Poll: TriClover vs Quick Disconnects vs Camlocks

[klyph]

Sanitary is a relative term....camloks are pretty dang sanitary if you keep em clean. That being said, unless you are using a triclover pump that is designed to be broken down repeatedly and have the impeller cleaned, you're not really accomplishing what the industry would call "sanitary". So it's relative, in that NO homebrewer that I've seen has one of these pumps and they just do their best to keep things clean. You can do that using any type of QD with the right chemicals/procedures, so I guess it comes down to whether or not you take care of your gear.

If you're cleaning properly, then the next question is how do you like to brew? Switching hoses, completely hard piped, wearing gloves, etc.

If you did what this guy did (assuming the welds are sanitary)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/new-replacement-march-pump-180761/index26.html#post2413119
and put thumb screws in place of the phillips heads on the pump head, I'd be comfortable calling it a "sanitary pump"

 

[Bobby_M]

Yeah, that's way closer to sanitary because the face of the TC is the very end of the threaded piece of the pump housing. If you were to thread a female NPT TC fitting on to a chugger, you'd have to machine, drill, bore whatever the exposed female threaded area and run a weld bead when you hit the pump housing.

 

[klyph]

Exactly, someone said that fittings tend to thread onto the chugger heads a long ways, I was envisioning threading the triclover adapter on until the end of the pump port is flush with the inner face of the triclover, then welding there and polishing smooth. That way the inner weld is on the face of the triclover instead of the inside of the pipe.

 

[Ohio-Ed]

I've been using polycarbonate QD's from US Plastics;
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=25024&catid=743
Numbers: 64963 & 64965 ($2.90 & $2.52)
For NPT connection, you still need a barb fitting, short piece of hose and 2 clamps.

They are cheap enough that I have kept several extra around. I've stepped on them (and broke them), I dropped a keggle on one (and broke it). Bottom line they are cheap but I wouldn't recommend them for longevity.

So, I'm looking to upgrade. I'm leaning toward camloks for hot side connections but I have a question;

Are camloks universal? IOW, are the ones from ProFlow and BarginFittings interchangeable?

Thanks,
Ed

 

[Reelale]

Now I'm getting unnecessarily paranoid. Are we talking about foreign material migrating back through the threads into the product? That is assuming they actually migrated out (which by definition, is a leak). I can't see that being a problem with the CIP regimen that most people use, combined with the appropriate cleaning chemicals. Exposed threads will certainly need cleaning, but I was under the impression that a sufficient CIP would take care of that. Of course periodic disassembly goes along with that. Same goes for all disconnects and seals. Add to that the fact that most pumps are used, at least partially, in recirculating boiling wort. Are we really worried that there will still be nasties lurking between the threads that wait to pounce on the vulnerable wort? I'm just asking....

 

[CollinsBrew]

How do the camlocks work? I've been looking at the pictures and can't really envision how they go together. I know how normal QD's and tri's work. When I say 'normal' QD's, I'm referring to ones that go together like the ones on my air compressor. Never came across cams though.

What's he big deal with using brass anyway? I've never really had a problem with them after periodically bathing my brass in a vinegar bath.

 

[Dog House Brew]

How do the camlocks work? I've been looking at the pictures and can't really envision how they go together. I know how normal QD's and tri's work. When I say 'normal' QD's, I'm referring to ones that go together like the ones on my air compressor. Never came across cams though.

What's he big deal with using brass anyway? I've never really had a problem with them after periodically bathing my brass in a vinegar bath.

The 2 arms pinch into the channel on the male fitting drawing it up to the seal inside the female. Really nice and dependable. i like the idea of cams on the hot side, and tri's on the cold side.

 

[JayInJersey]

Personally I have nothing against brass...I have them on my system now

But the system I'm building needs the SS ya know...can't have that brass messing up the Bling factor Homie!

 

[rcrabb22]

I have all brass sleeve lock connectors on my system and while I have almost pulled the trigger on camlocks, I stop. I don't see the need to spend more cash on something that's already working. If I was just starting a build from scratch and had nothing, then I would consider a different connector.

When I do build my next brewery, I still will re-purpose my brass sleeve locks since they are bought and paid for.

 

[SankePankey]

The poll is flawed in that the "QD" is such a generic term that it could include triclover, camlock, mcmaster brass coolant sleeve locks, Morebeer stainless sleeve-locks etc. I assume you mean sleevelocks in general... you know, pull the sleeve to disconnect. I suppose you can mean the poly pushbutton ones.

I think stainless camlocks are the obvious winner in value. Cost the same as the brass sleevelocks from mc with the stainless longevity and wide open flow. TC's aren't any easier to connect/disconnect but they are more than twice the price. There's no sense in talking about sanitary or not if you use any threaded fittings inline. In other words, unless you convert your pump heads to native TC and use TC butterfly valves, it ain't sanitary anymore.

Many welds people call "sanitary" are not, if they are not done absolutely perfectly they have sugaring and such that traps bacteria worse than threads.

