Copper mash tun manifold

[YeastFace Brew Co.]

On a whim I've purchased a coolbox with the intention of turning it into a mash tun.

Today I bought some copper fittings for the manifold, however I've now realised they are solder ring fittings.

I'm not sure that I want to solder the manifold as reading up most people prefer dry fitting so they can take apart to clean. I don't think we have a blowtorch either.

My question is, do I need to get rid of the light coating of solder inside the fittings before using? I know it has a high-melting temp so shouldn't melt into the draining wort and they're UK-made so I'm confident it is lead-free.

Will a hot soak to get rid of any grease be sufficient?

TIA

[Fil]

imho (unqualified..) you would be better off exchanging for end feed fittings, while the solder is brewsafe being lead free, there may be a film of flux involved too ??? (tho i will admit im shooting blind and speculating..) most plumbers merchants will probably take em back.. and you will probably have credit/refund too..

[YeastFace Brew Co.]

Thanks for your comments, I've decided (through laziness) to stick with the solder ring fittings and solder the cross pieces so I can still take apart and clean.

Ordered the tap yesterday from Angel so hopefully that turns up this week.

Here is the unsoldered manifold. Still need to drill the drainage holes too.

[YeastFace Brew Co.]

Apologies for size of pic.

[Rick_UK]

Are you planning to batch sparge or fly sparge? If its the latter you should be ok without soldering. If its the former it may well fall apart when the grain bed is stirred up.

I ended up changing my manifold for a simple steel braid hose which works fine with either sparging method. The best option though IMHO is to just use a grain bag - works as well as any manifold or false bottom, no engineering required and can easily be lifted out in case of a stuck mash which is almost impossible with a grain bag.

Just my thoughts and experiences!

Rick

[alix101]

The solder is fine you will need flux or the solder won't run and I personally would solder the lot if it comes apart in the mash your in for an awful day ...just make sure you clean/wash it before first use to get rid any flux.

[JimJiminy]

I use solder fittings without solder. I used a mole grip to crimp the fittings a bit so that they are tight enough to hold together - but with a bit of force the can be pulled apart for cleaning. So far I've had no problems with them coming apart during batch sparging etc.

[YeastFace Brew Co.]

Thanks for the replies.

I will be batch sparging. It is a nice fit in the coolbox, so I'm not too concerned about it falling apart. May not need to solder after all.

Tap kit turned up yesterday, but the nipple wasn't long enough for the coolbox walls. My fault as it didn't cross my mind. Longer nipple ordered, but won't turn up until Tuesday. Bloody Banks Holidays

[BenB]

As JimJiminy said mole grips to crimp is all that is needed. That's what I have done and no problems... Solder isn't a problem as it will be lead free and they don't come pre-fluxed.

[YeastFace Brew Co.]

Drilled out the drainage holes this morning, filed and gave a good soak in oxiclean. Test drain left behind 400ml of water which I think is fairly decent.

After examining the stock in anticipation of tomorrow's deliveries, I managed to rustle up a recipe for a witbier (6l batch) which meant I could give the MT a test run.

Despite the grain only weighing 1.3KG and only just under 10l of liquor added there was only a drop of 2°c over 90 minutes. Once it has a decent amount of grain in it, hopefully it will only drop a degree at most.