Quick Disconnects: Barb Vs Mfl

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MCWB

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Hi guys,

I'm looking to get into kegging soon, as bottling takes too long! Just a quick question, Brewers' Discount seem to have two different connections available for quick disconnects: 1/4" Barb and 1/4" MFL. Which, if either, of these is preferable? Advantages/disadvantages?

Thanks in advance. :)
 
MCWB, probably neither. The US use a different ballock from what we have here in Australia and they are not compatible - unless of course you have US market kegs.

Wes
 
Thanks Wes! I probably should have mentioned that I think I'll get my kegs from the US too. :)
 
So if you have some kegs from US and some from AUS do you need to get 2 different types of ball locks?
 
The mfl ...or flare fittings... are good in that they allow you to easily connect and disconnect the beer/gas line to the QD.

I have found with barb fittings the only way to get tubing off is to cut it ...which is wasteful and time consuming. :angry:

The other benefit of flare fitting is you can attach "push" fitting to your QD and really make your system portable.

Checkout this bloke ... http://sdcollins.home.mindspring.com/Plumbing-2.html ;)
 
I have a barb fitting at the keg end (QD) and the gas end goes into a pushin. Pushin's are the easiest if you need to frequently disconnect and reconnect.

I also inserted a CEJN coupling into my CO2 line so I can mix and match air/CO2 and QD/tyre-chuck. Helps out with cleaning.
 
Wes- WRONG! They are the same, all my disconnects I have bought from the states and they fit my kegs which I bought here. Same with the pin lock, they fit our kegs, hell the kegs are exactly the same too.

Don't worry about compatibility issues, this is wrong information!!

As for the 1/4"MFL vs Barb, go the 1/4" MFL it is far easier to remove your disconnect for cleaning exchanging whatever. I'd never go barbs now after using the 1/4" ones.

Once again. Diconnects not compatible with our kegs-wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.

Cheers, now get kegging ;)

JD
 
^ Sweet!

Glad they are the same as I only just orderd from brewers discount on saturday, then seeing this yesterday thought I would have to buy locally as well.

CHEERS Justin!!!
 
JD, Just checked with Craig Deakin at Keg Systems - the ball locks are the same as you have pointed out, sorry for the wrong info. However the pin locks ARE different - I have a US sourced Cornelious pinlock in my hand as we speak and the sealing barrel is about 3mm larger in diameter than the Aussie one.

The other point to note is the keg posts have different mountings - some are male thread and others female. I have both types here on various Cornelius, Firestone and Rheem kegs. Its a real pain because you cant interchange from ball lock to pinlock on some of these kegs. (My cooperage dates from 10 years back when the only kegs we could get were Firestone and Mytton-Rod ex Coke pin locks)

Wes
 
Hmmm. Well by sheer luck the pin lock disconnects that I bought a friend for his kegs fitted fine (lucky :rolleyes:). I'll appologise and withdraw my statement on the pin lock ones then. But yeah, the ball lock ones still fit.

On the keg post mounting. Yep, been there done that. I have firestone challenger V and VI kegs, as well as Cornelius kegs. When I first bought my kegs most were missing a post or two, so a quick check on brewersdiscount and a calculator and I could work out that I could get these kegs for a song, just had to buy the parts from the states (definitely not from Australia!! Ouch! $20 for a post, vs. $5 from the states). I had to educate myself on the different types of kegs out there so I knew which parts to buy. And yes there are a few different sorts. But up until now I still thought that the actual disconnector fitting was a universal one, regardless of how the post attached to the keg.

Anyway, thank Wes. Just one more piece of infomation added to this site.

Cheers, justin
 
Awesome guys, thanks very much for the info. Will enjoy putting it to good use! ;) :D
 
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