New Weld Free 10$ Copper Manifold

[gonzoso]

I made my mash tun in the usual fashion and I had an idea for a new manifold.

I'm too cheap to spend the money on a false bottom as I don't plan on fly sparging.

I heard mixed reports of the stainless braid.

I don't want to put pvc or cpvc in my mash tun.

I don't want to put soldered copper or spend the money on fittings in my mash tun.

However I had a tube bender and a dream.



I got a 3/8" 5' piece of copper tubing. I bent it to fit in a nice coil in my cooler. I took a dremel with a cutoff wheel(I used up 3 cutoff wheels actually) and cut slots into the top, and then some in the gaps in the bottom. I'm sure it's better to do AFTER you bend the copper as if you cut it before it would kink up the slots. Then I folded the end over twice, connected it to the fitting and voila, 10$ lead free, plastic free, collapse free, simple "manifold" that takes about 10-15 minutes to make.

 

[gonzoso]

It just occurred to me I could put a fitting in the lid(where my HLT will connect eventually) and when it's time to get that last couple ounces of wort out put a little compressed air in and pump out the last little bit into my kettle.

 

[Jaimez]

You should have the slots/cuts facing down...

Nice job. love the frugal builds.

 

[gonzoso]

You should have the slots/cuts facing down...

Nice job. love the frugal builds.

Thanks!

You can't see it but I cut about half as many facing down as are facing up. If it comes down to it I could always flip it very easily.

 

[HornetSparky]

Thanks!



You can't see it but I cut about half as many facing down as are facing up. If it comes down to it I could always flip it very easily.

Minor point, but if think Jaimez's point was that even one slot in the top will slightly reduce the amount of wort you can siphon out of the tun. Once the top of the liquid gets down to the highest slot--that is, the slot farthest from the bottom, in this case a slot on the top of the manifold--wort will stop flowing. To get the maximum amount of wort out of your tun, you would have cut slots exclusively in the bottom of the manifold.

Having somewhat pedantically pointed that out, however, I will add that you will only lose about 3/4 of the manifold thickness worth of wort (times the bottom area of the tun) which will barely matter if at all. It is a question of over-engineered geekery, not beer quality, in all likelihood.

Nice idea. How did you crimp the end?


Sparky
Making beer and hard cider in Southern Virginia since 2011.

 

[motleybrew]

Have you read Palmer's book? Check the appendix where he talks about building mash tuns. The short version is that he dissuades you from building a manifold like that because it robs efficiency.

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Home Brew mobile app

 

[gonzoso]

Have you read Palmer's book? Check the appendix where he talks about building mash tuns. The short version is that he dissuades you from building a manifold like that because it robs efficiency.

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Home Brew mobile app

How does it rob efficiency?

 

[brettwasbtd]

Nice build! I do find it a little humorous that you don't want certain materials in there...then you use that vinyl (is it even rated for wort temp) plastic to connect