Ball Lock Disconnects on Tap Shanks?

[BDC]

Hi everyone, it has been a while since I've posted here. The kids have kept me from my favourite hobby - brewing! But I'm back at it again and looking to make some upgrades to my set up.

I love the modular nature of using push-in connections for my beer and gas line connections. But I keep losing gas and, more importantly, beer! So I thought I'd upgrade my rig to use ball lock disconnects wherever I can.

I found liquid ball lock posts with a 5/8" BSP thread. It's meant for keg couplers but the thread seems to be the same spec as the tap shanks. I am planning on attaching one of these to the back of each shank in my converted chest freezer. Then I'll have ball-lock disconnects at each end of the beer line connecting the kegs to the shanks / taps.

Has anyone else tried this?
Any reason why this wouldn't work or is a bad idea?
Anyone got a better idea?

Keen to hear your thoughts!

 

[f00b4r]

Yes and they work well, especially useful if you full the odd bottle with carb caps as you don't end up kicking sediment up attaching a jumper lead.

All my shanks now use them (the picture is from quite a while ago when I was testing). I also use one on my Pegas counter pressure filler as it let's me change kegs quickly.

 

[BDC]

Awesome, thanks f00b4r!
Thanks especially for sharing a pic.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to go down this route now.

 

[MHB]

If you contact Andale I think they have the same Coupler to Snaplok adaptor in 1/2" BSP as well as 5/8, which might make life a lot easier.
I think there might be easier ways to do what you are trying to accomplish, sounds like you might be reinventing the wheel.
The picture above looks like an old Australian keg post (Postmix) which would be 1/2" BSP, not quite what you are talking about.
Mark

 

[f00b4r]

If you contact Andale I think they have the same Coupler to Snaplok adaptor in 1/2" BSP as well as 5/8, which might make life a lot easier.
I think there might be easier ways to do what you are trying to accomplish, sounds like you might be reinventing the wheel.
The picture above looks like an old Australian keg post (Postmix) which would be 1/2" BSP, not quite what you are talking about.
Mark

Just for clarification the ones in my picture are 5/8" attached to Intertap shanks.

 

[MHB]

Including the one in the middle?
It almost looks like a PET bottle Fizz Top.

 

[mashmaniac]

MHB they make the 5/8 so you can hook up ball locks to commercial couplers.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

To the OP, I'm not entirely sure why you would want to put a ball lock on your tap shank, (I know the part you're talking about)

Why not just use a 5/8 JG push fitting something like this,
https://www.craftbrewer.com.au/female-adaptor-thread-58-bsp-x-od-516-8mm

Then you can easily change the beer line if needed.

If the reason is to be able to disconnect the taps then what about snap lock connectors?

 

[Meddo]

I get the intention, it's nice to know you can unplug everything without making a mess. You can always use push-in to the disconnect off the back of the shank and get the best of both worlds if that's the path you want to go down.

I've got B-lock shanks so I can dry-break the taps off the front, but the push-in JG connection at the back is still wet-break. I get around that if necessary by disconnecting from the keg, opening the tap with a glass under it, and holding the line high so that it partially drains through the tap before removing the line from the push-in at the back of the shank.

 

[BDC]

Thanks for all the replies.
I signed up for alerts but don't seem to be getting them

I've got JG style push-ins (from Keg King if I recall correctly) but the two issues are:
1. as pointed out by Meddo - messy if I need to disconnect a keg without emptying the beer line
2. limited space in my keezer often results in the beer line getting bent at an odd angle to the fitting which sometimes causes beer to squirt out - particularly problematic when I'm moving kegs in and out of it.

The 5/8 threaded ball lock posts seem to be the answer. I'll also look into the Andale Snaploks (thanks MHB!)

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

I have these on the back of my JG fittings. The line then points straight down

 

[fdsaasdf]

This is a great idea and I've thought about doing this before, but my current setup is a kegerator with font tower so I'm stuck with the annoying elbows for the moment. If I were to ever build a diy keezer or punch holes through a coolroom I'd be putting ball lock QDs on the inside of the tap shank. Not only does this allow dry-break and easy switch-out of keg->shank lines it also allows a simple way to unplug a tap and fill a (purged) container direct from the keg - either another keg or bottle using a ball-lock bottle cap.

I'm not interested in buying expensive proprietary fittings like snaplock or andale that cost much more for much less utility.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

This idea had given me something to think about. I might think about doing something with the ball lock disconnects in the future.