Any of this stuff I think is sanitary if it is heat sanitized. I either boil or run a steam generator into all of my fermenting gear post boil kettle valve (butterfly, which I disassemble every brew) even though it's all sanitary by standard - and all I have is one weld below the beer line and no threads. Overkill? Not if I prevent wasting 7 hrs of my time and 15 gallons of what would be good beer on an infection. I would consider heat sanitizing of pumps post kettle under the definition of sanitary regardless of if it has threads and such, but what do I know.

Actually, I am wondering what the technical description of a 'sanitary' fitting is. If you look at triclamp stuff, there is nothing greater than a 90 degree angle (in the gaskets, etc.). Is that what 'sanitary' means?

 

[SankePankey]

Are camloks universal? IOW, are the ones from ProFlow and BarginFittings interchangeable?

Thanks,
Ed

Bargain Fittings is a distributor of the proflow camlocks. They are the same price (now) as from proflow and bargainfittings includes the silicone gaskets in the box with a $5 flat rate ship. I went with him since I needed a couple other things too.

 

[Ohio-Ed]

Bargain Fittings is a distributor of the proflow camlocks. They are the same price (now) as from proflow and bargainfittings includes the silicone gaskets in the box with a $5 flat rate ship. I went with him since I needed a couple other things too.

Thanks for the response... I ordered a few from Bargain Fittings to get the ball rolling.

 

[Swagman]

Paranoid runs deep into your life it will take over if you let it.

GREEN EYED MONSTER
First I’m not an English major and I have been kicking this ideal around for a long time in my head. Just might not get it correct to paper. So if my wording offends anybody I apologize now. I was thinking back when my two Great uncles brewed beer, the equipment used and the outcome of their efforts. This was in the mid fifties and there equipment was just a canning pot to boil and the kitchen sink was to wash items and rise out bottle’s they had collected from everywhere. No liquid soap, no hydrometer, no disinfecting of any kind. Open top crocks with maybe a cloth towel across the top as I was told the bottles where worth more than the beer since they were hard to come by. Was there beer good, I never was allowed any but everybody said it was or it was just free beer? They used Past’s Blue Ribbon extract and bakers dry or cake yeast and that was it. But I never heard that the beer went bad. A few broken bottles because over primed or bottled too soon and the wort was still working.
In other words no Green eyed Monster jumped out of the back room and ruined their beer. They just used common sense to their brewing. Clean everything with soap and water and go on with the business at hand Brew Beer.
Now I with a shed full of equipment and I go a few extra steps than my great uncles did but I never had a batch of beer where the Green eyed Monster spoiled the batch. I believe in the CS approach on cleaning and do at time get a little to lay back.
Infections can happen and a few blame that when they have a poor process or just forgot to use CS.
Remember don’t carry common sense too far because than it’s not CS but infatuations trying to eliminate a problem that’s not there to start with. I remember a while back of a brewer told me what he did to clean and sanitize his bottles. After bottles soaked in bleach and water mix they where rinsed with hot water. Placed into a container with one step placed on rack to dry and then stacked into the oven and heated I don’t have a clue at what temp. Cooled down and back to one step just before bottling. Common Sense was tied to a stake and shot.
Just use common sense and enjoy the beer and not make it a chain gang of labor.
It’s just Beer
Green eyed Monsters aka Infections
Nothing is jumping out of the closet
Tri's-camlock-quick connects use what you like just use cs with it.

God Bless
Dominus Vobiscum
Swagman

 

[Handsaw]

I have seen several posts saying that you would use cam lock on the hot side and tri clover on the cold side. Does that mean that your plate chiller will have a cam lock on the inlet side and a tri clover on the outlet? It looks like that it would make back flushing the plate chiller difficult.

 

[SpartyParty]

Why would a camclock set up not be sanitary and a QD and/or TriC BE sanitary? I'm looking at going with camlocks but if it's NOT sanitary that makes me a bit nervous.

 

[bob352]

Lots of folks use camlocks without any infection issues.
Nothing special about camlocks that make them less sanitary then
QD or threaded fittings.

TC seem to be the connector to use if you must have a sanitary system.
No nooks for crap to collect in *if* properly configured.
However a complete sanitary system would have to include
the entire environment, not just a few connectors.
Which would be major overkill for homebrew.

I use TC fittings on my brew setup because I like them more than
the alternatives. But my goal is not to be any more sanitary then
camlocks. I just like the many options they provide.

 

[mikemyers281]

I am wanting to go with disconnects, I went through this thread. Great info as always. What about the Blichmann stainless quick connectors? Has anyone tried these?

http://www.morebeer.com/ct/?idx=819...inless-quickconnector-12in-straight-barb.html

 

[schematix]

In the homebrew setting i don't think it makes a huge difference between different kinds of connectors. Hot side doesn't matter. Cold side, probably not. These connections don't hold onto much wort.

The one area where things could go awry is valves. Ball valves are NOT sanitary. Do not let cooled wort pass through an unsanitized ball valve. Those suckers have a huge reservoir for bugs to grow. A few months ago i opened a ball valve i hadn't used in a year and it shot fermented beer all over my face. I recirculate by BK for 15 minutes through my cold side back to the BK before i run out at the end of the boil.