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?
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?
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
Any reason I shouldn't make one long cut down the center of all the pipe? Seems like I could just pass it through the table saw and save a bunch of time. Thoughts?
Any reason I shouldn't make one long cut down the center of all the pipe? Seems like I could just pass it through the table saw and save a bunch of time. Thoughts?
Weakens the plastic cylinder? Maybe long cut, stop, long cut, stop, repeat??
Any reason I shouldn't make one long cut down the center of all the pipe? Seems like I could just pass it through the table saw and save a bunch of time. Thoughts?
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
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?
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.Weakens the plastic cylinder? Maybe long cut, stop, long cut, stop, repeat??
you can check at the bottom of these pages, will list "similar" threads...
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.
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
Aluminum foil during the mash really helps, huh?
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.
I opted to cut long slots down the center of my manifold. Here's a couple shots of it. Haven't tried it out yet but it was way faster to do it this way. I t seems like it would allow more liquid to flow too. Thoughts?
I opted to cut long slots down the center of my manifold. Here's a couple shots of it. Haven't tried it out yet but it was way faster to do it this way. I t seems like it would allow more liquid to flow too. Thoughts?
Any difference in the strength of the cpvc?
BTW looks good
I opted to cut long slots down the center of my manifold. Here's a couple shots of it. Haven't tried it out yet but it was way faster to do it this way. I t seems like it would allow more liquid to flow too. Thoughts?
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?
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!
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.
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