit of an organizational annoyance. Though, I'll admit, most things are an organizational annoyance for me.

Also, the nice thing about the Swagelok fittings is that you can get swage-to-barb connectors. If you have an emergency, you can just pop off the hard piping and use the same compression fitting to pop on a flex hose.

With my new hard piped system, I'm pretty much going to have every possible transfer combination plumbed in and it'll all be CIP. I'm with CB, I want my brew session to be sitting in a chair flipping switches, or better yet, sitting in a chair letting a controller flip switches for me.

 

[Whiskey]

I went hard plumbed copper and have no issues and would not do it any other way. I do have to flexible lines for the whirlpool IC and filling carboys, etc. I did not polish mine as I covered the tubing in foam insulation.

It is ugly, but I am ok with that.

 

[buffalobrewer]

When you have the mlt hard plumbed how do you go about cleaning it? Right now I carry it back to the compost box and dump, then hose it out upside down.

 

[CodeRage]

When you have the mlt hard plumbed how do you go about cleaning it? Right now I carry it back to the compost box and dump, then hose it out upside down.

I used unions to disconnect mine. Twist of a wrench and they separate.

 

[CodeRage]

What are you going to do Mr. Rage?

I found some break caliper clear coat in a can at the auto parts store. I put on about 3 heavy coats and it is working okay so far. Some spots have gotten a little cloudy but I think there was some contamination underneath the paint. It is working pretty good so far. Looks as good as the day I polished them.

I want to build a heat exchanger on the boil side to cool the wort during recirculation. So I will strip those parts and do it again at that point.

Yuri,
decide what you're going to do yet?

 

[Whiskey]

When you have the mlt hard plumbed how do you go about cleaning it? Right now I carry it back to the compost box and dump, then hose it out upside down.

I used several Apollo "PlumbingMaster" valves, they have interchangable end pieces that are attached by a 1.25" brass nut I highly recommend them.

I have one located just below the drain for my MLT which allows me to pump the liquor into the tank, it also allows me to remove the MLT for cleaning. The HLT is set up the same way. There are pics in my profile.

 

[buffalobrewer]

thanks for the answers to the cleaning ?. Didn't pick up that the mlt was removable for cleaning.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Likely a mix of hard lines and silicone tubing for me. The rig is starting to come together!

 

[Cape Brewing]

I used unions to disconnect mine. Twist of a wrench and they separate.

same here...

A QD might take 3 seconds... and a union takes about 7... they're not hard to use at all and I have them throughout my entire rig except one or two spots where I have QDs.

 

[JKoravos]

Compression fittings are really nice for assembly/disassembly of a hard piped system.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Would compression fittings wear down after prolonged use though?

I have unions everywhere so i can take my pots completely off my rig. It takes all of about three minutes to get all three off.

I would think compression fittings would fail to seal really tightly after you've taken them off and put 'em back on over and over again. No?

 

[CodeRage]

The rig is starting to come together!

One would hope so... You already built it a home.

My short apprenticeship in plumbing taught me that compression fittings had a limited life span. Thats why I went with Unions. Plus with compression fittings you have to bury a fair bit of tubing into the fitting, which could cause some issue when taking it apart and putting it back together. You have to bend, pull, lift, what ever to get the piece out. Unscrew the union and the piece falls right out. It works out better for my plumbing anyhow.

I only really take the unions connecting the kettles apart, but it is nice to be able to remove a sections with out having to dismantle the entire rigging.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I will be using tri clover fittings for connections on my hard plumbing. That way I stay stainless but can still make and break connections super easy.

 

[CodeRage]

I will be using tri clover fittings for connections on my hard plumbing. That way I stay stainless but can still make and break connections super easy.

Not saying that you should, just an option, but they do make stainless pipe unions at a fraction of the cost. Though if I had the budget, I would do the same thing!

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Looks like the unions would save about $10 per connection.

 

[JKoravos]

Would compression fittings wear down after prolonged use though?

I have unions everywhere so i can take my pots completely off my rig. It takes all of about three minutes to get all three off.

I would think compression fittings would fail to seal really tightly after you've taken them off and put 'em back on over and over again. No?

I suppose eventually that would probably happen, but based on my experience with compression fittings and the frequency I'd be removing them, I think it would take many years for them to fail. I have fittings at work that I remove and replace on a daily basis. I've probably removed/reconnected them more than I'd do in the lifetime of my brewery and I haven't had any leaks. Those are on a high vacuum system, as well, which is tough to seal. Making a low pressure liquid seal is much less demanding.

The single ferrule compression fitting you get at the hardware store aren't very good, those would probably fail much sooner than a double ferrule Swagelok fittings. The Swagelok stuff is really well made (though also quite expensive).


I should also add that the compression fittings are much more durable when using stainless tubing. Soft copper tubing has a tendency to kink at the fitting if you're moving at around a lot. The stainless tubing is way too stiff to kink like that.