Can someone tell me what I need for QD's on a Shirron plate chiller?

[Semicole]

I just bought a Shirron plate chiller and I'm having a hard time piecing together the fittings that I'll need for it because I don't have it on hand and can't really visualize what I'll need.

My plan right now is to use the valve on my kettle to drain through the chiller. I currently have a 1/2" barbed fitting with 1/2" male NPT threads threaded into the valve on my kettle outlet. So if I'm picturing this right I'll need a QD for the fitting on my valve, a QD for the wort in, a QD for the wort out, and then a garden hose QD for the water in and water out. The garden hose QD's I think I can get at Home Depot, but the others I'm not sure where to get and I'm really not sure exactly what to order.

I tried checking Northern Brewer and I see this fitting: https://www.northernbrewer.com/coll.../female-stainless-quick-disconnect-x-1-2-barb and this fitting:https://www.northernbrewer.com/coll...ucts/male-x-female-stainless-quick-disconnect
but I'm not sure if I need both of those for wort in and wort out, so 4 fittings in total or what. I also don't know if there are cheaper fittings somewhere, because that seems a little pricey for just fittings for some tubing.

I also need an in line thermometer since I don't plan on recirculating the wort back through my kettle, what does everyone recommend for those?

Can someone help me out? What fittings do I need exactly and which versions are the cheapest and where?

 

[Bobby_M]

It depends on how much disconnectivity you want to have. I'll assume you want the hose to disconnect from the drain valve on the kettle, the input of the chiller and also the output.

Camlocks are cheaper than the sleeve/ball QDs. Starting from the valve after you remove the barb.

CamF CamBigC /Silicone tubing /CamBigC CamA (on chiller input) 1/2" threaded TEE (on chiller output)

CamF on side port of the tee CamBigC/Silicone tubing to either recirc back to the kettle or direct into your fermenter.

On the top of the tee, you thread in the PCOMP1 fitting and then you can lock in any digital probe thermometer to watch output temps. Forget about using a clunky antiquated dial thermometer for this.


This kit right here will get you most of the items described above: https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/plateconkittemp1.htm

It includes the tubing and QDs to get from the kettle to the chiller and all the parts that will be on the chiller itself. You'd still need one extra CamF, one extra CamBigC and whatever length tubing you need coming out of the chiller.

On the cooling water side, I would highly recommend using camlocks on that side too. The hardware store hose QDs suck because they are not designed to stand up to hot water. Also, have cams on your water source lets you backflush the chiller under pressure without any new parts and you absolutely need to backflush.

The cams with 3/4 garden hose thread are:
CamGHA on the chiller. https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/camgha.htm
CamGHD on the hose. https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/camghd.htm