At the moment I am upgrading by home brewery and I'm at the stage of selecting my hose connections for my setup. This will include connections between the grant and the pump-in, the pump-out, the Plate chiller In and out.
I intend to use plastic hose locks for the cold water pathway in the plate chiller since is it never in contact with the beer. I presume low pressure connnections like from the mash tun to the grant that simply flow via gravity can use an unclamped hose barb.
I could of course use camps and hose barbs for everything and simply use a screwdriver on brew day, but want to consider various quick connects before I go down that route, and hose barbs don't look that cost effective anyway.
Camlocks seem very expensive and I resent paying £100 on hose fittings. Likewise brass Hozelocks seem even more expensive. So before I put my hand it my pocket I want to rule out other options.
One fitting that seems to make more sense to me are the Geka fittings. Ok they are brass but that nothing a quick treatment in acid/H2O2 can't fix. The appeal is they are easy to use and cheap, it will actually be cheaper to do my brewery with Geka than SS hose barbs. I can't seem to find much about them for homebrewing, only that the seals need regular replacement. But this is the same for most fittings and no big issue because the seals are cheap.
For those unfamilar with Geka here is a video of them in use
Each Connection can be got for about £2 and come in 1/2" BSP female/male with hose barbs.
Suggestions, thoughts, experiences
I intend to use plastic hose locks for the cold water pathway in the plate chiller since is it never in contact with the beer. I presume low pressure connnections like from the mash tun to the grant that simply flow via gravity can use an unclamped hose barb.
I could of course use camps and hose barbs for everything and simply use a screwdriver on brew day, but want to consider various quick connects before I go down that route, and hose barbs don't look that cost effective anyway.
Camlocks seem very expensive and I resent paying £100 on hose fittings. Likewise brass Hozelocks seem even more expensive. So before I put my hand it my pocket I want to rule out other options.
One fitting that seems to make more sense to me are the Geka fittings. Ok they are brass but that nothing a quick treatment in acid/H2O2 can't fix. The appeal is they are easy to use and cheap, it will actually be cheaper to do my brewery with Geka than SS hose barbs. I can't seem to find much about them for homebrewing, only that the seals need regular replacement. But this is the same for most fittings and no big issue because the seals are cheap.
For those unfamilar with Geka here is a video of them in use
Each Connection can be got for about £2 and come in 1/2" BSP female/male with hose barbs.
Suggestions, thoughts, experiences
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