I thought they looked a bit too similar
I just bought the 52 gallon version...
Is this right? 52 gallons? How big is that? The size of a full size fridge?
70 quart Coleman Extreme Mash Tun w/ CPVC Manifold
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Is this right? 52 gallons? How big is that? The size of a full size fridge?
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h4mmy86
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I used half inch cpvc. Sorry it took me so long to reply.
rykosnd
Member
I have a similar manifold and I know that CPVC is safe for use with drinking water. My concern is that the smooth inside of the CPVC is safe but when you cut the slits thru it exposes the porous inner part if the CPVC to the wort. Anyone know if this is of any concern or am I just paranoid?
You'll be boiling the runnings. If paranoid , soak parts in vinegar and good hot wash.
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h4mmy86
Well-Known Member
You're paranoid. There are no porous inners, its all the same plastic. RDWHAHB
DirtyOldDuck
Well-Known Member
I've been using a cpvc manifold for over a year. Because I batch sparge, runoff speed is not important after vorlaufing. Therefore, I put lots of slots and alternating drilled holes in mine. I want it to drain fast. Also, if you batch sparge, you don't really have to worry about channeling like you do with continuous fly sparging. The first time your mash paddle separates one of the fittings in your manifold, you will want to glue it together -ask me how I know. My manifold is easily removable from the mash tun and very easy to clean.
Here is my best tip - several weeks ago I was brewing a big RIS and I had a very fine crush. I had never needed rice hulls before and while researching that I came across a great suggestion. I would give credit to whomever gave me this idea but I don't remember - I'm sure I read it on HBT. Here it is: before mashing, put the manifold inside a five gallon paint strainer bag. I just tie the bag around the piece that connects the manifold to the drain/ball valve. The fine mesh effectively lauters the wort before it even enters the manifold. It almost eliminates the need to vorlauf because almost nothing but clear wort gets in the manifold in the first place.
Here is my best tip - several weeks ago I was brewing a big RIS and I had a very fine crush. I had never needed rice hulls before and while researching that I came across a great suggestion. I would give credit to whomever gave me this idea but I don't remember - I'm sure I read it on HBT. Here it is: before mashing, put the manifold inside a five gallon paint strainer bag. I just tie the bag around the piece that connects the manifold to the drain/ball valve. The fine mesh effectively lauters the wort before it even enters the manifold. It almost eliminates the need to vorlauf because almost nothing but clear wort gets in the manifold in the first place.
I tried the strainer trick but its another thing to clean. I have a cpvc manifold and didn't glue it. Guess I've had better luck. But mine does fit tight in the cooler.
Have no issues vorloufing about 1 gallon and letting her rip. I guess everyone has their own experiences during brew day.
DirtyOldDuck
Well-Known Member
I almost edited my post to mention the extra cleaning but was too lazy. I dump my mash tun while bringing the wort to boil. After rinsing the tun, I fill it with hot water and Oxy and use it to soak hoses and other equipment so I just throw the bag in there.
I didn't have any problem with my manifold for quite a few brews, but eventually the connections loosened up and after having it come apart once I never wanted to have to deal with that mess again.
I actually tried the bag to prevent the fine crush from clogging the manifold, not because of a problem with vorlaufing. The fact that the runoff was so clear was an additional benefit. It did such a good job of separating the grain and husks from the wort that I decided to keep doing it.
All those little grain bits stuck in the bag was driving me crazy. LOL!!
Weakens the plastic cylinder? Maybe long cut, stop, long cut, stop, repeat??
GrogNerd
mean old man
wow
never even occurred to me to do it that way, and I can't think of a reason not to
only $4 for the cpvc pipe to find out
GrogNerd
mean old man
thread I started a while back someone mentioned that rows of slots weakened the structure
wish I had a saw that I could test this out. I kept some of the extra pipe I used for my manifold
Now that's an idea!
Manifolds and Lautering
I still haven't cut mine waiting for the right inspiration. I read the whole appendix in Palmer's book on manifold design and lautering efficiency. It all makes more sense now than before.
For batch sparging nothing seems very critical, but good design comes into play for continuous sparging. Just heating the recirculating wort to the right temperature is a major hurdle to overcome if one chooses to go that way.
