Hose Connections

[Queequeg]

At the moment I am upgrading by home brewery and I'm at the stage of selecting my hose connections for my setup. This will include connections between the grant and the pump-in, the pump-out, the Plate chiller In and out.

I intend to use plastic hose locks for the cold water pathway in the plate chiller since is it never in contact with the beer. I presume low pressure connnections like from the mash tun to the grant that simply flow via gravity can use an unclamped hose barb.

I could of course use camps and hose barbs for everything and simply use a screwdriver on brew day, but want to consider various quick connects before I go down that route, which dosn't look that cost effective anyway.

Camlocks seem very expensive and I resent paying £100 on hose fittings. Likewise brass Hozelocks seem even more expensive. So before I put my hand it my pocket I want to rule out other options.

One fitting that seems to make more sense to me are the Geka fittings. Ok they are brass but that nothing a quick treatment in acid/H2O2 can't fix. The appeal is they are easy to use and cheap, it will actually be cheaper to do my brewery with Geka than SS hose barbs. I can't seem to find much about them for homebrewing, only that the seals need regular replacement. But this is the same for most fittings and no big issue because the seals are cheap.

For those unfamilar with Geka here is a video of them in use

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-qROBGJAL4

Each Connection can be got for about £2 and come in 1/2" BSP female/male with hose barbs.

Suggestions, thoughts, experiences?

[timbo41]

not able to comment on usage, but the geka fittings look interesting
http://www.waterirrigation.co.uk/hoses- ... wgoduFoA1A

[scotia]

These fittings in the clip looked like they were zinc plated and have seen them used for coupling large dia air hose not sure the seal would handle high temp liquid. You will find them on road compressors to operate jack hammers, I use them to connect my hydrovane compressor to the blasting cabinet.

[Queequeg]

Looking at the Karasto wesbite (geka manufacturer) the limits on the seals is -30C to +100C @ 20 bar, although that is for the swival version which can only by it nature be less tolerant.
This would appear suitable for pumping the mash runnings and cooling the wort after knockout but might not quite be suitble for sterilizing the plate chiller by recirculating the wort during the boil (though that can be worked around by star san instead). All metal is Brass or Aluminium according to the website. No Zinc plating. The seals are listed as natural rubber.

I will email the manufacturer and feedback my findings.

[Frothy]

I can recommend the John Guest hose connecctors - I use these throughout my brewery, they are ~£1.50 each.

Never had any problems transferring hot liquids with them, including boiling. Some people say that they don't last but I've been using most of mine for ~5yrs.
They fit over standard 15mm copper pipe so you can use std plumbing ball valves and fittings etc. Trick is to use a proper pipe cutter so that the pipes all have nice smooth ends and don't cut the silicone seal inside. Also you can use short lengths of 15mm pipe to daisy-chain your hoses together if you need them extra long etc.

[Fil]

+1 for JG fittings, I used em in a few areas, generally 15mm ones, slipping on n off short lengths of copper tube.

they do have a limited life of something like X15 0r X20 uses, but i only needed to replace one or two, and while it can take a second or two and sometimes 2 or 3 pulls to get one off its a minor inconvenience..

[SiHoltye]

+1 again. Used on my 10 gallon setup even for pumped wort recirculation at boiling. Use hose clips though, and re tighten them when up to temp. Must be on 100 uses. Reconnect/disconnect OK too.