Your preferred supplier of sanitary fittings...

[ParishBrewingCo]

I've been using GW Kent for a few orders and am mostly satisfied. Like many others, I am still mostly new to the industry and dont have complete knowledge of all suppliers in the marketplace. I have also read the stories of terrible customer service from St Pats though no experience with them myself.

Do you have another preferred supplier of stainles sanitary fittings, valves, sightglasses, etc that you would recommend? Why do you buy from them?

Cheers,
Andrew

[KaskaskiaBrew]

Hey Andrew,

I haven't ordered from GW Kent yet but as far as I could find, they had the cheapest sight glasses of anybody out there and they have great selection overall. As far as sanitary Tee's, elbows, clamps, and gaskets, I've had good luck in the past ordering from brewershardware.com and their prices are pretty tough to beat. I think they are more focused towards the homebrewers so their selection is a little bit more limited. I've never ordered from St. Pat's so I can't say if they are good or not, but I have read quite a few horror stories and I think there is even a thread talking about them. If you order from them, you may want to start with a very small order to make sure everything goes smooth. Other than that, you could always put up a post asking if anybody else has spare parts they want to unload. I've had good luck that way too.

Cheers,

[almalkin]

I would also recommend GW Kent as having excellent quality and great service. All of the fittings that I have purchased from them have been top notch, and after I had one minor issue they replaced the item with no questions.

[sdgbrew]

My only issue with GW Kent is that you don't find out if something is on back order till the non-back ordered stuff is delivered. That's when I order via the Internet of course.

But honestly I love them, they ship things ASAP, prices are good, quality of equipment is great, and they are VERY easy to deal with.

[chaser]

I know of the problems others have experienced with St. Pats but I've never had an issue. Everything seems to be a few bucks cheaper than GW Kent which adds up if you're ordering alot. I ordered about 500 bucks worth of valves, sightglasses, and TC's from them a month and a half ago and it was shipped promptly and everything came all at once. I think whatever problems they've had may have been resolved.

[Thirsty_Monk]

brewershardware.com I do not have very good experience. Part of the order was missing (that I was charged for) and I could not get anybody to resolve the issue. I will not be ordering from them again.

[grassrootsvt]

I have ordered from St. Pats just once... and the welds were childish and non sanitary. Thus... never again.

[MatthewS]

Agreed on the St Pats quality GrassrootsVT mentions. Hey ShaunE!

The clamps are not smooth at all there fore creating the need to use two hands to close the clamp. no good! GW kent has never let me down! I have been happy with some gear from McMaster Carr also.

[brewershardware]

brewershardware.com I do not have very good experience. Part of the order was missing (that I was charged for) and I could not get anybody to resolve the issue. I will not be ordering from them again.

Hi Thirsty Monk, Sorry you had an issue with an order from my store and even more so if the resolution fell through the cracks. I sent you a PM with my cell number, get a hold of me at your earliest convenience and I'll absolutely make right whatever was wrong.

Derrin
Brewers Hardware

[South County]

Agreed on the St Pats quality GrassrootsVT mentions. Hey ShaunE!

The clamps are not smooth at all there fore creating the need to use two hands to close the clamp. no good! GW kent has never let me down! I have been happy with some gear from McMaster Carr also.

Just ordered clamps from them 1.5's and they are quick and smooth, one hand operation, smooth thumb turns, easier on the thumbs...must be different lot.