HERMS Coil Question

Hello,

My friend and I were trying to install my 50' 1/2" OD SS HERMS coil from Stainless Brewing yesterday into my HLT and we ran into some problems. We are using 90 degree SS compression fittings to try and connect the coil to the couplings that I silver solder on the keg, and we realized that because of the diameter of the coil, there was no way to insert the ends of the coil into the fittings because of the curvature.

We ended up bending the "input" part of the coil a little bit which allowed use to barely insert the end of the coil into the compression fitting. Now we're able to insert the "output" part of the coil into the other 90 degree compression fitting, but in order for us to do this, we have to "push" the coil into the keg wall, so that half of the coil is very snugly jammed up against the keg wall. My question is, is there any issues with some of the HERMS coil being up against the keg wall? Most of images I see, of HERMS coils are them directly in the center of the keg without touching any of the walls. I wasn't sure if this would affect temperatures or anything. We just wanted to make sure before we put everything in place.

Thanks.

My 25' coil is against the keg wall. I kinda ran into the same problem, and had to do the same to fix it. As long as you have the water in the HLT recirculating you should have zero issues..

Thanks for the info. Everyone in my home brew club told me it would be easier to just use 90 degree compression fittings with no bends in my coil, but it sure seems it would have been a lot easier if I had two 90 degree bends on the coil and then use straight compression fittings.

Yea after dealing with it for a day or so I was thinking the same thing. I made it work cause I didn't want to have to pay to get the bends. If I remember correctly the 90* have a slight different ID than the straight.