Kerf width
There is no mention of kerf width, but is shouldn't be too wide or lots of little bits go through or too narrow and things get stuck in there. The copper example has a typical steel saw blade cut. The cpvc cuts are somewhat wider from what I see. You could use an oscillating saw or reciprocating saw too. Their blades are narrower.
I think the table saw kerf is too wide (1/8"). I may put a layer of voile in the bottom or use a voile liner to keep the manifold from plugging up, if that turns out to be a problem.
Cleaning
I'm with everyone on eliminating more things to clean, but the grain bags I now use on the bottom of the colander during partial mashes are easy to wash clean in a tub of water. And we have a big cooler tub now.
On gluing...
I feel that if the friction-fit manifold fits tightly between the mashtun walls, it will not come apart easily when stirring the mash. Still, I probably like to glue it together just in case. Rinsing it out well, followed by some PBW treatment should clean it, no? What can stay in there that's bad? Lactobacillus? That gets killed during the boil isn't it?
Thank you! I was looking for a thread on that. Searching here is not easy. Too many returns.
Speaking of which, anyone found an easy way to do continuous sparging, with manually monitoring the mash temps?
GrogNerd
mean old man
you can check at the bottom of these pages, will list "similar" threads, there are quite a few on converted coolers and many specifically about the 70-quart
i'm trying to find the one where someone included pictures of their setup for fly sparging, so it can be done. i just can't find it
EDIT: effme, listen to my own advice. top link in similar threads. not the specific one I was looking for, but is about fly sparging with the 70-quart
Yeah i thought about that. I'm going to give it a shot this weekend and see how it builds out. I could even use a grinder and decrease width of cut and shorten the lengths of the cut. ill let everyone know if it goes well. Thanks for the comments.
Thanks for the hint and the links.
How do they raise the temperature in the fly sparge?
It looks quite easy with a RIMS tube etc., but that's a lot of specialized stuff to buy. I have the March pump but tube and controller are key too.
GrogNerd
mean old man
by "monitor" the temps, I thought you meant just that: reading what the temperature is at any specific time
RIMS is for recirculating mash, which would not really be necessary in a cooler. that's what the cooler is for: maintaining temperature during the mash. mine lost 3° first time I used it, so the next time I covered the mash with aluminum foil and only lost 1°.
as for sparge, would only need to heat the water to mash out temp, keep it in a HLT (possibly another cooler) and slowly let it drain for a continuous sparge, circulating the vorlauf as needed, then letting the runnings drain
RIMS is for recirculating mash, which would not really be necessary in a cooler. that's what the cooler is for: maintaining temperature during the mash. mine lost 3° first time I used it, so the next time I covered the mash with aluminum foil and only lost 1°.
as for sparge, would only need to heat the water to mash out temp, keep it in a HLT (possibly another cooler) and slowly let it drain for a continuous sparge, circulating the vorlauf as needed, then letting the runnings drain
GreenDragon
Well-Known Member
Below is my take on it. Either I got a slightly different model of the Coleman extreme or some people are using smaller CPVC or something. I didn't see a way of running 4 tubes. The setup I did I kinda just built as I was doing it. I went to Lowes to purchase everything. The slits in the picture are just facing up so you can see them, they will be facing down when I actually use it. I'll be testing it out this Saturday.
Bill:
5ft sections of CPVC = $1.98 each
T connectors = $0.29 each
Caps = Really cheap, forgot the exact price
Hacksaw = $12.00
Fine blade for the hacksaw = $4.00
Coleman 70 quart extreme = $49.99 on sale at Walmart (free shipping to the house too!)
Hints:
Soak all the T connectors in hot soapy water to get the stickers off.
The default blade that comes on hacksaws is way to wide and tough to cut precisely with, buy a fine tooth blade.
Bill:
5ft sections of CPVC = $1.98 each
T connectors = $0.29 each
Caps = Really cheap, forgot the exact price
Hacksaw = $12.00
Fine blade for the hacksaw = $4.00
Coleman 70 quart extreme = $49.99 on sale at Walmart (free shipping to the house too!)
Hints:
Soak all the T connectors in hot soapy water to get the stickers off.
