Tri-clamps vs Camlocks

[ABrother]

This maybe a totally noobie question but what are the Pros and Cons of Tri-clamp fittings vs Camlock fittings? I'm in the planning designing stages of building my first brew sculpture and had planned to use Camlocks but the Tri-clamps seem very popular and pricy.

 

[vraftsman]

I have only used tri-clamp on some industrial scientific equipment, and they seem more unwieldy. I have cam locks on my eBrewery setup which I'm very happy with, and they can be operated one handed both attaching and detaching. The tri-clamps can be a little easier to clean I think, but most of what we do as brewers seems to be CIP anyway. I'll consider the cleaning a step further too, because the tri-clamp fittsings can be directly welded or soldered to the vestles, where as the cam locks always seem to be threaded on. few joints means fewer places for nasties to hide.
All that said, I really am happy with my camlocks and don't ever expect I will make a change to tri-clamp for a home brew system.

 

[luhrks]

Yep. He got it all pretty much. I use both on my system.

 

[GoodDogShelby]

I've got a fairly complex system but use hoses and move from vessel to vessel. Cam locks all the way. If I had plumbed where I didn't switch hoses around I might have considered TC's. The only TC's I have are on my RIMS element and the HLT heating element.

 

[bluelakebrewing]

Cam locks are good for moving hoses but the benefit of tri clamps is the ability to add any angle, valve, tee, elbow or hose barb. Those options allow you flexibility to do different things from your inlets and outlets in the brewhouse and ferm vessels, thermowells, dump valves, racking arms ect.. Tri clamp all the way. eBay stuff from china isnt too expensive and dec quality.


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[heckels]

I have all TC. I love how easy everything is to clean and you don't have to worry about male/female ends.

However, they are a bit of a PITA when setting up the system on brew day. I have 5 different 3-way valves so I don't need to swap hoses much.

Camlocks or QDs are the way to go if you have to move hoses often.



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[GoodDogShelby]

I have all TC. I love how easy everything is to clean and you don't have to worry about male/female ends.

However, they are a bit of a PITA when setting up the system on brew day. I have 5 different 3-way valves so I don't need to swap hoses much.

Camlocks or QDs are the way to go if you have to move hoses often.



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I'd love to see a picture of your setup.

 

[ajdelange]

3A Sanitary (triclover) fittings are standard in the pharmaceutical, dairy, brewing and other (food) industries where sanitation is of concern because they do not use threads. 3A flanges can be welded directly to pipe. They allow leak free connections between pieces of equipment in very flexible configuration and are easily adapted to hoses by the use of flanges with barbed fittings and can be adapted to NPT with a variety of 3A/NPT adapters. On brew day they are relatively easy to use. You just dump a pile of the gaskets and connectors into a bucket of iodophore and reach in when you need one. They are a bit of a pain to hook up however. I often joke that they are called 'Triclover' because it takes 3 hands to join them up.

The main argument for their use, IMO, is that they are so standard. If you buy any brewery equipment (or any other piece of gear used in a related industry) such as pumps, valves, filters.... it is likely to have a triclover fitting on it. It sort of goes without saying that there isn't much application in the 5 gal carboy segment of the hobby. I think they come into most home brewer's lives when they buy their first 10 gal or larger cylindroconical.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm a vendor that sells camlocks and triclover fittings. I make the same profit on both so I have no economic motive to push one vs the other.

Triclover: Worldwide standard, more sanitary and definitely easier to clean, bulkier, more expensive, and not the easiest to make/break connections if you're moving hoses throughout brewday. Caveat, your system will not really be sanitary if you use a bunch of threaded to TC adapters, if you use threaded ball valves, etc. In other words, unless a very good welder puts TC ferrules into your vessels (or you buy vessels with TC already) and couple those with sanitary butterfly valves you end up fooling yourself into thinking you have a more sanitary system.

Camlock: Also a worldwide standard based on a milspecs as long as the manufacturer cares about conforming. All SS camlocks I've held in my hands that have been imported in the U.S. from China work together. 99% of all camlocks available in the brewing market come from the same exact importer from the same factory in China. They work.

Yes they are threaded connections, which in the long run are just a few more threads in an already thread-heavy homebrewing system. With typical clean in place methods, you'll get no more nasty gunk in the threads than you would in a typical ball valve (non sanitary butterfly valve that is). All of this stuff is hot side anyway so unless you're a slob with your gear, you'll be fine.

Aside from a couple dissenting views on this, camlocks are easier to connect and disconnect with regularity. The silicone gaskets are captured so they don't roll under the brewstand. They are easily replaceable also for about $1 each.

Long story short, I put camlocks on my brewery some 5 years ago and never looked back. They do exactly what QDs should do, in stainless and silicone, for an unbeatable price.

Anecdotal: 90% of people that stopped by our booth at NHC raved about camlocks. 5% said they like TC better. 5% said they use plastic or brass QDs and they hate them but couldn't afford to change them out yet.

Price? A mated pair of male camlock and female coupler with high flow barb is about $11 to $12. For 1.5" TC, assuming 1/2" NPT thread to flange, gasket, clamp and 1.5" flange to 5/8" hose barb, that mated set is close to $36. If you replace the 1/2" NPT adapter with a weld on ferrule, you save $12 but add about $30 in welding labor.

