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pump fittings

The high flow fittings really do get more volume from point A to point B. No, the priming/ cavitation issues don't disappear. If you want a better price with great shipping try www.bargainfittings.com
My type C camlok would sometimes clog with hops while whirlpooling, so I switched to type D camlocks with the high flow barb and have had no problem since.
 
I know I am stuck in the stone age with my barbs and hose clamps but I would have thought a larger inner diameter would equal more flow.  The bargain fittings version of the hi flow barbs are half the price but dont appear  to be stainless, at least they dont say it.
 
I don't have any camlock fittings yet, but have you considered (or used) any of these?

Bargainfittings.com - 1/2" SS Camlock Highflow BARB - $7.95

Brewhardware.com - Cam BIG C - Female QD coupling to 5/8" OD x 1/2" ID compact hose barb - $8.00

Brewershardware.com - Brewers Hardware High Flow 1/2" Cam Lock Coupler X Hose Barb - $8.50

The first two appear to be threaded fittings that are modified/ground to replicate large OD barbs, whereas the third is a custom mold and casting. The Brewershardware.com fitting doesn't mention an ID, but the other two demonstrate (via images of calipers) an ID of greater than 0.5 inches, which is slightly greater than the ID of the "high flow" hose barbs (something like 0.46" ID).

I don't have experience with any of these fittings, but to me, these look like an easier and more economical way to add stainless camlocks and maximize flow rate.
 
I would highly recommend Brewhardware.Com. The customer service from Bobby is fantastic. I had a glitch in a pump I recently bought from them. Email him  early on a Sunday. Had a Email back from him with in a couple of hours that parts were on there way to fix the problem.
 
CM, Wow, a whole new language to learn.  Remembering my coffee can full of retired Home Depot QD's I tried for gardening.  They were quick and they did disconnect, but didn't work well otherwise for me. so I'm a little gun shy.

Ike,  I wanted to give Bobby my business too.  He is a big contributor on other boards but he was backordered on the pump I wanted so had to go elsewhere for that.
 
I know it! I was a bit confused at first by the various nomenclature, but I started looking at them just like the garden hose style QDs, and then it made sense. These seem to be the best bang-for-the-buck QDs out there presently--still not cheap, but significantly better than the (usually) brass garden hose disconnects. I'm still using those, but am rapidly coming to a breaking point of my tolerance of them...

Anyway, I've pretty much seen only positive reviews of the camlocks, so I think they've been roundly vetted by homebrewers.
 
My brewery is very manual: 3 tier (its a ladder based rig), gravity feed, 48 qt cooler MLT, with a 1/2 barrel keggle.  No RIMS or HERMS.  I like it that way.  I like to stay one with the wort.  As mr. Miagi might say: "beeee the wort!"  I have one US Solar type of pump that I use to move hot water from the kettle to the MLT/HLT.  I also use the same pump to move cooled wort from my kettle into my fermentation room.  I got the pump simply so I would stop tweaking my back lifting 5-9 gallons of water at odd angles. 

So, I don't have a LOT of camlock fittings.  But, wherever I DO use fittings I always use camlocks.  I love them.  They are the closest you can get to sanitary fittings on the homebrew scale for a reasonable sum of money.  Besides, they just look cool. 

I wish I could get away from NPT connections, but tri-clamp is just too costly for me to justify vs. just careful cleaning, boiling, and sanitizer. 

I'm currently building new stainless steel fermenters, with 3 piece valves.  One is a sanitary racking port, and the second is a sampling port.  The racking port will have a male camlock outlet, and a female camlock dustcap.  During preparation, the valve and fittings will be disassembled, cleaned, and sanitized.  Then I will put the dustcap onto the camlock, with entrapped sanitizer.  the dustcap will remain in place until its time to rack into the keg, thus eliminating as much risk of contamination as possible. 

The final racking step will be done using a short length of silicon tubing with a female camlock fitting on one end and a liquid-in QD on the other.  Camlock-to-fermenter. Liquid-input to keg. Open pressure relief, open racking valve.  Wait for keg to fill.  A closed sanitary transfer...all made possible (or at least simple) by using camlocks. 


