Fittings

[Timmsy]

I am wanting to covert a esky to adapt the ball valve type tap and some SS braid. I went to the hardware shop and thay gave me black plastic fittings i spose it was for out door sprinklers. Im not sure at using this. Can any1 esle suggest what i can use from Bunnings?? I want a half inch hose tail on the inside to attach the SS braid and that connects to a fitting of some sought that goes through the esky that connects to the ball valve and onto another hose tail to fit the hose. any ideas?

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Lots of people use the black plastic irrigation fittings for mash temperatures. Remember that your esky is designed to be used at cold temps and not for food contact. I'm not trying to convince you one way or another, but please do think about such things in the broader context.

As far as fittings are concerned, what's wrong with the fitting that came with the hose braid? It should screw onto a bit of 15mm all-thread.

[rwh]

What's all-thread?

[SpillsMostOfIt]

What's all-thread?

Imagine a thick brass or SS pipe/tube with thread all the way along its length. Screws happily into your ball valve or any of the other standard threaded bits you have.

[Ed]

......... thay gave me black plastic fittings i spose it was for out door sprinklers. Im not sure at using this...........

Been using the black plastic fittings for years with no problems. If you think about it, that plastic does a terrific job outdoors in high temp/high UV environment, so there shouldn't really be any bother with mash temps. Never had to replace a fitting or tap but if I do, it's very cheap. Having said that, Bunnings do have a range of threaded pipes and taps. Just go down with your bits and pick what you need to suit.

Cheers, Ed

[Trough Lolly]

What's all-thread?

Imagine a thick brass or SS pipe/tube with thread all the way along its length. Screws happily into your ball valve or any of the other standard threaded bits you have.

...like this:

I bought, from Grain and Grape, some half inch brass pipe, two SS locknuts, two silicon O rings, two stainless washers, one 1/2 inch ball valve. Hook your braid onto the inside of the threaded pipe with a clamp (it's inside so doesn't have to be a complete seal) and away you go. You may want to grab some extra silicon O rings to ensure that you have a watertight seal on the inside of the mashtun to avoid soaking the solid foam insulation in between the esky walls. A down and dirty article on how I setup my mashtun and installed a weldless thermometer from Ross, is on AHB - here.....




If you're lazy, just ring them up and tell them you want a weldless fitting for your mashtun - all half inch and they'll take care of it. Your choice is whether you can afford to go all stainless instead of brass...



Cheers,
TL

[Trough Lolly]

P.S. The inside looks like this...



Cheers,
TL

[gregb]

Also check out the bulkhead fitting from http://www.beerbelly.com.au/fittings.html

Cheers,
Greg

[SpillsMostOfIt]

The tight-arse way of doing such a thing is to buy the bits from Bunnings or similar out of brass. One 150mm length of all-thread costs about the same as a short bit from a HBS.

One valve, one bit of all-thread, two flanged nuts and some PTFE tape from the hardware shop,
One hose-tail fitting and one or two silicon O-rings from the HBS.

Here's the obligatory link to how I did it:

http://sillybeertricks.blogspot.com/200 ... yphon.html

[Stubbie]

Just a bit of caution re 150mm lengths of all thread.

Whilst they're good value $ wise, lots of care needs to be taken if the aim is to cut the length into 2 or 3 shorter lengths. It's a very finicky job ensuring the leading threads are true. Otherwise, the the all-thread won't mate properly with a corresponding female thread. I recently went thru the exercise with SS all-thread and fortunately had access to a metal turning lathe, yet still found it a PITA. I found it necessary to tidy up the leading thread with a set of jeweller's (ie. precision) files

Oh, and don't forget to use a set of soft jaws (like aluminium or timber) to secure the all-thread in the vice if attempting to cut with a hacksaw.

Cheers

[Trough Lolly]

Good point stubbie - mind you, a bit of well directed violence does wonders - especially for hand tool challenged dolts like me!

Cheers,
TL

[Kevnlis]

Good point stubbie - mind you, a bit of well directed violence does wonders - especially for hand tool challenged dolts like me!

Cheers,
TL

We must have been on the same wavelength there. I reckon if you had enough rough goes you would eventually come up alright. My FIL has an old gas/electric heater/coooler esky he has given me. It still works and seems to be made of stainless steel? I was thinking the heater thingo would be perfect at pre-heating and helping to hold mash temps, and a stainless bulkhead could easily be fitted with a piece or two of braid. If I get the courage to start hacking into it I will post up a little tutorial of what I did as I am sure there would be heaps of these old eskies going around for next to nothing

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Running a nut over the thread once cut will rough the threads back into shape if you've distorted them.

I would recommend filing or grinding the end once you've cut it to remove sharp bits, which will also help. If it looks nice, it is more likely to work nice.

Keeping hold of the thread while trying to turn a nut up/down can be tricky. If you have two more nuts and two spanners/shifters, you can lock the nuts hard up against each other, then use the 'outside' one as something to hold in one spanner while turning the 'correcting' nut with another spanner. Or, you can just hold it in your vice...

[Stubbie]

Running a nut over the thread once cut will rough the threads back into shape if you've distorted them.

Maybe, I repeat, maybe, that you'll get away with that approach if the all-thread is brass and the nut-come-threading die is made from a harder material, say hardened steel, AND the extent of thread distortion is minor. But it's still a bit of a butcher job. But trying the same with stainless is likely to be a different story. God's own material, aka stainless steel, has lots of you-beaut properties. But a nasty one is its tendency to bind. Rubbing two stainless surfaces together under load can and often will lead to 'cold welding'. As an aside, that's why it's good practice to use a thread lubricant for stainless nut/bolt fasteners used in high load applications. That is, if there's any intention of being able to undo the fastener without ruining the threads or shearing the bolt. Been there, done that. Attempting to reform deformed threads using stainless on stainless is a sure way to tear the shit out of both threads, no problemo.

Consider using some TLC. How about folding a piece of wet and dry over an old/blunt knife blade and chasing the thread along the groove?

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Maybe, I repeat, maybe, that you'll get away with that approach if the all-thread is brass and the nut-come-threading die is made from a harder material, say hardened steel, AND the extent of thread distortion is minor. But it's still a bit of a butcher job. But trying the same with stainless is likely to be a different story. God's own material, aka stainless steel, has lots of you-beaut properties. But a nasty one is its tendency to bind. Rubbing two stainless surfaces together under load can and often will lead to 'cold welding'. As an aside, that's why it's good practice to use a thread lubricant for stainless nut/bolt fasteners used in high load applications. That is, if there's any intention of being able to undo the fastener without ruining the threads or shearing the bolt. Been there, done that. Attempting to reform deformed threads using stainless on stainless is a sure way to tear the shit out of both threads, no problemo.

Consider using some TLC. How about folding a piece of wet and dry over an old/blunt knife blade and chasing the thread along the groove?

Another reason to not use stainless!

[Stubbie]

Another reason to not use stainless!

Noooooooooooo. Stainless steel = God's own Material.

But you're right. It can be a bastard to work with without proper tools.

[Trough Lolly]

...Another reason to not use stainless!

Dead right SMOI - you need to purge your brewing setup off all stainless stuff - PM me when you're ready and I'll happily take it off your hands and, erm, dispose of it properly!!

Cheers,
TL in stainless heaven...