Taps, Snaplocks, Fatlocks? I Dont Understand What The Hell They All Ar

[Thirsty Boy]

I guess I'm a little dense, but i dont understand what the hell all these things are and how they go together. I was wondering if someone could help explain it to me by way of a practical example (ie, tell me how to do the thing I want to do)

Here's what i want.

I have one of these

That i dont use as much as I'd like, because its a bit of a pita to get all set up. Even if I mount it on my keggerator, I have to pull the unit (converted freezer with towers) forward and open it up to connect gas, disconnect liquid from the taps and connect the filler to the kegs. Its OK - but i want it to be a bit more seamless.

Now I saw someone here on AHB who had theirs set up nicely. They had a snaplock fitting on the filler, snaplock fonts and all they did was pull off the tap, plug in the filler and away they went. Thats what I want!

Currently my towers are very much like this, except i just have two taps per tower x two towers.

Basically they are ****** chinese Celi knock offs. They aren't too bad, but its time to upgrade. I want to get myself some of these Perlick forward sealing flow control units

Now i think i can just take of the ****** chinese taps, throw them in the drawer and screw the Perlicks directly in their place - But i want the snaplock thing. What the hell do i need to stick in between the two things in order to be able to just unplug the tap and plug in the filler, without dicking around inside my keggerator?

I'll probably mount the filler in a separate tower, with gas permanently connected to it - and run a hose off the back with a snaplock fitting to plug into the spaces on the other fonts. I assume such a hose type snaplock fitting exists?

I just cant figure it out - there are snaplock adapters, fatlock adapters, downey columns, coupler nuts, adapter shanks.... i dont know whats supposed to go where or why. A little help would be appreciated.

TB

 

[fraser_john]

I think all you want is this

One piece attaches to font, the other piece attaches to tap or the filler. That said, not 100% sure what the thread is on the filler 5/8"?

I want one of those fillers too, but waiting to do a new kegerator or new fridge set up, cannot afford freezer or fridge at moment :'(

 

[Batz]

If you use the snaplocks as posted by fraser_john you could do as I did here.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...c=64749&hl=

OK I've sold it now but you get the idea, I have a spare fitting around here (tube to snaplock) that your welcome to if you do go that way.

It may pay to check with Ross to make sure those snaplocks will fit your font, I have them on mine but it an Aussie made font.


Batz

 

[mxd]

IMHO the best (cheapest) way is to buy a snaplok font like this one or a tripple one with taps (the taps are only for the connectors as they are quite expensive), and then get insert like batz had for your CPBF.

 

[Florian]

So if you go with Fraser's Option you would need One of These sets per tap Plus an extra piece for your filler.

Do These things 'automatically' stop beer flow when you disconnect the tap, or to you have to disconnect the QD First? I'm guessing you wouldn't need to as this would defeat the whole purpose of making thind easier.

the 'issue' i have with my filler is that you ideally need to Run cleaner or sanitiser through it after you're done, which means connecting up another keg or some other contraption. That's why i mostly slow fill with a piece of beer line from the tap These days, even for comps. If I'm feeling particular (which i often Do) i just flush the bottle with co2 First, just send a naked line down to the bottom of the bottle and flush it out.

slow filling is even easier with the flow control taps, as it means that you don't have to depressurise your kegs first and play with the regulator, you just turn the flow right down to where you want it on the tap itself to avoid foaming.

that might be another Option to consider if the others get to complicated or expensive.

 

[mxd]

Do These things 'automatically' stop beer flow when you disconnect the tap, or to you have to disconnect the QD First? I'm guessing you wouldn't need to as this would defeat the whole purpose of making thind easier.

no you can take your tap off, I had my CPBF (when I had the snaplok font) with a snaplok connector, I could also attach a pluto to the font to hang out the window if I felt the need

 

[Thirsty Boy]

If you use the snaplocks as posted by fraser_john you could do as I did here.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...c=64749&hl=

OK I've sold it now but you get the idea, I have a spare fitting around here (tube to snaplock) that your welcome to if you do go that way.

It may pay to check with Ross to make sure those snaplocks will fit your font, I have them on mine but it an Aussie made font.


Batz

Ahh - yours was the set-up I'd seen and wanted to emulate. Thanks

FJ - so its just half the adapter onto the font, half the adapter onto the back of the tap, and then one plugs into the other? Ok, I can do that. Thanks.

So if you go with Fraser's Option you would need One of These sets per tap Plus an extra piece for your filler.

Do These things 'automatically' stop beer flow when you disconnect the tap, or to you have to disconnect the QD First? I'm guessing you wouldn't need to as this would defeat the whole purpose of making thind easier.

the 'issue' i have with my filler is that you ideally need to Run cleaner or sanitiser through it after you're done, which means connecting up another keg or some other contraption. That's why i mostly slow fill with a piece of beer line from the tap These days, even for comps. If I'm feeling particular (which i often Do) i just flush the bottle with co2 First, just send a naked line down to the bottom of the bottle and flush it out.

slow filling is even easier with the flow control taps, as it means that you don't have to depressurise your kegs first and play with the regulator, you just turn the flow right down to where you want it on the tap itself to avoid foaming.

that might be another Option to consider if the others get to complicated or expensive.

Oh I slow fill now for growlers etc - but when i do bottle, I am bloody fussy about Oxygen, so I want the filler. And if its there, then it will make bottling so easy that I'll probably do it more often. Rinse etc wont be an issue - plan is to have a keg of soda in the keggerator anyway with a spare snaplock outlet. The filler will have a tap screwed into the front and "normally" be plugged into the soda outlet and do duty for soda based drinks and rinsing etc, only being disconnected from the soda and plugged into a beer outlet when required.


Thanks for the help guys

TB

 

[Batz]

Ahh - yours was the set-up I'd seen and wanted to emulate. Thanks


TB

As I said TB I have a few bits here your welcome to.

Personally I've tried all the bottle filling things and found them all too much work in the end. The one your looking at is by far the best but don't hard mount it until you've had it for a while.
Really bottle conditioning is the way to go, otherwise do as Florian and I do and fill from your tap.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

As I said TB I have a few bits here your welcome to.

Personally I've tried all the bottle filling things and found them all too much work in the end. The one your looking at is by far the best but don't hard mount it until you've had it for a while.
Really bottle conditioning is the way to go, otherwise do as Florian and I do and fill from your tap.

I've had the filler for quite a while, along with other CP fillers - I much prefer the concept and results of CP filling to either bottle conditioning (dont like at all) or filling from a tap - but it is undeniably a pita. So the object here is to make it as easy as possible.

Thanks for the offer of bits - I'll work my way towards this over the next little while and might well take you up on it as i refine exactly what I want to do.

Thanks for all the advice

TB