Stainlessbrewing Herms Coil

[Run4BeerCO]

I have a 3 keggle system and I'm looking to add a Stainless Brewing Herms coil. Any suggestions on the 25' vs 50' coils? I'm leaning towards the 25' coil because I think I'll be able to utilize a plugged off bulkhead. If I go with 50', I'll more than likely have to drill two new holes.

My other question is what fitting should I be using? I can't really tell the advantages between the two fittings recommended by stainless brewing... Is there a reason I would want to go with the longer threads with the washer? Is their a downside to going no washer and shorter threads?

http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/Com...-Connector-with-Gasket-and-Washer-_p_109.html
http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/12-Compression-x-12-Male-NPT-weldless-Bulkhead-fitting-_p_188.html
Thanks for the help!!

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I got mine ftom brewhardware.com, but they are the style shown in the second picture, and have been leak-free for years since first installed.

As for length vs height, there's no reason to expand the hex as delivered, so a 50 foot 1/2" ss hex actually can ride very low in a hlt. In my 20 gallon hlt my 50' hex only needs 9 gallons to be fully submerged.

Length may have theoretical advantages wrt allowing faster recirculation while still allowing the wort to gain sufficient temperature to maintain mash temps. But, not having used a 25 foot hex I don't know if theory translates to reality

Cheers!

 

[Run4BeerCO]

Yeah I can see what the theoretical advantage of the 50' would be. I'm curious if it bares out in reality. My issue is that I have a plug about a third of the way up from the bottom that I'm sort of hoping I can use for my lower connection, but I think with a 50' coil I might be too high in the HLT at the upper connection. I'm going to actually take the measurements tomorrow to figure out my options.

I was mostly curious about the different recommended connections, and as a bonus hoping I would be talked into getting a 25' coil.

Did you get your coil at brewershardware as well? I've heard a lot of good things about both websites.

 

[day_trippr]

I got the hex from stainlessbrewing.com as they had the best all-up price at the time, but most of my ss brewery fittings are from brewhardware.com...

Cheers!

 

[Golddiggie]

The through wall fittings they send are crap. They are NOT standard 1/2" NPT sized fittings through the wall, so if you want to use other hardware with them, you'll be fighting things. Plus, making a [standard] 7/8" hole for 1/2" NPT fittings means their fittings are sloppy in the hole. [Insert comment/joke of your choice here]

I ended up removing their fittings simply because it was impossible to get the compression side secured. I had a brewbitch helping me (my nephew) and it took too damned long before we finally gave up and changed them out for other 1/2" NPT to compression fittings I already had. After that, things went fairly easy. Not long after I brought the keggle HLT over to my buddy that's a welder and had him weld in fittings for me to use instead of worrying about leaks from around the fittings.

I did end up with the 50' coil mostly so that I have more exchange when needed. We fill the HLT up beyond what we're going to need so that the coil is fully submerged no matter what.

BTW, I had ordered the fittings to get welded into the HLT from Stainless Brewing as well. Ordered about 1-1/2 to 2 weeks ahead of when I needed them. Major FUBAR with that order to the point that they didn't even SHIP until after I needed them. Got excuses and such. Basically, they're off my supplier list after this screwup.

I would also advise, if you're going to get the coil from them, to get everything else from someone else. I'm done with the camlock type QDs in my setup. I've switched back to the ball lock type fittings. The camlocks were proving too much of a PITA to get them to secure. Most of them couldn't get both arms fully engaged. Luckily, I had never gotten rid of the ball lock fittings I had from earlier in my brewing life. I just needed to order some additional fittings so that I could fully connect everything as it should be. Now I have a gallon Ziplock bag filled with the fittings I'm not going to use again.

 

[TenaCJed]

No comment in regards to the herms coil, however I do have a comment on the cam lock fittings. All of my cam lock fittings are from either brewhardware or bargainfittings, and I have had 0 issues from either of those companies. The fittings I have are most likely mating up against the other company as well, in other words one side is brewhardware and the other is bargainfittings. This is due to making changes to how I have my setup. I can tell when it is the two different companies mating up as it is just a little bit more difficult to fully lock, but still easy enough.

 

[Golddiggie]

I'm not having ANY issues connecting the different purchase ball lock QDs. The fittings should not matter who sells/makes them provided they are made to the correct spec. I have some of the ball lock QDs from about 10 years ago that connect no problem with the ones I bought this year. I'm sure I bought from different resellers too. Some were bought in a local store (different state from where I go now) while others were bought online.

 

[day_trippr]

I'm done with the camlock type QDs in my setup. I've switched back to the ball lock type fittings. The camlocks were proving too much of a PITA to get them to secure. Most of them couldn't get both arms fully engaged.

Hmmm...

 

[jcav]

+ 1 on the Stainless Brewing herms coil. I have the 50 foot one in my HLT and it works great. I used the compression connection fittings from Bobby M and they are the best. I used two keg o-rings inside the fittings and tightened them up and no leaks at all. I also use tri clover fittings on the outside of all my connections on my rig and I never have a leak using them. Good luck!

John