help me decide between conicals

[straight cash homey]

why should i get this one
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/1 ... tings.html
instead of this one
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/1 ... tings.html
what can you do with more expensive one that cant be done with the cheaper one?

[ajdelange]

why should i get this one
what can you do with more expensive one that cant be done with the cheaper one?

Use 3A (Triclover) Sanitary fittings. These are very nice in the sense that they have no threads to hide and nurture bacteria hence they are widely used in the brewing, wine, dairy, pharmaceutical and similar industries but as the prices on the 2 units show they are expensive relative to the more normal IPT fittings (they are made of 300 series stainless). They also connect and disconnect quickly without the need for wrenches and can usually, in the small sizes, be connected liquid tight with no tools. They are joined by means of a clamp which encircles the two fittings and is secured by a screw with wing nut. Were you to go this route you would obviously need at least one mating fitting and a gasket (this fits into a groove cut into the flat part of the connector and it is this gasket that actually makes the seal). The mating fitting would have to be Triclover to barb or Triclover to IPT i.e. it has to adapt between the Triclover system and whatever you are using. These adapters are sold by lots of dealers such as Cole Parmer (the place to go if you are trying to get rid of excess money) at one extreme, McMaster Carr in the middle and St. Pats at the lower end of the price scale. If you are in a situation where you connect and disconnect a lot of hoses e.g. you have mash pumps, wort pumps, chillers, filters etc. and need to do it quickly Triclover fittings are great. For a typical home brewing situation I really don't see it for something as small as 14 gallons. There is, however, a definite "cool" factor here.

[straight cash homey]

thanks for the info.
i was looking at the diameters as well, since the standard dump is 1/2" and the tri-clover is 1", but the internet research i've been doing seems to show that even the 1" dump gets clogged on a regular basis. I was thinking of getting the standard 1/2" dump and getting the tri-clover blowoff adapter for the lid and just hooking up some co2 to push the trub/yeast through the dump port when it gets clogged.

[ajdelange]

Remember that 1" in a 3A system refers to the outside diameter of the pipe (and not the flange which is almost 2"). The ID of a 1" pipe is actually 0.87" and yes, if you get a well packed yeast cake in there it isn't going to run out like water. A little CO2 or filtered compressed air is usually enough to get it going. The place I get killed is at the output of the kettle. A couple of hop cones wedged on either side of the plate in a butterfly valve can bring flow to a trickle. I'm replacing any valve that will ever see a hop cone with ball valves.

[Lars]

I hear that B3 will have a newly designed conical coming out later this summer...

[straight cash homey]

interesting. i like that the blichmann is 14+ gallons, is pressurizable and can be equipped with a blowoff.
But i like that b3 has a welded interior and a 1.5" port. but its only 12.2 gallons, no blowoff, no pressure.
i hope they make the new conicals a bit larger.

[BeerPal]

But i like that b3 has a welded interior and a 1.5" port. but its only 12.2 gallons, no blowoff, no pressure.

That's where you're wrong, my friend. The new MoreBeer conical has all the features of of the Blichmann conical. It's pressurizable, has a port in the lid etc., etc.

[straight cash homey]

do you know the size of the new b3 conical. if its only 12.2 again, that might be the characteristic that steers me to blichmann.