Copper or Stainless????

[skepace]

So I am in the process of building my All Grain Set-up. One part I am stuck on is Copper or Stainless for my HERMS tubing. Is one better than another?

Would I get any bad tastes from copper?

Th

 

[microbusbrewery]

Either will work just fine. Copper conducts heat better but in a HERMS setup you probably won't notice any difference. Copper is easier to work with but there are lots of people that use stainless. You just have to be careful not to kink it. And no, you won't get any off flavors from using copper in a HERMS setup. In fact, trace amounts of copper are actually good for the yeast.

 

[skepace]

How many feet would I need? What diameter?

 

[JRems]

25ft of 1/2" is more than enough for a herms coil. Some use 50ft, but it's way overkill, even as little as 15 feet would probably be enough.

 

[skepace]

Thanks! Going to see what it might cost at Lowe'a but I would still need to get compression fittings.

 

[Bobby_M]

If you're going to use copper, you might as well sweat on some copper elbows to turn towards the side. If you want to save money and can solder well, you could avoid compression fittings by soldering on a 1/2" MNPT adapter and a SS washer onto that to create a weldless bulkhead.

 

[bucfanmike]

as long as we are talking about installing a copper herms coil and Bobby is in the room, id like to piggyback a question. Bobby, I got a great deal on some stainless unions. I am soldering in stainless couplers and plan to use the unions to connect the herms coil. Should make it easy to remove for cleaning purposes. Any problems with my plan on the unions, i ended up getting them much cheaper than the compressions would have been. Oh and I plan on cutting my coil and using a 90 soldered with another straight piece out of the 90 to have a nice straight shot into the union.

 

[rodduley]

Bobby M, I'm a little dense at times and am a visual learner. Coule you elaborate a little more on the "self made" weldless bulkhead you described. Maybe a visual parts diagram? Do you solder the SS washer? Sorry if this is a dumb inquiry but I'mthinking of doing this also and would like to get it right the first time.

Thanks