Tri-clamp/tri-clover kettle adaptors

[Ghottman]

I recently purchased three shinny new 15 gallon kettles with a few tri-clover flanges welded onto the kettle. I have a HERMS systems that will circulate my mash. On the kettles there is a 1.5" tri-clover is near the bottom of the BK/MT for the wort out and there is a 1.5" tri-clover at the top for wort in/sparge water in.

I thought the tri-clovers would be easy to clean and disasemmble, which they are; however, i am having a little trouble trying to figure out how to hook my whole system up.

First let me start with the MT. Ideally i would like to have a set-up similar to that of the famous "electric brewery" Meaning i would like to have a silicon hose on the inside of the kettle to circulate the wort and allow me to fly or batch sparge without disrupting the grain bed. I would also like to be able to be able to quickly disconnect and reposition the hose on the outside of the kettle. How do i accomplish this with TC fittings on my kettle? (my thoughts are drilling a hole in a TC cap and attaching a bulk head, or using a TC to NPC adaptor).

On the wort out of the MT i will have a similar issue attaching both a pick-up tube and a valve.

My BK will look pretty similar to my MT without the false bottom, I want a pickup tube and valve with the ability to circulate (for cooling purposes).

If anyone has any thoughts i am all ears.

Thank you

 

[smoa]

Does the inlet of your mash tun have a Tri-clamp flange on the outside of the vessel and the inside? That is how mine is set up. You can hook Tri-clamp X 1/2" hose bard on both sides. Something like this ...

https://www.brewershardware.com/1.5-Tri-Clover-X-1-2-Hose-Barb.html

Brewers hardware has a large selection of Tri clamp fitting including valves with Tri clamp inlets/outlets that would work great coming out of your MT/BK. I'm not trying to promote them, but they have pictures of most the stuff and will give you an idea of what's out there and where you might want to start.

 

[Ghottman]

My kettles just have the TC on the outside of the kettle.

 

[Bobby_M]

This is a good example of my typical distaste (maybe it's ranty) for triclovers on a homebrewing scale. Yes, there are some practical reasons to use 100% TC in a brewery, especially at production scale. In many cases, it's mechanically practical for an occasional disconnect (since I don't consider them quick disconnects).

In order to get the sanitary benefits of TC, EVERYTHING has to stay TC from butterfly valves with TC flanges with no threads anywhere.

 

[sumbrewindude]

Bigger than you need, but you might be able to stretch some larger silicon tubing over the end of it -

https://www.brewershardware.com/1-Tri-Clover-Tri-Clamp-Style-Pickup-Tube.html

That would fit through your 1.5TC from the outside and give you another TC connection point.