What SS tubing do I need

[beerguy1]

We are expanding and I need to run some 1.5" tubing from the kettles over to the new fermenter area. I see I can order 304 or 316 polished or un polished. I believe 304 is OK but dont know about the polish. I bet someone here can answer it. Thanks

[rdcpro]

We are expanding and I need to run some 1.5" tubing from the kettles over to the new fermenter area. I see I can order 304 or 316 polished or un polished. I believe 304 is OK but dont know about the polish. I bet someone here can answer it. Thanks

Most likely unpolished means either bright annealed, or white pickled (aka number 1 unpolished), which is not a sanitary finish. "Polished" doesn't tell us a lot, without knowing the actual finish. It may be specified in an Ra value, or by a standard such as "3A" (which is equivalent to 32 Ra). 3A is the standard sanitary finish. 20 Ra is a finer polish, usually for ultra high purity applications. Finer polishes usually mean a mechanical polish followed by electropolishing. If "Polished" in their sense means electropolished, you don't need that, though it wouldn't hurt. Electro-polishing removes surface iron (similar to passivating) and levels the surface at a microscopic level.



Regards,
Mike Sharp

[beerguy1]

Thanks Mike thats what I needed