keg shank dilemma

[bailey mountain brewer]

Alright so i have been wanting to make the switch to evabarrier and duotight. i built my 4 tap keezer years ago and my shanks have the 1/4 inch barb as part of the shank (not removable) well after spending the known amount on flow control intertaps and the the evabarrier hose and fittings it came to me.... well these duotight fittings are not going to just thread right on to my shanks. crap! not trying to be cheap but 4 new shanks at $20 a pop on top of what i just spent on the faucets (and a few used cornys) i really dont want to spend the money if i dont have to. can i safely remove the barb is my current train of thought. cut them off with a nice new blade then clean it up an be sure all shavings are removed, i think a cutting wheel would make more of a mess so scratch that. maybe bend it back and forth numerous times until weakens and snaps off. a pipe cutter maybe not strong enough to cut through it. any thoughts or input, other then the obvious of just sucking it up and spending the money to do it right. thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[garzlok]

So....I just went through this same dilemma. The answer is yes, you can cut off the barbs. I cut off the elbow barbs to 3 shanks. The problem, if not careful, you can create a leaker. 1 of my 3 shanks leaked (i nipped the back edge)

Sooo...I ended up buying 3 new shanks without a barb or tailpiece. (Checkout RiteBrew.com. They have some nice prices on SS Shanks.) FWIW: I'm going to grind and polish my 3 shanks to a smooth finish and keep them as back-ups, or for another project. Moral of the story...you can do it. Just take your time.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

thanks, just curious what did you use to cut them?

edit: those prices are much easier to swallow, thanks for that site.

 

[garzlok]

I used a Dremel Metal cut-off wheel. My mistake is I tried to cut off the barb flush with the back of the shank. (I succeeded with two of them.) In hindsight, I should have cut 2-4mm away from the back of the shank and ground down the last 2-4mm of shank material away.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

gotcha, makes sense. i have a few days until the new stuff shows up so ill do one and see how it goes, then if i need to ill order from ritebrew.

thanks

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I was too cheap 13 months ago to replace my shanks with full stainless barbless, so I whacked the barbs off my old chromed brass shanks with a Dremel fiber cut-off wheel...

Cheers!

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

awesome. i think i will go this route.

thanks

 

[Gozie Boy]

fwiw, I was too cheap 13 months ago to replace my shanks with full stainless barbless, so I whacked the barbs off my old chromed brass shanks with a Dremel fiber cut-off wheel...

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Cheers!

Good to know, thanks. I'm facing this exact same issue on my second keezer. We'll see how these wheels deal with SS. Did you then have to also ground down the remaining "nub", or could you cut it close enough to mitigate that need?

 

[day_trippr]

I rode the flat at the back of the shank with the fiber wheel and what you see is what was left.
I did clean them up, especially chamfering the holes, but that was quite light work...

Cheers!

 

[pvpeacock]

I ended up buying 3 new shanks without a barb or tailpiece. (Checkout RiteBrew.com. They have some nice prices on SS Shanks.)

When I built my keezer, I made the mistake of buying 5" shanks that stick out too much into the keezer and make it difficult to add and remove kegs. I have been meaning to replace them, but didn't want to spend the money. When I saw the prices at RiteBrew, I bought 4 new 3" shanks. Thanks for the tip!