Home of the BrewNosers

So I just bought 30' of copper tubing on an impulse, but now I have a couple of problems. 1st, the box says it's 1/2", but my spring bender will not fit over it, I'm pretty sure it's actually 1/2" ID and 5/8" OD, I'm worried that it will be to hard to work with and maybe I should just return it?

Also, what fittings do I need? I was hoping to pick up some compression fittings, I'm not the greatest welder, for the most part my torch is used on crème brulee, not tubing.

Thanks guys!

just wondering what you ended up paying for it? with some figuring you might be able to rig up a bender of your own if you got a good deal

central down here was like $50 for 25' of 1/2" copper pipe

Copper at hardware stores is always specified in pipe sizes. 1/2" pipe = 5/8" tube. The compression fittings you need will depend on what size tubing you plan to use and what you plan to use it for.

bluenose wrote:just wondering what you ended up paying for it? with some figuring you might be able to rig up a bender of your own if you got a good deal

central down here was like $50 for 25' of 1/2" copper pipe

I paid $65 for 30', which isn't seemingly like that good of a deal now.

I guess the bender is sold by OD and the tubing by ID. I'm thinking of heading over to Rona today and check what the price difference for 3/8" is.

I think you'll have a hard time finding rigid 3/8" copper pipe, and if you do, the price will make your eyes pop out of your head in cartoon like fashion...

mr x wrote:I think you'll have a hard time finding rigid 3/8" copper pipe, and if you do, the price will make your eyes pop out of your head in cartoon like fashion...

Sorry, I didn't even mention this is soft tubing, not rigid. It's for an immersion chiller.

The Bayers Lake Rona wasn't much help. They only had 1/2" OD tubing in 50' coils, which were $94.99. Looks like I'll sticking to 2.5 gallon BIAB and an ice bath for now.

You can borrow my immersion if you need to. The # of times it is used is low.

Sandy

Where do you live at you could also borrow mine if needed.

Wow, thanks for the offers. I'm out in Spryfield, but without a car I probably won't be borrowing anyone's gear. Although it would be kind of funny to be hauling around a chiller on the bus

I have a car tomorrow so I think I'll take the afternoon off work and try calling home hardware, maybe I'll get lucky.

Any reason you don't want to go with the 50' of 3/8" they sell at Rona? I forget the price, but it's the best in town.

Jimmy wrote:Any reason you don't want to go with the 50' of 3/8" they sell at Rona? I forget the price, but it's the best in town.

Honestly the only reason was because already have the 1/2" spring bender, but I might go back and pick it up depending on what the prices are at Home Hardware.

papercrane wrote:

Jimmy wrote:Any reason you don't want to go with the 50' of 3/8" they sell at Rona? I forget the price, but it's the best in town.

Honestly the only reason was because already have the 1/2" spring bender, but I might go back and pick it up depending on what the prices are at Home Hardware.

You should be able to bend it by hand without much trouble. Just grab a plastic bucket (smaller than the brew pot) and wrap it around that, or free hand. Lots of how-tos posted around the internet.

benwedge wrote:

papercrane wrote:

Jimmy wrote:Any reason you don't want to go with the 50' of 3/8" they sell at Rona? I forget the price, but it's the best in town.

Honestly the only reason was because already have the 1/2" spring bender, but I might go back and pick it up depending on what the prices are at Home Hardware.

You should be able to bend it by hand without much trouble. Just grab a plastic bucket (smaller than the brew pot) and wrap it around that, or free hand. Lots of how-tos posted around the internet.

That, or hook one end in the handle of a corney keg, then wrap it around that. The piece through the handle will help hold the coil in place so you can do a tight wrap.

papercrane wrote: I'm out in Spryfield

Hold the phone! I thought Chalmers and I had the sprytown market all locked up and now we find there is a new kid in town, looks like there may be another turf war it sounds like your copper may be similar to what we use, ours is 3/4" and we needed a heavy duty copper bender to bend it, we couldn't do it by hand. We could certainly take a look and try and help you out. Are you going to meeting on tuesday at Chalmers plance in sprytown? We could discuss there.

You could always fill it with sand to bend it. Fill it, cap the ends and bend away for a kink free bend.
Use the finest sand you can find.

LiverDance wrote:Hold the phone! I thought Chalmers and I had the sprytown market all locked up...

First the Melvins and Marriots, now the McDonalds and Harveys. Wait a minute, you guys should go into the fast food business!

Keggermeister wrote:You could always fill it with sand to bend it. Fill it, cap the ends and bend away for a kink free bend.
Use the finest sand you can find.

That is a great idea, I just picked up 50' of 3/8" OD copper from Rona for $55, seemed like a good price for me. I also picked up compression fittings and a garden hose adapter. Not sure what I'm going to do about the discharge end. I might just get a barb and put some vinyl hose on there. I'll post pics of whatever ugly thing I end up with. Thanks for all the input.

I'll PM Chalmers about the meeting tomorrow night. I'd love to meet some of you guys, I'd bring some brew, but SWMBO has kicked me out of the kitchen and I just got the outdoor cooker a week ago.