Help me not ruin my mash tun

[axe_gashington]

Hello,

So I ordered a bunch of stainless steel fittings and ball valve for my mash tun and when I went to attach the ball valve to the nipple, low and behold it only turned about three times. I'm still left with around an inch of space and I can't get a seal because I can not tighten it down any further. I am using teflon tape as well. I emailed the guy I ordered it from and his answer was the nipple fitting threads when it threads and three turns is ideal. So far, I have thought of two different solutions and I wanted to get your guys' input. My first thought was "screw it I'll just grab a hacksaw and shorten one end". The next thought was "or I could get a bunch of washers and just space it". The last option is to just re-order a shorter one which would take time and extend my first all-grain batch another week. Thoughts, questions, insults?

 

[HopinJim]

Hello,

So I ordered a bunch of stainless steel fittings and ball valve for my mash tun and when I went to attach the ball valve to the nipple, low and behold it only turned about three times. I'm still left with around an inch of space and I can't get a seal because I can not tighten it down any further. I am using teflon tape as well. I emailed the guy I ordered it from and his answer was the nipple fitting threads when it threads and three turns is ideal. So far, I have thought of two different solutions and I wanted to get your guys' input. My first thought was "screw it I'll just grab a hacksaw and shorten one end". The next thought was "or I could get a bunch of washers and just space it". The last option is to just re-order a shorter one which would take time and extend my first all-grain batch another week. Thoughts, questions, insults?

Well, not knowing all the info, such as what type of mash tun you're using, what do you have on the inside for fittings, etc., my answer would be get a shorter nipple. The one I am using is probably only an inch long to start with, installed in a 10-gal Rubbermaid beverage cooler. The valve hole wall thickness isn't really any more than the thickness of the outside and inside material as there is no insulation in that area. You could try shortening it, but keep in mind that NPT threads are tapered, which is why it only goes on about 3 turns. So, shortening probably won't work unless you have a pipe threader to chase the threads with. Or, you could just use a crap-ton of washers to shim it.

 

[josterhues]

Put some washers on outside between ball valve and mash tun wall, not inside unless they are stainless. Then after brew day order a shorter one.

 

[Jaybird]

It sounds like their tooling was getting worn and you ended up getting one towards the end of one of their manufacturing runs. is this a 3 pc ball valve or 2? Check the other side and see if the nipple threads in farther on that side, if so and your using a 3 PC ball valve just swap the 2 ends. What is the overall length of your nipple? DONT cut the nipple it wont help you at all as those are NPT threads and they do have a slight taper to them, so by cutting the threads off you will never get it to thread. An inch is a lot to fill with washers but if your ready to brew today, man get it on!

Cheers
Jay

 

[stpug]

Agreed. Don't cut the nipple you'll just make it so it won't thread on at all. Also, use galvanized fender washers on the outside to take up the extra space - these are cheap at HD/Lowes.

What length nipple did you order? 1.5" nipple should be about perfect for most round water coolers.

Edit: I forgot to say "...and if you go with the washers you'll be brewing today!!"

 

[axe_gashington]

Thanks for the feedback guys. It's a 2 inch nipple, I couldnt find a 1 1/2, but it looks like a one inch will work as well. Also, it's a 5 gallon igloo round cooler. And my valve is a 3 pc. I tried threading the other side, but same deal, about 3 turns.

 

[josterhues]

you probably got a nipple that is tappered

 

[stpug]

Well, there are a number of solutions that would work with the 2" nipple. I think one great thing about a 2" nipple is that you gives you plenty of smooth, flat space in the middle of the nipple for an O-ring or gasket to rest which will help ensure no leaks. A 1.5 inch nipple only has about 1/2" inch of the smooth flat space (assuming it's not stamped with the part number like mine is ). A 1" nipple is considered a 'close' nipple - it's thread all of the way (i.e. no smooth flat space for the O-ring to sit). Most NPT nipples are tapered; I've only ever seen a couple 2 inch nippled that are untapered (bobby_m's store has them)

If you want to brew today then I would simply find a rigid object to take up the extra length space. As long as you put the extra length on the outside of the cooler then the object doesn't have to be anything special; it can be galvanized, it can be rigid plastic, it can be plain steel. I would personally buy enough fender washers to take up the extra slack on the outside of the cooler. It'll be several but should work very well. I'll see if I can find a pic somewhere.

