Zahm & Nagel carb stone question

[Brewhemoth]

Hey all,

Just got new 1600 series Zahm & Nagel ceramic stones in. Hope someone can help me by monday

Our old SS stones came with 2 x opposing 1 1/2(?i think)" triclamp fitting - 1 that connect to the BBT and the other side to connect a butterfly valve to lock the tank off.
The new stones only have the connection to the tank and what I think is a 1/2" female threaded barb. That means we can't attach a valve to lock off the tank.
put it under a bit of pressure yesterday after purging but it's definitely leaking Co2 out through the stone.

Questions:
1) If I simply get a Co2 1/2" male connector and hook it up, will we be fine without the valve assuming we keep enough pressure on the stone? should we consider a no-return?
2) is it essential to get a male thread to tri-clamp so we can hook up a valve before use?
3) anything else I need to consider that I have no mentioned here?

Thanks guys!

[Rooh]

I use a threaded ball valve after the stone and before a male interchange fitting that connects to CO2 supply. Close ball valve when done carbing, this way there is no beer infiltrating the gas lines when no pressure is supplied to the stone. The little check valves in the stone assemblies always leak a little.

Cheers,

Rich
rich@thebrewinglair.com

[Brewhemoth]

good call! don't know why I was so set on the butterfly we have - ball valves are way cheaper and more less clumbsy

[Matt@Bauhaus]

I use a threaded ball valve after the stone and before a male interchange fitting that connects to CO2 supply. Close ball valve when done carbing, this way there is no beer infiltrating the gas lines when no pressure is supplied to the stone. The little check valves in the stone assemblies always leak a little.

Cheers,

Rich
rich@thebrewinglair.com

Yep, this is what we do as well with our Zahm stones.

[TGTimm]

In addition to the excellent advice above, we use double-self-closing disconnects on our CO2 lines. This is a little extra insurance against anything contaminating the CO2 lines when they are disconnected.

Finding good quality SS disconnects is difficult. I bought Foster QDs for our system, which claimed to be all-SS. Turned out, the little balls that lock the female end on were not SS, and rusted beyond use in less than a week. I was able to get 440C SS balls from McMaster-Carr and replace them, but it was a PITA.

Treat that ceramic stone as if it were fine china. We had one, and it was broken in just a few months. Ceramic can't take the abuse that SS can--but SS stones should still be treated with great care.

[Brewhemoth]

In addition to the excellent advice above, we use double-self-closing disconnects on our CO2 lines. This is a little extra insurance against anything contaminating the CO2 lines when they are disconnected.

Finding good quality SS disconnects is difficult. I bought Foster QDs for our system, which claimed to be all-SS. Turned out, the little balls that lock the female end on were not SS, and rusted beyond use in less than a week. I was able to get 440C SS balls from McMaster-Carr and replace them, but it was a PITA.

Treat that ceramic stone as if it were fine china. We had one, and it was broken in just a few months. Ceramic can't take the abuse that SS can--but SS stones should still be treated with great care.

Thats awesome! Thank you!
do you have a picture or a link of what a double-self-closing disconnect looks like?