Quick connects and hose/ tubing suggetion

[Cajun_Tiger33]

Hello all, I'm new to brewing and I am building a keggle and a counter flow wort chiller. My intentions are to put quick connects on the keggle valve and countertops chiller, I was wondering what type of hose or tubing should I use with the quick connects?

 

[krazydave]

Welcome to the brewing world!

Silicone hose, and the QD's are totally what you like. Some people like brass or plastic (cheaper) QD's, others go with Stainless, some (like myself) like the stainless Camlock style, others don't feel like real brewers unless they have tri-clamps.
Tri-clamps and cam-locks will give you better flow rates, while the others restrict flow a little more.

 

[Cajun_Tiger33]

Are cam locks available at any hardware stores like home depot, sears, or lowes? because im not really familiar with those... and also can i get silicon tubing from these places also?

 

[krazydave]

No, places like that generally wont have any of the ones you want. For camlocks and other stainless bits, I suggest bargainfittings.com
For the others you can try morebeer.com but other places may have them for less.

 

[Cajun_Tiger33]

Ok, Thanks.. I appreciate all the help!

 

[kandofab]

+1 on the silicone hose and stainless QD. I use both and they work very well.

 

[Cajun_Tiger33]

+1 on the silicone hose and stainless QD. I use both and they work very well.

Which stainless QD's do you use?

 

[jcaudill]

Tygon Tygoprene for hot-side, Superthane for everything before the hot-side. Why: Superthane is much cheaper and more durable and you don't need silicone for mash temps. As for the hot side - Tygoprene is a bit more sturdy than silicone, will handle the temps and is about half the price or more of silicone.

As for QD's: love my Colder quick disconnects and you get a much wider range of options with them. Just my 2 cents.

 

[rekoob]

jcaudill, You have pic's of your set up?

I am using the cam locks but due to price and funds at the time I went with the aluminum, pretty enexpensive and I won't feel bad when I start changing them over to stainless. Also due to price I didn't go with the silicone but in the future sometime I most likely will when I feel it's time to change out the currnt tube I have. I already had the reinforced tubing and it works pretty good but does get a bit stiff on the cooler days of brewing.

The cam locks I believe I got from proflow dynamics and the reinforced tubing you can get at the big box store.

 

[bioguy]

Take Bobby's advice in this video:

[ame="http://youtu.be/j7VQQ1bxvTw"]http://youtu.be/j7VQQ1bxvTw[/ame]

Bobby sells these at http://brewhardware.com/

 

[jcaudill]

I use 5/8" ID tubing with the Colder QD's. They do not restrict flow. As I said before the thing I really like about them is you get a lot of flexibility - they come in barb, npt, and ght fittings so I use them on my garden hose, my pots, my plate chiller, my fermenter, my kegs, my glycol chiller. etc. The one thing you have to be careful about is valved vs. non-valved. And even when you get the non-valved they have these cross in them that is best to drill out. But they drill out real easily with a forstner bit. I also like that they don't get hot to the touch which can really be the suck with wort!

Just make sure you're using FDA or NSF approved tubing. Some tubing, especially a lot of the LHS tubing, is not safe for food-grade applications.

Here is Superthane: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=66284&catid=717&clickid=searchresults.

I use Urebrade for reinforced tubing: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23518&catid=717.

Typoprene I get from here: http://emurdock.com/tygoprenexl-60pumptubing.aspx. You have to buy a 50' roll but it works out to about 2.40 a foot - very cheap for hot side tubing.

I get all my Colder fittings from US Plastics.

As for pics of my setup - well kind of. I'm not sure what you're looking for but here's a brew day:


photo by brewerJP

 

[rekoob]

Awesome set up. That pic is good enough for what I was looking for, I just wanted to see your QD's. Thanks for the eye candy.
Looking at your pic, what is the two small sections of 2x2 coming off the lower right side?
Also, are those wheels? or just leveling things?

 

[jcaudill]

Originally I had large wheels I was going to use to move the stand around but there was an issue with the placement of those 2x2's that made using the wheels difficult so I took the wheel off and put on the leveling casters instead. One day I'll figure out something clever to do with those