Sparge arm question

[fosgate]

I put this together quickly with a $11 3/8 ID 10ft piece of flexible copper tubing for a sparge arm for my mash tun Igloo cooler. I used a $3 pipe bending spring to bend it by hand and about another $5 in brass plug and cap. wasn't easy and even with the pipe bender you could tell the brass wanted to start to collapse.

I saw others putting together their own sparge systems etc and I down to just drilling holes. I have a dremel with a fine jewelers drill bit but I am not certain if it will be sufficient and may just wind up with a lot of slow drips. What size holes are you guys that made your own doing and how long does it take you to sparge a 5-10gal batch with your setup. (Photos a plus)

 

[Bradzukie]

I just used 3/4 id pvc pipe. I drilled the holes with the smallest drill bit I had. I also just press fit everything for ease of cleaning. Works great. Im a slow sparger so it takes me about 30 minutes. If I wanted to push it I could get it done in about 3 minutes.

 

[fosgate]

Yeah, this is my smallest bit but I'm thinking it may be a bit small.

 

[bioguy]

In this case, smaller is better. Lots of tiny holes will get you a nice spray. Experiment with it. You can always make holes bigger if there isn't enough flow.