41 replies to this topic

[stangbat]

Well, I do certainly think there is a siphon going on. For instance, with a braid, I use a diptube to get lower and extract more wort. This succeeds in draining the cooler much lower than the outlet, due to the siphon that is occurring. If I cut a small slit in the top of that dip tube above its lowest point, it will fail to drain below that air gap due to the broken siphon that occurs when air is let in. I can't see how a similar situation would not exist for a manifold, provided air was entering in the joints.If the non-soldered copper parts are holding tight enough to not let air in, then it sounds good to me. This could very well be the case, I haven't used a manifold.

I was coming from a fly sparge viewpoint when I stated it doesn't matter. I haven't batch sparged in a while and I forgot about draining the tun fully. Oops. There probably is some siphoning going on. I fully drain the tun when I get done just as I would when batch sparging and it always empties completely. When I dump out the grain I don't find that there is any excess amount of wort left inside.

Edited by stangbat, 27 March 2009 - 02:37 PM.

[JReigle]

I was coming from a fly sparge viewpoint when I stated it doesn't matter. I haven't batch sparged in a while and I forgot about draining the tun fully. There probably is some siphoning going on. I fully drain the tun when I get done just as I would when batch sparging and it always empties completely. When I dump out the grain I don't find that there is any excess amount of wort left inside.

Yeah, I wasn't thinking about it from a fly-sparge prospective. Even if what I was speculating would occur, it wouldn't really matter in that case. Additionally, I'm thinking that the copper heating up and expanding serves to disallow most air through in the first place even if you were batch sparging and draining the tun completely.

[japh]

What about for us round cooler guys? I was thinkin of just a circular one made of a bunch of 45's with small peices of 1/2".

CPVC has a good bit of bend to it, right? I'm thinking you could use that to bend it into a circular manifold.

[JReigle]

I might have to work something up as I don't know if I'm that high on the Phill's false bottom

Hey, I thought you were using a braid. Did you give up on it?

[CaptRon]

Hey, I thought you were using a braid. Did you give up on it?

I was considering it, but when I went to HD and Lowes I couldn't find a true stainless hose to butcher. They are some other kind of poly (or something) material. Plus I think I would end up damaging it with the stirring of the mash as I am not that careful usually. lol I'd still be willing to try it though. Maybe I should just have both on hand and see which one I like better - just need to find a real stainless water supply hose. :)Edit: I feel like I'm hijacking this thread. My bad.. I'll start a new thread for this in a couple of minutes.

Edited by badogg, 27 March 2009 - 02:44 PM.

[pods8]

What about for us round cooler guys? I was thinkin of just a circular one made of a bunch of 45's with small peices of 1/2".

Go buy a bigger cooler. But seriously can't you just use the same concept with a square pattern centered in the cooler and connect the spigot to a tee in one of the straight sides?

CPVC has a good bit of bend to it, right? I'm thinking you could use that to bend it into a circular manifold.

Not for the kind of radius you're talking.

[pods8]

I was considering it, but when I went to HD and Lowes I couldn't find a true stainless hose to butcher. They are some other kind of poly (or something) material. Plus I think I would end up damaging it with the stirring of the mash as I am not that careful usually. lol I'd still be willing to try it though. Maybe I should just have both on hand and see which one I like better - just need to find a real stainless water supply hose. :)Edit: I feel like I'm hijacking this thread. My bad.. I'll start a new thread for this in a couple of minutes.

Some of them have a nylon sleeve in the middle but you just cut the ends off and pull the sleeve out leaving the stainless sheath.

[Lagerdemain]

Interesting info, guys. Thanks!

[BeerMaker]

but there were all kinds of copper slivers attached and dangling inside the tubes after cutting. I spent more time with a screwdriver getting the copper stuff out than it took to measure and assemble the thing.

Just a thought, using a 1/2" brush cleaner attached to a wire and pulling it through would possibly make process much easier/quicker. I have wondered how many people don't bother cleaning slivers out very well!

[stangbat]

Just a thought, using a 1/2" brush cleaner attached to a wire and pulling it through would possibly make process much easier/quicker. I have wondered how many people don't bother cleaning slivers out very well!

They weren't just coming out with a brush. I had to work at it to get them out with a screwdriver. And I wouldn't have been comfortable leaving them in there, it was a mess. I used an angle grinder to cut the slots so the high speed of the abrasive cutting wheel made the copper slivers. If you cut the slots with a hack saw or maybe with something lower speed it may have not been as much of a problem. I tried my Dremel but it was slow going and I think it was also causing slivers. Can't remember 100% though.

[Kremer]

A wire wheel on a bench grinder made short work of the burrs and slivers left from slotting my manifold.

[Stout_fan]

A wire wheel on a bench grinder made short work of the burrs and slivers left from slotting my manifold.

Yep, I got the skinny on wire wheels some time ago.Always had one on my bench grinder since forever.Totally da bomb.

[BeerMaker]

I used an angle grinder to cut the slots so the high speed of the abrasive cutting wheel made the copper slivers.

Ahh, I see. I wasn't thinking about the high speed of power tools. I've never made a copper manifold (yet), so I was thinking hack saw. Man, that would take forever to cut all those slots with a hack saw... That has got to be at least a 3-4 pint job.

[Trub L]

mine looks like that. i think it's a dave miller design. it's about time for me to do a new mash tun, how did you cut your slots? i used a hack saw many years ago, but now i might use a dremmel

[MyaCullen]

I might have to work something up as I don't know if I'm that high on the Phill's false bottom

mine plugged up about every other batch, so I kicked it to the curb! eventually got a warp in it also.

[3rd party JKor]

What about for us round cooler guys? I was thinkin of just a circular one made of a bunch of 45's with small peices of 1/2".

I think that'd work fine, you could also use soft copper formed to the outer radius.

[siouxbrewer]

Sometimes I feel like I'm in the minority when it comes to square manifold in round MT. After trying nearly every falsebottom/screen scenario I went back to JP's mash tun geometry and found that a copper manifold was the most versatile and efficient setup for any type of mash/recirc. method. Not stuck mashes, no channeling, and no soldering. You can see I started with a round cooler for a MT but swapped with my sanke HLT, which I now direct fire. The manifold fit perfectly from cooler to sanke. I heat sparge water in my boil kettle during the mash, and pump to the cooler which I gravity feed to the MT for my sparge. The manifold floats over the domed bottom of the sanke so I get great flow during my recirc without channeling. It doesn't seem to matter which direction the pipes run and I never knock it off while doughing in.