The default blade that comes on hacksaws is way to wide and tough to cut precisely with, buy a fine tooth blade.
GrogNerd
mean old man
looks like my cooler, with the rounded scoop on the front, slots on the bottom front & back on the left and upper front & back on the right
I COULD fit 4 tubes LONGITUDINALLY (dang, I love that word) but 3 work just fine
Yeah, sorry, seeing the sparge manifold I was already thinking 2 steps ahead:
"...Monitor and manually adjust temps for Recirculating Infusion Mash..."
Of course for fly sparging you only need a supply of hot water.
I think I'll stick to batch sparging for now.
Aluminum foil during the mash really helps, huh?
GrogNerd
mean old man
it did for me
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h4mmy86
Well-Known Member
I lay a butt load of towels on top of my cooler to help with temp loss.
Also, if you open the cooler to check your temps during the mash (I do always check mine half way) it can help to have towels draping down from the 3 sides of the lid that aren't hinged to the body of the cooler, that way when you crack the lid to take a temp reading the loose fabric hanging from the sides of the lid help keep the steam in the cooler from getting out. Trapping that steam in makes a big difference in my experience.
Also, if you open the cooler to check your temps during the mash (I do always check mine half way) it can help to have towels draping down from the 3 sides of the lid that aren't hinged to the body of the cooler, that way when you crack the lid to take a temp reading the loose fabric hanging from the sides of the lid help keep the steam in the cooler from getting out. Trapping that steam in makes a big difference in my experience.
GrogNerd
mean old man
good call
GrogNerd
mean old man
I squeezed the sides of the cpvc together and coudn't get it to touch so i think it should hold up ok. if it doesn't I'll cut a couple new pieces and do the short slits. Thats the beauty of cpvc I'm only out like 50 cents if it doesn't work.
That looks really good.
What are you using for the bulkhead fitting? Looks like a cpvc part.
Are you also using a 45° coupler between the manifold and the bulkhead?
Nice! Thanks. Thats what I'm going to do when I get my 70qt this week.
Yeah I used the cpvc 1/2 npt to slip fitting > 45 street > the t slips right on the street end of that. it rested perfectly in the bottom. I couldn't have asked for a better fit. I think it looks cleaner than a whole bunch of slits too, but we'll see how it functions. I'm going to do a batch in the next couple weeks and I'll let you know how it goes.
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h4mmy86
Well-Known Member
Quickly, I would like to address the issue of the manifold slipping apart after some use...
This is a very TRUE very REAL issue, and you can probably expect it to happen.
Luckily, it's an easy fix!
As mentioned earlier replacement fittings are very cheap OR you can use a little THREAD TAPE around then ends of pipes that slide into fittings/couplings and they also provide added hold.
Brew On!
This is a very TRUE very REAL issue, and you can probably expect it to happen.
Luckily, it's an easy fix!
As mentioned earlier replacement fittings are very cheap OR you can use a little THREAD TAPE around then ends of pipes that slide into fittings/couplings and they also provide added hold.
Brew On!
bigbeergeek
Well-Known Member
No thread tape on my CPVC and I've been using the same manifold for 5 years -- only knocked it apart once. Not a big deal. I wouldn't sweat it.
Quickly, I would like to address the issue of the manifold slipping apart after some use...
This is a very TRUE very REAL issue, and you can probably expect it to happen.
Luckily, it's an easy fix!
As mentioned earlier replacement fittings are very cheap OR you can use a little THREAD TAPE around then ends of pipes that slide into fittings/couplings and they also provide added hold.
Brew On!
Making mine with stabilizing arms to make a tight fit. So no falling apart. All good.
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h4mmy86
Well-Known Member
Mine hasn't come apart while brewing, it's in there pretty snug.
What grinds my gears is when I go empty the cooler and dump the grain over the hill and a piece of my manifold falls out with it, so then I have to dig thru dirty wet grain...and that isn't nice.
What grinds my gears is when I go empty the cooler and dump the grain over the hill and a piece of my manifold falls out with it, so then I have to dig thru dirty wet grain...and that isn't nice.
GrogNerd
mean old man
really can't avoid it, so i dig my manifold out before I dump
