Low profile stainless herms coil for keggle?

[grathan]

I'd like to use the sparge water (3-5 gallons) in my hlt keggle (maybe 3"-4").

The ripple element also sits in this region...


Am I gonna have to do some fancy bending to make this worK?


Or can I just take a coil and kinda stuff it in there? This ebay seller doesn't respond about the OD of the coils or the flexibility.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/304-304L-SS...350?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a39b27f6

That is 25' of 1/2"and has at least 6 coils. Not good at math so no idea what the diameter is. It's got a .020 wall that has a hardness spec.

Anyone think this will have some give, to get into a keggle without a tubing bender?

 

[Stealthcruiser]

What is the hardness spec. listed?
If it reads "annealed", it is easily shaped, which means it can be also easily kinked!

 

[Minbari]

Description


This is a coil of 1/2" (.020 wall) 304/304L Stainless Steel beverage grade tubing. Grade 304 is the most versatile and most widely used stainless steel available.
Sample Specifications

Type: Welded
Bright Annealed
Tensile Strength: 100000
Yield PSI: 44400
% Elongation: 52
Hardness: RB-75
Spec: A-269-04 EN 10204 3.1

gonna need a bender. but they are pretty cheap. $20 at the hardware store. if it is says "tubing" that should be ID, 5/8" OD


*******EDIT

this is in the description

304/304L SS Tubing Coil - 1/2" OD x 25' Stainless Steel

its 1/2" OD

 

[Chrisl77]

Why not just go to stainlessbrewing.com and get a coil custom bent to the size you need. From experience trying to bend stainless tubing tight even with one of those spring benders is hard. I must of lost 4 feet of my coil trying to bend it like that. I got lucky that the kink was close to the an end.

 

[grathan]

I did email stainlessbrewing and he didn't seem too interested in helping.

Any thoughts about welded vs. seamless as far as grains getting caught? probably shouldn't be an issue with 0.5"..

 

[grathan]

Description


This is a coil of 1/2" (.020 wall) 304/304L Stainless Steel beverage grade tubing. Grade 304 is the most versatile and most widely used stainless steel available.
Sample Specifications

Type: Welded
Bright Annealed
Tensile Strength: 100000
Yield PSI: 44400
% Elongation: 52
Hardness: RB-75
Spec: A-269-04 EN 10204 3.1

gonna need a bender. but they are pretty cheap. $20 at the hardware store. if it is says "tubing" that should be ID, 5/8" OD


*******EDIT

this is in the description

304/304L SS Tubing Coil - 1/2" OD x 25' Stainless Steel

its 1/2" OD

thanks, I mean the diameter of the coils the package comes in. Do you think I could make a pancake shape with a bender? Kinda like a sprial going inwards and then back out again?

 

[Minbari]

a bender might work for that, or even a paint can depending on how pliable the tubing is.

if it fits in your pot as is, just bend the ends so you can get the tubing out of the pot.

 

[StainlessBrewing]

I did email stainlessbrewing and he didn't seem too interested in helping.

Any thoughts about welded vs. seamless as far as grains getting caught? probably shouldn't be an issue with 0.5"..

Hi Grathan, what exactly are you trying to do? Was it that we were not able to do it because of our tooling? I am interested in helping if possible!

 

[grathan]

I'd like a coil of 1/2" stainless tubing with the lowest profile possible. 25' would be ok and 50' would be spectacular if it fit under 3-4" of water in a keggle with a ripple element in it. I am thinking I can wedge the layers of tube around the element if it didn't fit underneath it. The opening of the keggle is 10" and there is 2" under the ripple's lowest point.

I've deleted the email and not sure why it wasn't possible.


I am thinking about trying to bend the .020 wall stuff that ebay seller has in place inside the keggle to allow a larger OD of coils at this point.

 

[Rockn_M]

Why not just go to stainlessbrewing.com and get a coil custom bent to the size you need.

This is what I did and I received exactly what I needed in about a week.

 

[StainlessBrewing]

I'd like a coil of 1/2" stainless tubing with the lowest profile possible. 25' would be ok and 50' would be spectacular if it fit under 3-4" of water in a keggle with a ripple element in it. I am thinking I can wedge the layers of tube around the element if it didn't fit underneath it. The opening of the keggle is 10" and there is 2" under the ripple's lowest point.

I've deleted the email and not sure why it wasn't possible.


I am thinking about trying to bend the .020 wall stuff that ebay seller has in place inside the keggle to allow a larger OD of coils at this point.

You can go with a 12" or 14" coil and no bends in a keg since they typically measure about 15-3/4". When installing it you would thread it through the cut out kind of like a screw. This would require you to go with some type of compression 90 elbow. The 10" is what I recommend to keggle users who are using the compression bulkhead fitting and 2 additional bends the bend towards the sidewall. The smaller the OD of the coil, the taller it will be. Another option would be to have it made kind of like an immersion chiller and have the bends come back away from the sidewall or just out through the top. Just throwing out some ideas.

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

How about an external heat exchanger? A copper or stainless cfc. Run hot liquor through the outer and wort through the inner. Doesn't matter how much is in the hlt then, plus it doubles as a chiller that way

 

[grathan]

Just in case anyone is curious, I couldn't bend .020 stainless by hand.

The tubing coil was also 2' across. So stuff it in the keggle as is is not gonna happen.


Thanks for the ideas StainlessBrewing. I might try the try the out through the top idea. Originally I thought the coil would have to be submerged to get good heat transfer, but I think I can just adjust the temperature higher to accommodate any heat loss.

The only other thing would be draining the tube, out the top would be less sanitary as it would never completely drain and also possibly freeze in the garage.

 

[Bobby_M]

Why not just fill the HLT a little more? It's not that much more energy and having some hot water for cleanup later is not a bad thing.

 

[grathan]

It's wierd, but I have have to lug 5 gallon jugs of RO water out to the garage and the 2 dedicated jugs usually have just enough stored up for brew day. They're kinda hard to keep full out of a 3 gallon pressure tank as it is.

Also the water in the HLT would be treated with chemicals. Otherwise I would consider just leaving it covered until next brew day. But it would probably complicate trying to figure out how much more to add.


In retrospect I probably should have gone with straight-down ,short, high-watt density heatsticks instead of mounting a ripple in the HLT.

 

[Bobby_M]

Right, in an HLT watt density only comes into play if you dry fire it.

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

Or if you use the hlt to make grilled cheese. A lower watt density makes for a nicely browned crust without burning.