Soft or rigid liquid lines?

[Cliff]

I've been contemplating exactly that. Swagelock and half inch SST tube.

The Cerrobend people insist that you leave no bending alloy behind of you first treat your tubing with vegetable oil. They claim the molten alloy won't break the oil film.

I've bent tubes with cerrobend and it's a breeze. No kinks no breaks no hassle.
Tight bends causes wrinkling on the inside of the bend.

I have looked around for a tube bending operation that does food grade and uses cerrobend. Haven't found it.

[Cliff]

I was there this last month.

I can bend SST tubing like there's no tomorrow using Cerrobend and they even have a new polymer version. Hell I used to design and build tube bending tooling for a Jet Engine manufacturing jobber.
And it looks so cool.
But I got to thinking about flexibility. What if I want to take a pump out and do something to it? Maybe get the hop debries that slipped past my filter and jammed it up?
Or what about anything else that I might want to move or adjust. Hard lines would require more Swagelock and Parker and other compression fittings driving up my cost substantially and for what? Ever cost out a SST union?

So I went to McMaster Carr and bought some Food Grade thickwall silicone today.

[hiroller173]

FWIW, McMaster Carr is charging over $3/ft for 3/4 OD 1/2 ID soft food grade hi-temp silicone hose. Morebeer has it for $2.10. Don't know about other homebrew suppliers.