Suitable Pipework Materials - Polybutylene?

[Nick T]

Does anyone know if polybutylene pipe is suitable for use with hot wort? This is the grey plastic pipe that is commonly used for piping water in a household system. Temperature should not be a problem for it, but will there be unwanted chemical reactions with the wort...?

[denimglen]

From wikipedia -

"The material oxidised when used in hot water systems, developing longitudinal cracks which eventually punctured the walls leading to floods and damage to properties."

Maybe not?

[Mike Neilson]

Nah Denim that stuff was the Black one this blue/grey one is alot more tolerable, most leaks in NZ houses were from that black pipe that was used in the 80's early 90's, I would say go for it. Plumbers use it to pipe out hot water which reaches 55deg so I cant see why another 10-12 degrees is going to mater?

[Nick T]

yeah, its the most commonly used pipe for hot and cold water systems in houses today. (I may have the technical name wrong, it is probably called polybutene and it is made from HDPE). The website from the company (buteline.com) seems to use both terms. It says it is OK up to 125 degrees before it melts, and it quotes working pressures for temperatures up to 80 degrees. Its just the reaction with wort, which has a different chemical composition to tap water that I am wondering about...... the website says 'high chemical resistance', but does anyone out there actually use it for wort?

[Alelover]

Nick, I got my tubing from HCD flow technology on Annex road in CHCH. It is food grade and rated up to 70deg C. The additional 10deg or so you would use in brewing shouldnt be an issue. All diameters are available and it is flexible reinforced tube. Ask for discount!

[denimglen]

HCD also do silicone which is definitely foodsafe for wort up to boiling, is thick willed so doesn't kink. The downside is it's ridiculously expensive, but looked after it should last you ages.

To be honest I wouldn't use the polybutylene stuff when there are other pretty much guaranteed solutions out there.

What exactly are you looking at using it for?

[Nick T]

As a maniold system. I have a fixed brewstand which I want to have a 'hardwired' manifold ring system with a pump that i 'plug' things like HLT, MLT, KT into for moving liquids around in a Herms type setup. The hard-wiring of the pipework just tidies up the workspace. I had envisaged using the silicone stuff over short lengths with quick diconnects to attach to the plunbing system, and a series of ball valves to control the flow of liquids. The attached diagram (courtesy of Joking) is the basic idea. Its just that I have a lot of the polybute left over from plumbing up a bathroom and a lot of extra fittings, and the crimping tools so it would be a no/low cost way to go....

[denimglen]

Should have plumbed up the bathroom with copper :-P and then you would conveniantly have had some 'leftovers' haha. I like the hard-'wired' idea, I considered doing it myself but decided cleaning would be a bitch and it wouldn't have worked out that well for me. Have you seen my rig? Single pump also but with just two lengths of silicone, is really easy to work with and isn't untidy IMO.

[Simon David kelly]

I can't wait to move into my new place (which has a garage) and start building something like that. Very nice indeed.

[Nick T]

rig looks nice! hmm, maybe i'm overthinking it...

[denimglen]

No such thing as overthinking it!

I planned the shit out of this one and wish I had planned some more.

But as long as you plan in a way you can upgrade/change things you'll be sweet as bro.

[Glynn Foster]

What did you under think Glen? Curious, as I've got a bunch of quick disconnects in storage and trying to figure out a system in the downtime I have available.

[denimglen]

Just a few things that were small but made the brewday just a little more of a hassle.

I didn't like the kegs, and really should have tried one before buying three. As cheap vessels they're great but one as a mash tun didn't hold heat too well, and one as a kettle holds too much heat during cooling.

Three four-ring gas burners use A LOT of gas, ie like 4.5kg of LPG per brewday.

Order more silicone hose than you think you'll need, and think four times, measure six times, then think another 8 times and hopefully you won't cut it too short.

Use four swivel castors instead of two - it's a big thing to move around with only a single pivot point.

Immersion chillers clog, and when they do it's not fun.

A few more smallish things like that - nothing really major, pretty much all just little quirks that I probably couldn't have planned out better if I had tried.

Really is a big game of trial and error, but I love building and playing with equipment, almost more fun for me than brewing itself :-)