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Author Topic: Dip Tube Issues  (Read 2422 times)

Offline rodwha

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Dip Tube Issues
« on: March 31, 2016, 06:19:48 am »
I had read long ago about making a dip tube for a bottling bucket so as not to need to tilt the bucket to get the last several bottles filled.

I did partial mash BIAB for a while and have moved to all grain by buying an Igloo cooler and using a bottling spigot with my grain bag. But I have to tilt after each sparge.

I talked (chat function) on a supply provider's site and was directed to this:

https://www.morebeer.com/products/st...lpool-arm.html

In essence the 90* should act as a dip tube. I installed it hand tight and it ran out of steam at the level of the ball valve. Against what I wanted I applied thread sealing tape by doubling it to reduce the width and used wrenches. It still fizzled out.

So I emailed them and got a response I wasn't figuring on getting, that it wasn't designed that way and won't work.

But I'm not buying that as I don't see why it wouldn't work in the fashion of any other dip tube. I assumed it wasn't fully sealed keeping it from sucking down to the orifice. And maybe it still wasn't.

These are the emails (opposite order):

"This is designed to be a whirlpool arm, not a pickup tube. It will work as a pickup tube as long as there is enough water in the cooler, but it may only drain to the spigot level, and not necessarily the level of the elbow."


"I bought the WL305 with the 90* elbow as it was supposed to allow wort flow without needing to tip my Igloo cooler mash tun to get the last of the wort. Checking it with water I find it didn’t work, though I hadn’t sealed the threads. Upon using thread sealant (tape such as what was used on the exterior parts) it still is not draining. These fittings are tightened with wrenches.

Is there something else I should try?"

Offline MDixon

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Re: Dip Tube Issues
« Reply #1 on: March 31, 2016, 06:47:14 am »
When I used a bottling bucket I used this:
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/INVERT-TUBE-BACKNUT-P179.aspx

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Offline rodwha

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Re: Dip Tube Issues
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2016, 07:10:16 am »
Interesting! Where did you get that?

For this application it is for my mash tun cooler. I was leery of using anything plastic as I don't know if it would hold up to the heat or leech a plastic taste.

Offline 69franx

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Re: Dip Tube Issues
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2016, 08:50:58 am »
I use a nylon 90° elbow. One end goes into a drilled stopper (not sure which size) and the other end gets a small length of bev tubing angled to the bottom of the bottling bucket. Works great, gets me down to a level of volume that is usually full of sediment anyways and not what I want in my bottles. Just what I was taught to do to get as much as possible out of my bucket
Frank L.
Fermenting: Nothing (ugh!)
Conditioning: Nothing (UGH!)
In keg: Nothing (Double UGH!)
In the works:  House IPA, Dark Mild, Ballantine Ale clone(still trying to work this one into the schedule)

Offline rodwha

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Re: Dip Tube Issues
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2016, 10:00:36 am »
I had made my own bottling buckets and installed the spigot quite low. But these are too small (5 gal bucket for 5-5.75 gal batches). Now I'm tilting to get the last 6 bottles.

Offline Werks21

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Re: Dip Tube Issues
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2016, 01:30:31 pm »
As crazy as I get about equipment, I just shove something under the bucket and keep moving. However that Nylon elbow looks like a great solution..
Jonathan W.
Snohomish WA

Offline wswagar

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Re: Dip Tube Issues
« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2016, 02:07:23 pm »
As crazy as I get about equipment, I just shove something under the bucket and keep moving. However that Nylon elbow looks like a great solution..

Same here, a chunk of 2x4 is about right for me when I am siphoning through a racking cane. Simple but it works

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Dip Tube Issues
« Reply #7 on: April 02, 2016, 03:01:37 pm »
Isn't the op looking for a solution for a mash tun and not a bottling bucket?

For that, I have a street elbow attached to a ball valve. Then a hose barb attached to the elbow.

Regardless I don't think tilting a mash tun or bottling bucket is a big deal.


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Offline rodwha

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Re: Dip Tube Issues
« Reply #8 on: April 02, 2016, 04:39:28 pm »
It is for a mash tun.

For a while I was placing towels under the back side to tilt it, and one day it fell. It was good I was paying attention at that moment!

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Dip Tube Issues
« Reply #9 on: April 02, 2016, 06:39:01 pm »
I think I was describing my kettle pick up tube. I'll need to look. Been struggling with a head cold/flu today and not thinking clearly.


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Offline 69franx

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Re: Dip Tube Issues
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2016, 01:07:49 pm »
Sorry about the bottling bucket hints. Saw it at the beginning of OP and thought that was what we were talking about. I prop my tun at one end with a 2x4 or 2
Frank L.
Fermenting: Nothing (ugh!)
Conditioning: Nothing (UGH!)
In keg: Nothing (Double UGH!)
In the works:  House IPA, Dark Mild, Ballantine Ale clone(still trying to work this one into the schedule)