How do you connect 3/16" line to quick disconnects?

[the_kitchen_brewer]

The way I do it is, connect my beer line to a 3/16" push-fit - 3/8" stem. Put the 3/8" stem into a 3/8" to 1/4" MFL which screws on to the quick disconnect.

For my beer it works, though seems more complicated than it should be! For my sparkling wine (45 psi) it leaks everywhere!

I've heard of people getting the 3/16" beer line on to a 1/4" flare - doesn't seem possible?

I found a 3/16" flare to 1/4" MFL fitting on Ebay which seemed ideal, but it's brass which I believe is no good for beer? If only they did a stainless steel version!

Have I missed anything?

 

[peebee]

What you are doing sounds like what I'm doing, so I see nowt wrong with that! Leaking? At the MFL joint? Although "flare" joints shouldn't need it I do put a few turns of PTFE tape around the thread. Leaking at the push-fit joints? I've had leaking push-fit joints but they always turn out to be not pushing the pipe fully home! Annoys me with John Guest fittings that they will join up "half-cocked" at times.

I've never come across 3/16" pipe/stem to 1/4" MFL fittings (I think that's what you meant) but I'm happy with the 3/8" ones because they add versatility (I can use 3/8" and 3/16" beer line).

Brass no good for beer? But many old beer taps were made of brass. Many new ones are too, but often chrome plated. Anyway, the brass is only in contact with beer "in passing". (And many old wallpapers contained arsenic, so my first comparison was pretty meaningless!).

 

[the_kitchen_brewer]

Yeah it works ok, just looks a bit cumbersome and I find it strange that nobody seems to do a 3/16" barb for quick disconnects!

The brass fittings I got were from a company who do air compressors, seems to be conflicting views on using brass in relation to beer, good point about brass taps though!

On the sparkling wine, the wine gushes out of the section where the 3/8 stem goes into the pushfit. Thought it was faulty so tried another one and same problem! Strange thing was it was at the tap end after about 30ft of 3/16" beer line which I thought would reduce the pressure.

 

[peebee]

Leaks with a stem into a push-fit? Beats me, those connections are usually bomb-proof. But as you've mentioned barbs; barbs I do find are a real pain and I end up tightening the hose-clip around them to ridiculous torques. If these are stem/barb fittings my conclusion would be you are blaming the wrong half of the connector? If you have got barbs into unyielding beer-line that would just reinforce my belief.

 

[McMullan]

I use 3/8 to 3/16 reducers too. Never had any problems. How did you slice the tubing, TKB? A nice clean cut is required for JG fittings. It's a shame JG don't do 3/16 disco fittings. The smallest barbed fitting I have is 4mm, which might go on warm?