Converting to tri-clamps and 3-way ball valves

[DasBierBaron]

I want my brewery upgrades to either reduce the time of my brew session, or to improve the quality of my beer. I have a single tier, 3-vessel system with one pump and camlock fittings. I've gotten tired of swapping hoses around and had noticed a good amount of gunk building up on my pipe threads despite running hot PBW through all the plumbing after every brew day. I figured I might as well go to TC fittings while I'm adding some valves to avoid hose swapping.

I've soldered 1.5" ferrules onto my pump, which was a lot more time consuming and tricky than I anticipated, but it was fun.




I was originally planning on using a 1" T on the outlet with two quick-clean ball valves, and a 1" T on the inlet with two butterfly valves. The thought behind this was that I could control the flow better with ball valves, but the butterfly valves can be cleaned in place. Well, it turns out this is pretty expensive to do; about 300$ worth of plumbing. Then I discovered these valves:

https://www.brewershardware.com/1-Tri-Clover-3-Way-Ball-Valve.html

One of these replaces two valves and a T, along with additional clamps/gaskets. The downside is that they are not clean-in-place like butterflies, nor are they as easy to take apart as the quick-clean valves. I'm also not sure how controlling the flow on the pump would work.

For those of you using triclover fittings, how do you have your pump(s) setup so that you can control flow without swapping hoses? What are the upsides and drawbacks of your system?

 

[jcav]

I have tri clovers on my entire system, you can check it out in my build thread under my signature. I really like them, they make a rock solid connection, they do not leak, and can take a lot of weight if your stacking multiple attachments. That said however, I do swap hoses during my brew day, when I go from recirculating the mash to sparging, and to fill the boil kettle. I also swap when chilling as I sanitize the chiller first with boiling wort. I use Blichmann gloves and put a container underneath when I break the connection, to catch any wort that comes out, which I then pour back into the vessel that it came from. I do soak all the fittings in PBW after my brew day is over in a 5 gallon bucket. I think most of us that use tri clovers do swap hoses, but there are some out there that do not so hopefully one of them might chime in for you. Nice job soldering those fittings on your pump!

John

 

[augiedoggy]

I use a mix of tri clover for my conicals and stainless camlock fittings for my brewery which I find much faster and easier to maintain.
there are a number of sources for the camlocks like bargainfittings.com and dudadiesel and ebay... they are more cost effective and soo much faster. I use standard stainless 3 way valves with the camlocks attached... I disassemble them like once a year since the pbw cycle does a good job of flushing mine out.

 

[DasBierBaron]

I use a mix of tri clover for my conicals and stainless camlock fittings for my brewery which I find much faster and easier to maintain.
there are a number of sources for the camlocks like bargainfittings.com and dudadiesel and ebay... they are more cost effective and soo much faster. I use standard stainless 3 way valves with the camlocks attached... I disassemble them like once a year since the pbw cycle does a good job of flushing mine out.

I currently use camlocks on my system and they are pretty great. My goal is to get rid of threads on stuff after the boil, which is mostly my pump. I'd still be using them on my plate chiller, but that's not a big deal since I bake or boil the whole thing to sanitize it every couple of brews. Basically, I don't want to have to take apart and retape fittings.

I'd like to avoid swapping hoses for sparging and transferring to the boil kettle from my mash tun. That's when things tend to get messy and take more time. Other than that, I do one hose swap to the outlet on my boil kettle, a connection to my chiller, and the connection to my fermenter after I've recirculated at the end of the boil to sanitize. These i don't mind so much because the lines aren't filled with hot liquid and can be done any time during the boil.

Picking up some silicon gloves also seems like a good idea.

 

[augiedoggy]

I currently use camlocks on my system and they are pretty great. My goal is to get rid of threads on stuff after the boil, which is mostly my pump. I'd still be using them on my plate chiller, but that's not a big deal since I bake or boil the whole thing to sanitize it every couple of brews. Basically, I don't want to have to take apart and retape fittings.

I'd like to avoid swapping hoses for sparging and transferring to the boil kettle from my mash tun. That's when things tend to get messy and take more time. Other than that, I do one hose swap to the outlet on my boil kettle, a connection to my chiller, and the connection to my fermenter after I've recirculated at the end of the boil to sanitize. These i don't mind so much because the lines aren't filled with hot liquid and can be done any time during the boil.

Picking up some silicon gloves also seems like a good idea.

I use 3 way valves on my rig so I dont have to disconnect any hoses during brewing...just a few turns of some handles.
Maybe its because I recirculate pbw through them but I dont dissemble my threaded fittings on a normal basis but when I have they have all been clean. the three way valves are the biggest pain to keep clean and I normally actuate the valves multiple times while under pbw pressure to flush out the area behind the ball.

 

[DasBierBaron]

I use 3 way valves on my rig so I dont have to disconnect any hoses during brewing...just a few turns of some handles.
Maybe its because I recirculate pbw through them but I dont dissemble my threaded fittings on a normal basis but when I have they have all been clean. the three way valves are the biggest pain to keep clean and I normally actuate the valves multiple times while under pbw pressure to flush out the area behind the ball.

What gets nasty on my threads is the Teflon tape. It turns brown. I went to tighten one of the fittings on my pump the other day, and when I did a small amount of brown liquid oozed out.

I haven't had much issue with ball valves. While recirculating pbw I do the same thing as you, I open and close them and also leave them half open. I've taken them apart a couple times, and every time they've been spotless. I'm not sure how well this works with the 3-way valves, and they look like they might be a pain to take apart.

 

[Carlscan26]

You can't use those three way valves (or any) to adjust flow - only direction. You'll still want a straight ball valve immediately after the pump to regulate the flow