Beer Forum

I brewed a batch of porter tonight. I used my March Pump for the first time tonight. I have Blichmann quick disconnects with silicone tubing connected held on by clamps as my home brew shop recommended. I have plastic female quick disconnects on the hoses and mail QDs on my mashtun and kettle. The Blichmann QDs were the only ones that leaked (on the tubing/clamp side). Blichmann makes good stuff, so I think the advice I got from my shop was bad not the equipment. Does anyone have suggestions for how to better setup the in and out on my March pump, so it stops leaking?

So you are going from a metal quick connect to a plastic one? I can def see why that might leak...you would def want to have matching quick disconnects....either all plastic or all metal and the same kind as well...there are many kinds

Stinkfist wrote:So you are going from a metal quick connect to a plastic one? I can def see why that might leak...you would def want to have matching quick disconnects....either all plastic or all metal and the same kind as well...there are many kinds

The material is irrevalant, they just need to be mating QD's. I do not read where one is metal, though. I see Blichmann makes new SST QD's though. It appears, from their photos, their barb profile on the tube side is weak. Not very aggressive. Make sure you use a high quality SST clamp.

I would add a picture, but I just put everything up. I have blichmann QDs http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/blichmann-quickconnector-fittings.html (metal) on the pump in and out. They have a barb for tubing with a clamp on each. The other end of the tubing and on my kettle and mashtun are plastic http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/cpc-female-disconnect-garden-hose.html. I am connecting matching disconnects. The leak is where the blichmann QDs connect to the tubing. Any recommendation on a high quality clamp? This is what I am using now http://stores.mdhb.com/-strse-553/CLAMP%2C-EASYTURN-3-fdsh-4%22--dsh-/Detail.bok

I've gotten rid of my screw clamps and now using Oetiker clamps.

No more leaks.


Be sure to get a proper tool, not something that is adapted.




You can buy it at your favorite brew shop.

Kbar wrote:

Stinkfist wrote:So you are going from a metal quick connect to a plastic one? I can def see why that might leak...you would def want to have matching quick disconnects....either all plastic or all metal and the same kind as well...there are many kinds

The material is irrevalant, they just need to be mating QD's. I do not read where one is metal, though. I see Blichmann makes new SST QD's though. It appears, from their photos, their barb profile on the tube side is weak. Not very aggressive. Make sure you use a high quality SST clamp.

The material is far from irrelevant when you want to make a seal using boiling hot wort those two materials will not expand at the same rate and you will get a gap between them.

You also have the issue of the metal scratching the plastic QD everytime you use it, I would suggest not mixing materials.

And if the leak is on the other side maybe you are using the wrong tube size for the barb?

My point is that he did not say he is mixing materials. My company does not make any QD's, of the 500 different styles we produce worldwide (Hydraulic/Pneumatic/INjection-molding/etc.), that 'mix' materials. My point is, if they mate, they are most likely the same material/application, minus some pneumatic couplings that use brass or steel or stainless steel and you can still connect those.

I may have not made that clear in the last post.

Marquez wrote:I've gotten rid of my screw clamps and now using Oetiker clamps.

No more leaks.


Be sure to get a proper tool, not something that is adapted.




You can buy it at your favorite brew shop.

Is it easy to loosen these for cleaning?