 
Thinking about your previous posts, it sounds like you have a closed system from kettle chill to serving glass. Are you making your fermenters from scratch?  Stainless makes for some fun welding.
 
Scratch?  No.  I'm using 7.5 gallon stock pots.  Parts for the first prototype are waiting for me at home.  The biggest question mark is sealing the lid.  I've got a plan, but dunno how it will work.  Standby for a post, with materials if it works out.  I like bucket shaped vessels---I like the big opening in the top.  I can see it, I can clean it, I can reach my arm in and feel it.  I don't like small necks of carboys or better bottles.  But, I don't like plastic---it scratches and infection can move in, and the plastic spigots eventually warp and leak. 

I also really like the Brew Bucket..but, they are impossible to get a hold of, and this is still about $60 cheaper. 

You are correct, regarding the closed cold side.  I put a lid on the kettle when I add the irish moss.  My lid had an electric stirrer mounted in it that stirs the wort while chilling.  My immersion chiller is hard mounted inside my kettle, so that there I don't need openings in the lid for chiller spouts.  I pump out of the bottom of the kettle directly into the closed fermenter (I pump in through the airlock hole).  I drain from the fermenter into the keg. 

I store my kegs sanitized and full of CO2.  Following the usual method: fill one keg and jumper from keg to keg and just push the sanitizer through each.  Leaves it sanitized and full of CO2. 

So, I think the beer is pretty well protected starting with 15 minutes before the end of the boil. 

I'm constantly looking for more ways to reduce opportunities for bugs to fall into my wort/beer.  In 13 years of brewing I've had 3 known infections.  My first two batches ever, because I was using a CLEANSER not a SANITIZER. 

The last infected batch was 2 years ago.  I tossed every bit of plastic I owned (buckets, tubing, racking canes, siphons, etc), and replaced it.  Nothing since. 



 
KernelCrush said:
I know I am stuck in the stone age with my barbs and hose clamps but I would have thought a larger inner diameter would equal more flow.  The bargain fittings version of the hi flow barbs are half the price but dont appear  to be stainless, at least they dont say it.

They are SS. I have at least a dozen of them. Yes the flow is increased. Damn that big C high flow which appears to be the same as the 1/2 SS Camlock Highflow Barb would be great. I wish I had them. It would be more sanitary because there would be no threads to be exposed to wort.
 
River,  Didnt want to bash on that company or product, but they should say they are SS on the site.  Thats what made me wonder.

Even though the visa took a tremendous hit last week (new condo, I mean 26 gallon boil kettle + new Chugger) I am going all in on the fittings.  Talked to BrewersHardware last night and gonna email them a sketch and they will come back with a parts list.  Dont want to make a rookie mistake and redo it or constantly adding things later.  Plus I am lazy.

 
tom_hampton said:
They <the cam-locks> are the closest you can get to sanitary fittings on the homebrew scale for a reasonable sum of money.  Besides, they just look cool.

When I was setting-up my new pump/plate-chiller/hop-rocket system recently; I gave a lot of thought to hoses and fittings. Not crazy about hose-clamps and I wanted a system I could break-down easily for clean-rinse-sanitize procedures post-brew.

The cam-locks seemed like the best option, didn't break the bank, and now I have a bunch of hoses (silicone 1/2" ID) at different lengths - all with female cam-locks on each end - my toys all have male cam-lock fittings, and yes, it really DOES look cool (oh, and it's a snap to clean).
 
philm63 said:
tom_hampton said:
They <the cam-locks> are the closest you can get to sanitary fittings on the homebrew scale for a reasonable sum of money.  Besides, they just look cool.

(oh, and it's a snap to clean).

This made me smile.  Beer geeky humor, just like mine.  I had my wife read it and it went right over her head.  and...that is surprising since she used to sell Swagelok fittings.  Once I pointed it out, it made sense to her.
 
Thank you all for the input for these fittings.  I went a bit overboard, my vessels all look like Transformers.  But way better.
 
Parts for the first prototype are waiting for me at home.  The biggest question mark is sealing the lid.  I've got a plan, but dunno how it will work.  Standby for a post, with materials if it works out.

Hey Tom, did u get anywhere with this?
 
Kinda. But, still working on the lid. It's not quite as good as I want.
 
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