Barbed or threaded ball lock fittings?

I recently pulled the trigger and bought a chest freezer. Trying to save money on the kegging setup I have decided to piece it all together. So far I have:

MC 7.2CF chest freezer(home depot $250 after tax).
Dual Gauge regulator (LHBS $36)
(4) 5 gal corneys (on the way... 20 bucks each on ebay, sounds almost to good to be true, but the seller had awesome feed back)

5# CO2 tank (on the way)
Johnson thermostat (on the way) both from micro matic $126 shipped

Still need tubing and ball lock connectors. I think I am gonna go with Midwest for the ball lock fittings @ 5.50 each, my question is which is better or preferred and why? threaded or barbed?

its easier for me to change out a stuck fitting if im using the threaded fitting

I just finished putting together a kegerator, and after much research and advice, went with threaded fittings. Seems like the way to go for ease of swapping, cleaning, etc, etc.

ahh crap. I wanted to get the threaded and my lhbs talked me into the barbed as they said that the threaded was only good if you plan to switch what they are hooked up to.

I am looking forward to hearing what other responses are posted.

I am going to keg my first beer this week !! I cant wait.

100% barbed fittings. One less potential leak.

That is a great point. I think that alone makes it worth the purchase over the other.. I guess you can always just purchase another quick disconnect for the other use with some beer line. They are pretty cheap overall.

Barbed... thats what i have decided. Less Teflon tape and apparently the 3/16 hose is a perfect fit for the 1/4 fittings. No leak!

Threaded...I like the flexibility.

Pi Kapp Beer Guy said:

Barbed... thats what i have decided. Less Teflon tape and apparently the 3/16 hose is a perfect fit for the 1/4 fittings. No leak!

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Technically, you're not supposed to use teflon tape on such fittings as the seal doesn't occur at the threads, and having to use tape each time would kind of negate the "quick disconnect" aspect anyway.

I do agree with David on the potential leaks. When I bought my setup I went with the threaded fittings as I wanted the option to easily switch to a sankey coupler if desired, but upon thinking about it, I'm not really sure how much easier the threaded fittings are to change out. I did a pressure test last night and had to fiddle with the connections a bit to get them to stop leaking - I hope. When I add the second keg I'm just going with barbs.

Well....I'm still in the process of changing my single tap, commercial keggerator over to homebrew. I have the cornie kegs (3) and installed a double tap on top. I went with the threaded keg fittings for one of the taps (I also bought the conversion fittings already) so I can easily swap out to commercial if I get the urge....but for the other tap I went with the barbed fittings....figure it'll be dedicated to homebrew.....I can see plus and minus for both types....so I just went with both....go figure....(yeah, yeah...I know consistancy will help with replacement parts..but....ya'know....)

I went with barb fittings and beer & gas line quick disconnects (in-line) with shut-off's at the half way point. With these I can swap between corneys and commercial kegs quick and easy.

I like the threaded fittings personally.

i like having threaded that way I can swap out with gas/liquid if needed , or quickly throw in a Y to 2 disconnects, plus threaded allows me to take off discionnects for cleaning.

I think this is an apples or oranges type of debate. I chose barbed because it's more important to me that my lines not leak than how easy it is to swap them out. But I'm pretty sure either one will carbonate/dispense beer.

This thread was an omen. I came home and noticed beer in the bottom of my keezer and an empty CO2 tank. Cause: Improperly tightened fitting.

An omen of a different sort for me... All my kegs were ball lock until last week when I scored two pin lock kegs for a song from the local Mexican restaurant (they were used for premixed margaritas). Glad I planned ahead and can easily swap out disconnects! You never know...

I have a mix. 2 threaded so I can swap out quickly if necessary, and 2 barbed that are dedicated for homebrew

I'm all barbed. When I add to my existing, I'll have to add in some threaded to provide the ability to pop in the occasional BMC keg for the relatives.

Barbed cept for one fitting. I bought them use and that's what I got. I don't think I've ever disconnected the one threaded fitting so basically.. I'm barbed.

Barbed for gas (fewer opportunities for leaks)
Threaded for liquid (easier cleaning, line swapping)

There's the answer.

StunnedMonkey said:

Barbed for gas (fewer opportunities for leaks)
Threaded for liquid (easier cleaning, line swapping)

There's the answer.

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I like it. :rockin:

gabrewer said:

I like it. :rockin:

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Ditto. Just ordered a few barbed gas and threaded liquid connectors last night.

StunnedMonkey said:

Barbed for gas (fewer opportunities for leaks)
Threaded for liquid (easier cleaning, line swapping)

There's the answer.

Click to expand...

Reading this was definitely a "duh!" moment. Perfect combo and the perfect answer.

Cheers!

Personally I prefer the threaded-- though I have a mixture of fitting types. I even got rid of my liquid side quick disconnects, even though I occasionally swap in a commercial keg for parties or when I'm low on homebrews.

They sell fittings that you can use to put a Sankey tapper on a standard threaded fitting-- which is what would make the 'barbed on the gas side' method less attractive to me.

I have all threaded. A properly used threaded fitting shouldn't leak. I add the washer. Haven't had any issues, just have to remember to tighten them.