3-Way Brass Fitting Assistance

When I bought my kegs years ago, it came with a 3-way splitter. (Sorry for the phone quality photo.) I never used it, but now I'm needing to have three kegs on 1 tank for an outdoor event. This little guy is my solution, but I'm having problems getting fittings, and I'm hoping someone has worked with one of these in the past.

I have limited knowledge of brass fittings, so I don't know the formal name for everything, but I've learned a little bit. I believe I need to get a female barbed end for each of the "outs". I think they are 1/4" flared, so I need my barbs to be 1/4" flared. I assume once I have the barbs, I'll get some braided tubing with the right ID, and just clamp it to the barb.

So far so good in theory, but I can't find a 1/4" flared barb to save my life. I've gone to the big box hardware stores in my area, and no one has such a thing. They have 1/4" barbs for pipe, but they are too large and don't screw on properly. I checked McMaster-Carr and found some female barbs, but they don't say that they are flared, and I worry that I'll get the wrong item. Plus, I'd rather not pay $5 shipping and get 5 pieces when I only need two.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for getting this thing set up? Thanks in advance.

First, toss the two remaining brass compression nuts on the out fittings. Then, for each of the three 1/4" flare fittings on that block, you need one each of these items:

1/4" flare barb fitting


Swivel Nut


Washer


You can find these here or at other suppliers, and usually at your local home brew shop.

The only thing left is to identify the thread for the IN side. I can't tell if it's 5/16 or 3/8. You may be able to pick up a matching 1/4" flare barb, swivel nut and washer to fit it at the same place you get the 1/4" flare fittings...

Cheers!

If you don't have a homebrewshop close, I would just unscrew all 3 fittings from the disribution block. Then go to the hardware store and get brass barbs with the proper pipe thread to screw into the block. I can't tell by the picture is it's 1/8npt or 1/4npt,

day_trippr said:

First, toss the two remaining brass compression nuts on the out fittings. Then, for each of the three 1/4" flare fittings on that block, you need one each of these items:

1/4" flare barb fitting

Swivel Nut

Washer

You can find these here or at other suppliers, and usually at your local home brew shop.

The only thing left is to identify the thread for the IN side. I can't tell if it's 5/16 or 3/8. You may be able to pick up a matching 1/4" flare barb, swivel nut and washer to fit it at the same place you get the 1/4" flare fittings...

Cheers!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. Looks like assembling my own barb is the way to go. I don't have a super close LHBS, which is why I was trying to use hardware stores. But, at least I know what I need.

Thanks.

JRems said:

If you don't have a homebrewshop close, I would just unscrew all 3 fittings from the disribution block. Then go to the hardware store and get brass barbs with the proper pipe thread to screw into the block. I can't tell by the picture is it's 1/8npt or 1/4npt,

Click to expand...

Thanks for the idea. I did think about just removing the existing fittings, but they already have caps on them. Since I don't know how many kegs I'll hook up at a time in the future, I'd like to be able to just cap any outlets I'm not using.

But if I can't find any other solution, this might be the way to go.