Iâm not the first to comment on this, but probably the only drawback to camlocks is the restricted width on the type C camlock that goes on the end of a hose. If we had the equivalent of this, the so called âBig Câ found on the US site http://www.brewhardware.com, it would solve the problem.
I've seen some suggestions on how to get over this on the UK beer forums, but some ideas are positively ugly, for instance, pushing a silicon hose onto a 1/2â BSP street elbow, and none are particularly elegant. Then last night while swooning over my £150 pounds worth of camlocks just bought for a serious brewery upgrade, the answer came to me - I had an epiphany! I've not seen the approach I will outline before, but on the basis that nothing is new (except to me!), someone has probably already come up with it. But here we go. The key part to it all is a 3/8â BSP weld nipple. A 12mm id silicon hose fits over the plain end of the nipple very nicely with a tight push. The fit is so good you may not even need a jubilee clip. Screw the threaded end of the weld nipple into a 1/2â x 3/8â BSP hexagon reducing bush and the possibilities start to open up. The hose also mates up nicely against the wall of the nut part of the weld/bush combination, which is an additional touch. Once you have this, you can have a right angled hose connector using a 1/2â elbow and a type B camlock. This configuration gives a nice handle feature to aid ease of use. The weld nipple and reducing bush combo screwed into a type D camlock makes a straight hose connection with much less flow restriction then the normal type C hose connection. The id of the 3/8â weld nipple is 12.5mm, compared to the id of the type C which is 7.5mm. This means that the weld nipple provides 2.75 times the cross sectional area of the type C fitting. A great improvement on flow, and comparable to the 12.7mm (1/2â) id of the âBig Câ. Anyhow, have a look at the pictures below â hopefully they explain everything.
I've seen some suggestions on how to get over this on the UK beer forums, but some ideas are positively ugly, for instance, pushing a silicon hose onto a 1/2â BSP street elbow, and none are particularly elegant. Then last night while swooning over my £150 pounds worth of camlocks just bought for a serious brewery upgrade, the answer came to me - I had an epiphany! I've not seen the approach I will outline before, but on the basis that nothing is new (except to me!), someone has probably already come up with it. But here we go. The key part to it all is a 3/8â BSP weld nipple. A 12mm id silicon hose fits over the plain end of the nipple very nicely with a tight push. The fit is so good you may not even need a jubilee clip. Screw the threaded end of the weld nipple into a 1/2â x 3/8â BSP hexagon reducing bush and the possibilities start to open up. The hose also mates up nicely against the wall of the nut part of the weld/bush combination, which is an additional touch. Once you have this, you can have a right angled hose connector using a 1/2â elbow and a type B camlock. This configuration gives a nice handle feature to aid ease of use. The weld nipple and reducing bush combo screwed into a type D camlock makes a straight hose connection with much less flow restriction then the normal type C hose connection. The id of the 3/8â weld nipple is 12.5mm, compared to the id of the type C which is 7.5mm. This means that the weld nipple provides 2.75 times the cross sectional area of the type C fitting. A great improvement on flow, and comparable to the 12.7mm (1/2â) id of the âBig Câ. Anyhow, have a look at the pictures below â hopefully they explain everything.
