Unitank users: How do you avoid oxygen when connecting tri clamp accessories?

[MaltAndMayhem]

Hi.

I am a proud owner of a Unitank. I carbonated and kegged my beer today, and while I was connecting the carbonation stone I started thinking about how to avoid the evil oxygen. I had the carb stone to a T bend, and connected the stone to gas. Then I vented out of the t bend with a butterfly valve. I'd fill the t bend with co2 and vent a little/burp the bend before opening the bottom butterfly valve and letting beer flow into the t bend.

When done carbonating I'd connect the keg to the racking valve. I kept thinking that I have no way to purge the hose barb tri clamp and the space between the hose barb for oxygen.

How nazi are you about oxygen when kegging?

 

[TheMadKing]

Hook up the tri clamp loosely, turn on CO2 and vent it for a few seconds and then tighten the tri clamp while gas is flowing

 

[StayThirsty]

How nazi are you about oxygen when kegging?

Very.

I do the same as TheMadKing. I hate it though because the pressure invariably causes the gasket to deform and seal up the gap, requiring me to open up the tri-clamp more than I'm comfortable doing (I'm worried about having a fitting hit me in the face if I open the tri-clamp too far). I should probably do it with less CO2 pressure. I also plan to try a teflon gasket because they are more stiff and deform less.

I wish they would make fittings that had a little vent port on them to make it easier to purge the fitting and the hose.

You were asking about your racking hose which seems a bit more complicated because there's no CO2 involved. The answer is easy though: make sure there's enough CO2 pressure in your empty keg to purge the line and the space between the tri-clamp and the butterfly valve.

 

[Tom R]

I no longer use a carb stone at all.
I find that if I spund to about 15 PSI, by the time I'm done cold-crashing to around 32F I still have over 10PSI in the unitank.

I then do a closed transfer to a purged keg, with no worries about O2. A couple days in the kegerator take care of the last bit of carbonating.