Just built manifold and sparge arm

theonetrueruss · Aug 7, 2011

I just finished my new manifold and sparge arm today. I did a standard copper manifold and it took my deadspace down from 2 quarts to 12 oz. I think that is pretty good. In a couple weeks we'll see how it works for real.

I also put together an adjustable height sparge arm out of the left over copper pipe, a couple elbows, and a piece of wood and a clamp.

My pump is due here Wed so I'll try it all out then with just water to see how it goes.

1 question though...

right now I am planning to just cram 1/2' silicone hose onto my 1/2 ID pipe (it works but is tight) and clamp to connect my sparge arm to the pump system.

Is there a much better way to interface a 1/2' silicone hose to the pipe? I'm using barbs and clamps on my boil kettle, MLT and HLT. (too cheap for the cool groove connectors)

bigbeergeek · Aug 7, 2011

If it works, what's the worry? :mug:

theonetrueruss · Aug 7, 2011

no worry.. just a bit of a pain to cram it on every time...

horseinmay · Aug 8, 2011

After a while I have realized that the barbs are not necessary at all. I just dip the hose in hot water when I want to connect something (it makes it slippery and the heat makes it more pliable) and then slip it on. Pretty soon, I'll have my whole rig hard piped with 1/2" copper and silicon tubing. When I use barbs, I don't bother with the clamps. No blowouts yet!

theonetrueruss · Aug 11, 2011

I got the pump last night and tested out with my barbs and forced small hose on my sparge arm and jammed a barb in the other end to make connecting easier (And I needed a little extension and had a spare barb and small piece of hose).

Everything worked beautifully. I foresee some construction in my future to make the thing look better and not have my pump sitting on my garage floor. But it worked well.

I didn't use clamps at all and everything held with 11 gallons. We'll see how well that works when I'm dealing with hot liquid. I didn't heat the water for my test run.