Silicone dip tube?

[doobliebop]

I woke up with an idea today, and I'm not sure that it's safe...
My boil kettle has weldless fittings with locknuts and silicone O-rings on both the inside and outside of the keg wall. Currently I don't have a dip-tube and have been wanting to install one... So this is what my setup currently looks like

SS braid -> SS barb to female adapter -> SS pipe nipple going between the wall of the keg -> SS ball lock

Can I buy some silicone tubing and run it inside some of the braid to the lowest point of the keg and just connect that to the barb adapter along with my SS braid? In essence, this would be a silicone dip tube.

The silicone tubing is rated to ~500*F, and I already have silicone o-rings on the inside underneath the weldless fittings... I'm thinking that since I'm boiling wort that it will keep the silicone at boiling temperatures and won't let it reach the 500* mark; however I use a high output propane burner, and the silicone would be very close to the bottom wall of the keggle.

Would anyone like to tell me if they think this is kosher?

 

[Dog House Brew]

I've never had any luck with a braid as a filter in my BK. I tried it twice and it clogged every time. I had better luck whirlpooling and running my diptube to the kettle edge.

 

[doobliebop]

I tend to do the hop-in-a-bag method anyway so I don't really need it. I just kinda like it there My real problem is that my OCD won't let me do a copper dip tube in my all SS keg, and if the silicone would work I'd be happy with that and wouldn't have to figure out how to make a SS dip tube.

 

[bendavanza]

The boiling wort will keep your copper diptube clean, and the yeast will appreciate some copper. I have a piece of silicone tube on my copper diptube, as I've been using it to "seal" some fittings I've been experimenting with. I'm not worried.
I don't understand why you would want a braid outside of the silicone, though. Maybe a pic or drawing to help illustrate?

 

[doobliebop]

is your silicone tube at the end of the copper diptube, like almost touching the bottom of the keggle? I guess what I'm asking is this... if you were to drop a piece of silicone in your bk and assume it sank to the bottom then you boil your wort as usual, would you worry about the fact the silicone was there? Or knowing that it's good to 500* assume you're ok...

I'm using the SS braid as a hop strainer, it's outside the silicone simply because they'd both be attached to the weldless fittings at the same point.

 

[doobliebop]

bump, I'd really like some opinions on this...

 

[Dog House Brew]

Not sure why you just don't go stainless? If it's what you want there isn't much to it. I made mine out of a stainless union and a nipple with a tee on the end. I'm making a Hop Stopper want-a-be around it. You could thread a 90 on it and run it to the edge of your kettle. I had to grind the flats off the union for it to work because my coupling was so close to the bottom. I like stainless.

 

[bendavanza]

It's near the bottom but not touching. I would prefer to use one of these in the future:
http://www.brewershardware.com/PickupTubes.htm

 

[doobliebop]

It's near the bottom but not touching. I would prefer to use one of these in the future:
http://www.brewershardware.com/PickupTubes.htm

Whoa... yeah, I may be ordering one of these instead.

 

[Wade E]

Thanks for that link, looks like a nice thermowell.