kolektiv
Member
In designing my little brew project, I've got a few places in the pipework, where there's effectively an alternate way junction (an input from the top, gravity fed, and then the output being either right or left - or right or down, depending on orientation of piping). The obvious answer is a 3-way ball valve - but...
A) they'll often need another valve before them, as changing the position to the output you want from "closed" will have to pass through the other output half the time and
B) they're debatably sanitary
B is not a problem in the liquor pipes early on, but there's a need for a junction later which is going to be hot wort, and that's a potential issue if aiming for clean in place.
So, any other options? I have considered just having a simple open tee section of pipe with a butterfly valve on each output - this might be reasonable, they're sanitary, and it does give complete control. The downside is you'll end up with a little bit of extra fluid "in" the effective combined valve, but at these pipe sizes it's probably not a big deal, a few ml here and there.
Thoughts welcome!
A) they'll often need another valve before them, as changing the position to the output you want from "closed" will have to pass through the other output half the time and
B) they're debatably sanitary
B is not a problem in the liquor pipes early on, but there's a need for a junction later which is going to be hot wort, and that's a potential issue if aiming for clean in place.
So, any other options? I have considered just having a simple open tee section of pipe with a butterfly valve on each output - this might be reasonable, they're sanitary, and it does give complete control. The downside is you'll end up with a little bit of extra fluid "in" the effective combined valve, but at these pipe sizes it's probably not a big deal, a few ml here and there.
Thoughts welcome!
