It's difficult to rate how challenging or easy the soldering jobs are due to personal skill levels. In the spectrum of items I've soldered to a kettle, these rate the absolute easiest while the 1.5" TC flange is the trickiest.
I just got done setting up the same thing. Be prepared to buy a lot of full couplers, ball valves, close nipples, and camlocks. I'd buy two spools of silver solder as well. I had the best luck when I put four coils around each fitting prior to soldering.
Just plan it out one vessel and pump at a time. Draw it out and check and recheck your parts counts.
Make a list of your requirements up front such as:
* Do you want whirlpool ports in the HLT and Boil Kettle?
* What sort of sparge/mash return line do you want? (I recommend Bobby's Loc Line kit)
* How many hoses do you need? (I needed 5. 3x 4' and 2x 6')
* What about temp and level monitoring?
The factory machines are humming. Now we wait.
Having just gotten my shipment in, and discovering that Bobby is a 20-mile-stone's-throw from home, I have a quick review.
These things are incredible. It took longer to tear down the kettle and clean it afterwards than it did to solder these in. Get the install tool. It's worth every penny! It made the install very, very easy.
I soldered these with a mapp gas torch, from the outside and focusing most of the heat on the fitting.
Tested with water, the whirlpool action was perfect. This will be great for chilling and whirlpooling the trub to the center of the kettle.
Bobby, thanks for the great hardware and the great service!
Thanks!
My whirlpool setup was pieced together. It's one of the silver solder bulkhead fittings, a 90 degree 1/2" pipe to 1/2" compression fitting, and a 1/2 o.d. racking cane cut to length. I used the 90* compression fitting to keep the arm as close to the side of my kettle as possible.
Any advantage to using the new pull though part for a welded bulkhead if I've got a competent welder lined up to do the job or should I just stick with the NPT threaded?
The way I'd see it done is to solder these in and then thread compression fittings on inside. Of course, there's always the possibility to make a similar fitting shape directly into the compression fitting.
Just finished putting together my lid mounted HERMs unit today. Turned out really nice. Had to order another $130 worth of hardware today because I didn't figure right.
That looks really freaking nice. How long did it take you to do all those bends
I wish I could take credit for bending that coil but it's the JaDed HERMs coil they sell. I had them add a little extra length onto the inlet and outlet tubes so that I could bend those upwards toward the lid and maintain the orientation as they are designed to use the standard mount through the side of the kettle.
When the lid is on, the coil sits about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch from the bottom of the kettle and fills up about 3/4 of the space inside so it should be very efficient.
My only concern is that it's made of 3/8 inch tubing rather than 1/2 inch and I'm worried about the flow since these bulkheads are based on 1/2 inch tube.
I can always change the coil if it proves to be too small, that's the beauty of building it yourself with Bobby's bulkheads.
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