First let me start off by saying I am a grad student so money needs to be well spent.
With that said I am hoping to get a pump here real soon to help move liquid around. I have had a couple close calls with spilling hot wort and safety is one thing I do not skimp on. I also will be asking for a plate chiller for my birthday so with those additions I will need a good amount of connections. My final set up will be 2 pots, 1 cooler, 1 pump, 1 plate chiller. I batch sparge so water will go from my large pot into the cooler. I will then collect the wort from the cooler into my smaller pot. From there it will be pumped up into the larger pot on the stove to boil. After boiling the wort will go through the plate chiller into the carboy. I am looking into getting camlocks as i will need to switch from the pump to the plate chiller. I would also like to disconnect the pump to get it out of the way when not in use as I am in a small apartment kitchen and space is at a premium. As it looks now It would cost me $12 to get hose barbs or $42 to get camlocks. So my question is do you think for me camlocks are worth the $30 or should I just use hose barbs. (how sad is it that $30 poses this question maybe someday!)
With that said I am hoping to get a pump here real soon to help move liquid around. I have had a couple close calls with spilling hot wort and safety is one thing I do not skimp on. I also will be asking for a plate chiller for my birthday so with those additions I will need a good amount of connections. My final set up will be 2 pots, 1 cooler, 1 pump, 1 plate chiller. I batch sparge so water will go from my large pot into the cooler. I will then collect the wort from the cooler into my smaller pot. From there it will be pumped up into the larger pot on the stove to boil. After boiling the wort will go through the plate chiller into the carboy. I am looking into getting camlocks as i will need to switch from the pump to the plate chiller. I would also like to disconnect the pump to get it out of the way when not in use as I am in a small apartment kitchen and space is at a premium. As it looks now It would cost me $12 to get hose barbs or $42 to get camlocks. So my question is do you think for me camlocks are worth the $30 or should I just use hose barbs. (how sad is it that $30 poses this question maybe someday!)