Using PEX tubing in Mash

[ZachG]

I finally got a false bottom for my mash. While looking for a way to hook it up to a bulkhead/ball valve. I've decided on using tubing, but I'm having a hard time finding tubing from local hardware stores. PEX is one of the ones that I was considering. I read this:

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/1139377

Specifically the second to last post caught my eye. Since I'm only going to be using this in my mash, the temperature will never get above 160 F at most. Is PEX ok to use or should I just get something online?

 

[jay075j]

i don't see why you couldn't use it. Pex is approved for water supply lines in homes, and that includes hot water supply lines. So i would imagine that it has to be safe. Then again, according to my wife, I have been wrong before!

 

[Revvy]

i don't see why you couldn't use it. Pex is approved for water supply lines in homes, and that includes hot water supply lines. So i would imagine that it has to be safe. Then again, according to my wife, I have been wrong before!

Wow..someone's actually going to do it! Cool!

A few months back someone posted a thread where the were replacing their plumbing or something with pex..I had never heard of it before and went to their website and did some reading...I posted a question on that thread about brewing applications, and no one answered...

IIRC, not all of the plex lines are food grade...I believe different colors mean different things, and at least one of them isn't for potable water. Double check to make sure the one you are using is...

I think pex would rock in your setup.

 

[truckmann]

I agree... Pex should work just fine.

Most of the time the colors are just to designate for hot or cold water in residential applications. The material however is the same.

 

[Revvy]

I agree... Pex should work just fine.

Most of the time the colors are just to designate for hot or cold water in residential applications. The material however is the same.

Uh, I dunno...I'm pretty sure I read that at least one of them, maybe the one for radiant heating sysems was specifically labeled not for potable water use...and I think it was the orange one...but it was awhile ago...Just make sure before you inflict it on your beer

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I would think that pex would be fine to use, but I don't have any experience using it in brewing. I did, however, use it to plumb an entire house once.

 

[LayMeister]

Up here they use a yellow one for natural gas lines.

Paul

 

[MagicTrix]

I built my cooler MLT using the PEX tubing and have done 4 AG batches without a problem. I cut the slits in the tubing with a dremel and it was good to go.

 

[Matovichi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEX
To sum it up, it's good over 120C and is chemically resistant. It's basically HDPE tubing. You'll be fine.

 

[jay075j]

Wow..someone's actually going to do it! Cool!

A few months back someone posted a thread where the were replacing their plumbing or something with pex..I had never heard of it before and went to their website and did some reading...I posted a question on that thread about brewing applications, and no one answered...

IIRC, not all of the plex lines are food grade...I believe different colors mean different things, and at least one of them isn't for potable water. Double check to make sure the one you are using is...

I think pex would rock in your setup.

Yeah, we have a lot of pex lines up here in New England. I would think that with the cold winters in Michigan you would too! One of the nasty side effects of cold winters involves burst water pipes. Pex lines drastically reduces the chances of being the prowd new owner of an indoor swimming pool formerly know as your living room!

 

[billtzk]

I built my first square cooler mash tun manifold from pex and brass corners and tees. In retrospect I realize I could have built a sweated copper tubing manifold more cheaply because the brass barb fittings for pex line are fairly expensive. I also had to buy stainless hose clamps to clamp the parts together. I think you can also get plastic barb fittings, but I don't know what temp range they can handle.

I ran regular vinyl tubing from the pex manifold to a barb on the inside of the cooler valve. It was easy to detach and clean that way. I had no problems at all.

 

[plumber]

PEX (cross-linked poleyethylene) will work just fine. It is supposed to be able to hold 150 psi at 210 degrees for 30 days, that includes the fittings. I would use the plastic fittings if you can get them though the brass ones seem to not be as durable and the amount of lead in them is pushing the max limit allowed. Hose clamps will work fine to hold fittings together if you keep the pressure low.

 

[Seanwallner]

Can You use the palstic barb fittings with pex. Im planning on using the polysulphone QD s as I already have them

 

[BrewinBigD]

Yeah, we have a lot of pex lines up here in New England. I would think that with the cold winters in Michigan you would too! One of the nasty side effects of cold winters involves burst water pipes. Pex lines drastically reduces the chances of being the prowd new owner of an indoor swimming pool formerly know as your living room!

Im with Revvy. Im also in new emgland (nah hampshah) and used pex when i was living in the mountains where theres usually a couple below zero weeks every year. The pipes froze one year, tubing was fine but it was the brass fittings that ruptured. I left myself repair slack on all of them thankfully because every brass joint on the wind side of the house let go that year.

I considered using PEX while i was designing my electric brewery setup and this thread popping up had kinda made me wanna move forward with it.

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[BrewinBigD]

I mean Jay not Revvy. Ive been RDWHAHB ing all night haha. Kinda got mixed up on whose post it was...

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