 

[stpug]

Found one. The fender washers I'm thinking of would be the bottom three in this picture, and you would probably need 3-5 more than is shown (maybe, maybe not)

 

[axe_gashington]

Ok thanks again for the info. I'll go grab some after work today and let you guys know how it went.

 

[axe_gashington]

And here it is, there's a miniscule leak on the outside, but it might have just been condensation. Either way I'll probably take it apart again and add a gasket to the outside.

 

[vinylrooster]

Found one. The fender washers I'm thinking of would be the bottom three in this picture, and you would probably need 3-5 more than is shown (maybe, maybe not)

I agree that you should just add extra fender washers (most likely 5/8" but it depends on the diameter of your nipple). I don't know if you have any ace hardware stores near you but I got a 5/8" neoprene fender style washer and put it between my steel washers and the plastic of my cooler to help mitigate leaks.

 

[stpug]

And here it is, there's a miniscule leak on the outside, but it might have just been condensation. Either way I'll probably take it apart again and add a gasket to the outside.

That came out looking really good and it doesn't even seem like you needed that many washers. Good job!

Regarding the minuscule leak, it is very likely a leak and not condensation. I have found that they can become slightly larger leaks once you add hot mash water, grains, and start stirring things around. You will be better served by resolving the leak from the inside ONLY. In other words, no gaskets or O-rings on the outside - just your fender washers on the outside. The reasoning is that if you plug the leak from the outside but still have a leak on the inside then the only place for the leaking wort to go is between the cooler walls creating a potential nasty place. You are better served having it leak slowly outside the cooler (where you can clean it up) and you'll KNOW that you have a leak to resolve. Of course, getting those minuscule leaks to stop can be challenging. I hope this helps.

 

[axe_gashington]

It does, but how would I go about stopping the leaks from the inside?

 

[stpug]

My 5 gal rubbermaid round cooler came with a white rubber/silicone flanged gasket that is very close to the nipple diameter (tiny amount of wiggle). To solve the slight wiggle, I've wrapped my entire nipple with teflon which does away with most of the wiggle.

On the inside, I have a locknut with one red O-ring tightened up against the white rubber/silicone flanged gasket that came with the cooler. I've tried to make sure that my O-ring sits on the flat/smooth part of the teflon-wrapped nipple. (I tried without the O-ring and could not stop the minuscule leak)

On the outside, I have one washer and my 2-piece ball valve.

I've made an attempt to tighten all of this snug but much less than I would normally think is sufficient. In other words, it's snug but I still think it's undertightened because the tighter it is the more the inside/outside cooler walls squeeze together which causes warpage which leads to leaks. Once I had it snug and undertightened, I tested with the hottest TAP water I could get. If I saw a small leak, I'd empty the cooler and tighten up a bit (1/4-1/2 turn on the locknut) and retest with hot tap water. It only took a couple times to get it leak-free. Once I felt like everything was good then I tested with some fairly hot water ~160-170F and it held this without any leaks for over an hour so I called it good. I would also open and close the valve a couple times to ensure it would remain leak-free during use. My ball valve is a pretty stiff so I have to support the whole assembly by holding the barb while turning the ball valve handle. I still feel like the spigot area is undertightened but it holds liquid without leaking so I call it good. When things get hot (during mashing) I notice that everything seems even looser and more wiggly, but it still doesn't leak.

If I ever have constant leaking issues that I can't resolve then my next move will be to actually remove some of the outside wall around the spigot hole so that all of my fittings, washers, gaskets, etc are only squeezing on one wall (the inside wall) to get rid of the double-wall variable.... but so far it's been holding up.