 

[ABrother]

I appreciate all the good insights. I was planning to just move hoses so it's sounding like Camlocks are the way to go. I would not have guessed the TC's would be more difficult to connect but I can see the challange now with all those pieces. The system I'm planning in the grand scheme is probably on the smaller size using 1/2 barrel kegs for 10 to 11 gallon batches. Someday if I try to go to hard plumbing and automate then TC's may be the way to go.

Thanks again and happy brewing

 

[Monster Mash]

Both take two hands to operate but the CL's are smaller and cheaper. I put all CL's on my brewery and I'm happy with them, just keep a rag handy because there's always a bit of liquid in them when you pull them off.

 

[dkmag]

I ended up using both. For bulkhead connections on my kettles I went with TC. I dimpled and soldered a TC ferrule on the kettle and then connect to the valve with a 1/2" TC NPT adapter. Anywhere a hose is connected I use CL fittings.

I like having the option of being able to take the bulkhead fittings off when cleaning the kettles (mainly on the MLT and BK since it's not really necessary on the HLT). I can the dump the bulkhead fittings in a bucket of PBW and give them a good soaking.




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[Horseballs]

I would use triclovers if I was able to get a pump and heat exchanger with triclover connections. But without dropping a ton of money on those pieces of equipment, it just isn't worth it. You can use npt to triclover fittings, but that completely defeats the point of using sanitary fittings. So I use camlocks on my homebrew setup.

 

[454Casull]

Two differences I can see:

1) Tri-clamp gaskets usually come pretty clean and just need a sanitizing before use. I've seen some pretty gnarly cam-lock gaskets fresh out of the box, with black whiskers/fur all over from a bad molding/cutting process.

2) CL requires two hands, whereas TC can be done with one hand, as long as you have a spring-loaded tri-clamp and a fairly flexible/lightweight hose.

The real advantage of tri-clamp is the ability to CIP, but very few homebrewers will be able to take advantage of it.

 

[wbarber69]

No way is any TC a one handed event. The gaskets don't stay in place and even the smallest TC fitting barely fits in a closed hand. A cl can be done with 1 hand effortlessly. I have 1 port that only has to be changed on the fly when I'm in cleaning mode (and only because I'm too lazy to walk over and hit a switch) and it requires me to (using gloves) remove one cl hose and replace it with another very fast so a bunch of hot pbw doesn't dump out all over the place. Doing the math I only have 2 hands and I have to handle 2 fittings simultaneously, so it's a 1 handed operation.

 

[454Casull]

No way is any TC a one handed event. The gaskets don't stay in place and even the smallest TC fitting barely fits in a closed hand. A cl can be done with 1 hand effortlessly. I have 1 port that only has to be changed on the fly when I'm in cleaning mode (and only because I'm too lazy to walk over and hit a switch) and it requires me to (using gloves) remove one cl hose and replace it with another very fast so a bunch of hot pbw doesn't dump out all over the place. Doing the math I only have 2 hands and I have to handle 2 fittings simultaneously, so it's a 1 handed operation.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#9155k11/=sif2ia

They make tri-clamp gaskets with a snap ring on one side so they stay on, but regardless, a normal gasket usually sticks if it's neither bone dry nor dripping wet.

 

[wbarber69]

http://www.mcmaster.com/#9155k11/=sif2ia



They make tri-clamp gaskets with a snap ring on one side so they stay on, but regardless, a normal gasket usually sticks if it's neither bone dry nor dripping wet.

Yeah I was all like "Yeah take my money!" Then I saw they were 30 bucks a piece.

 

[wbarber69]

Regardless you still need 1 hand to operate the clamp and another to hold the fitting/hose

 

[454Casull]

Regardless you still need 1 hand to operate the clamp and another to hold the fitting/hose

That depends. In the past, I've held a hose between my legs or in my armpit, pressing onto the gasket, but beyond that I'll concede the point.

 

[thatjonguy]

Yeah I was all like "Yeah take my money!" Then I saw they were 30 bucks a piece.

Brewers Hardware has these, not much more expensive than the standard type.

The nice thing about TC is the lack of male/female parts. Giggity.

But seriously, you don't have to worry about if you have the right fittings to connect x to y. You just slap a TC sandwich with a gasket and top her off with a clamp.

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

I went from camlock to tc about a year ago. Camlock is easier to do house changes, but tri clamp let's me disassemble easily. Also,I get to tinker with things. Because everything fits with everything, it is like using big shiny legos.

 

[Doctor_M]

Camlocks for the hot side, triclamps for the cold.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I am all triclamp, or three hand clamp as I like to say, and it rocks. The only place I'm not triclamp is the inlet to my center inlet chugger pumps. Those are npt and hose barbs. I love triclamp but the reality is that my 30 gallon stout kettles came with a ton of triclamp stuff so it was nice. I bought a few extra hose barbs, gaskets and clamps to finish it all and have a few extras. Outside of the kettles I've spent about $100 on tc stuff. Not bad.

 

[ABrother]

Anybody want to post a few pics or a video showing how easy or difficult the connections are to make with the two different options?

 

[heckels]

I'd love to see a picture of your setup.

Sorry, didn't see this response come through. Here are a couple pics.




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[wbarber69]

I really can't see using triclovers on hoses. Plus it's not very easy to rotate a triclover when needed if it's got pressure on it. With camlocks you just turn them.

 

[CanadianSamsquatch]

Good info, Thanks.