Beer Forum

So last night I ordered my Cam-Lock fittings from http://store.proflowdynamics.com/modules/store/-Couplings-for-Homebrewers-_C12074.cfm

I spent about 50 bucks for PLENTY of fittings. The arrived today. I guess the ship out of Corona. Time for another brew session.

Great Company to deal with

Time for photos and a report on how easy they are to use. I bought some of the stainless QDCs from Morebeer, but I've been waiting for months for H503B to be in stock, so a report on alternatives would be great.

Will Do....got them all installed yesterday.

I Just brewed up a batch using my new camlock fittings and I loved them. One hand action on the connectors and one on the valves.

Did you go with 1/2" fittings everywhere? How was the flowrate; did the fittings cause restrictions? I was thinking that there were some discussions on the flow area on these being small, so people were upsizing to 3/4" to get around the flow restrictions. Was about to pull the trigger on tri-clovers, but I certainly like the economics of this option.

There is no resriction the inside diameter of the fittings is 1/2" all the way through. I can move 5 gallons of liquid from one vessel to another in about a minute. With my pump on the floor and a foot switch it all goes real easy. The price is great on these as well. I got mine from Bargain Fittings.

The flow restrictions come from the barbed fittings that they sell. I use them on my system, barbs and all, and have no complaints. I know there is some talk about how the barbs restrict the flow so that people that want to use a pump to whirlpool can't get enough flow to create an effective whirlpool, but in my experience I've had no trouble whirlpooling with a pump and the barbed camlocks. I recirculate for about 5 minutes, then shut the pump down and let it settle for about 10 minutes before running off through my plate chiller and I get nicely clear wort coming out of my kettle. Like Jamil has said, a whirlpool doesn't need to be moving at a super fast rate to create a good trub cone.

I did a water test over the weekend and personally I love the fittings so far. Planning a BIG grain bill double IPA and russian imperial Stout.

But back to the testing of the Cam-Locks. I could not see any restriction at all on the fittings. They transferred the same flow as my old set-up. (just a 3/8 barbed fitting) I did not do the test with any Hot water so I can not comment on the Stainless temp.

I have a lot of pictures and other goodies on my blog if interested.