I have a general question, I am thinking I may need to add a little gas manifold to have 2 kegs going, or one carbing and one serving. I noticed there are options on these manifolds for having 1/4" or 5/16" barbed fittings.
What’s the best choice? And do I also need different ID on the gas hose or does the standard hose just fit more snugly on the 5/16" barb?
Well, I just looked at my setup… 1/4" tubing. I have about 2’ hose coming off the low pressure side of the regulator, then to a 3 way splitter… Someday, I’ll have 3 kegs going, but in the mean time, I hook a blow nozzle to a post for misc. brewing activities. Sneezles61
So what size barbs are you using with the 1/4" hose?
I am trying to figure out if there is an advantage of one size over the other… I like the idea of a tighter fit if in fact the 1/4" tubing fits over the 5/16 barb fitting.
You may play hell to get a 1/4" over a 5/16" barb… I don’t have leaks, and the use of hose clamps is employed here. I did get those hose clamps from brew hardware that don’t allow the slotted part of the clamp to hold the tubing… Kinda has a SS shielding, if you will. Once you start tinkering you’ll find out what works and doesn’t… Sometimes you have to stick your neck out and hope it does get cut off… Sneezles61
tominboston, I just went through this myself - I’m slowly putting a keezer together. It appears that some people use 1/4" tubing and some use 5/16" for the CO2. For a small homebrew setup either should work fine. I think you want the barb size to match your hose size (ID) either way. Some places refer to the 5/16" as “gas hose”. You can get it clear, red or blue. I went 5/16" in red just so its easier to tell the gas lines from the liquid lines when its all stuffed into the keezer.
There are several types of tubing, so I discovered while searching. I found this page helpful.
I think sneezles61 is talking about Oetiker clamps. They come in various sizes. Note that you do need a special clamping tool to install them and they are intended to be permanent (meaning you destroy them to remove them).
They make a special tool for the oetiker clamps but you can use a small endcut plier to squeeze them shut. I have one that I bought for 99 cents at a dollar store that works great.
Thanks for the help. I just wanted to be sure that it was not some trade trick that you heat up a piece of 1/4" hose and put it on the 5/16 barb and end up with a more secure connection. I don’t even know what size mine are…just happen to notice the choice of options on some components.