Best type of valve for brewing beer

Valves are divided, at least valves used in brewing applications, are divided by two different means; one is the way that it is connected to the pipe or fitting or the vessel, and the second is the kind of closure system that exists inside the valve.

The two main kinds of valves in terms of connection are threaded valves that have an NPT type threading that can thread on to a pipe, and the other of course is the tri-clover/tri-clamp type connection that uses a gasket and a clamp that fits over to hold it on to the pipe, or vessel or fitting. The types of closures that exists—there are two main kinds. The first is a ball valve type closure, with a ball that turns to close the port, ¼ turn of the valve will go from completely closed to completely open, and the second is a butterfly valve, which has a thin disc inside the valve; it also operates on the principle of a ¼ turn will go from fully closed to fully open.

So starting with the threaded ball valve, one of the advantages of this valve is that it is probably the most inexpensive valve out there. Some of the disadvantages include that the threads can retain contaminants; sediments can be retained in the threads and they can be very hard to clean out. Additionally, the inside of the housing, if it is a typical one piece or two piece housing like this, it can be difficult to get to the inside of the valve and some sediment might remain trapped inside the ball and Teflon housing. But they are inexpensive and they are versatile, rugged and durable valve that are often used.

The second kind of valve is a butterfly valve. This butterfly has the tri-clamp connection (or the tri-clover/tri-clamp) so it connects readily and can be easily pulled off and a particular vessel or pipe can be quickly isolated. This one comes with a half and a full locking position so it is easy to find that and know where your valve position is. It is fairly light-weight and a relatively inexpensive valve as there is not a lot of material in it. One of the disadvantages of this valve is that it is not easy to disassemble for cleaning. It has screws in it which need tools to open. Also, the closure mechanism/disc inside it presses up against resilient silicone on the inside, which means it is not going to give you as good of a seal as a ball valve, and as we will see on some of these later valves, the seal is not able to be tightened so the longevity of the valve will not be as long. Another disadvantage is that even in the fully open position, you will always have the closure mechanism or disc, right down the middle of the valve, and this means in effect that even if you may have a large opening on the valve, it is divided in two by the disc that goes right down the middle and material could hang up on this; hops could hang up on this, and it kind of counteracts the benefit of having a large port system.

There are a couple different kinds of butterfly valves, there are high-performance butterfly valves which are more expensive, but the middle piece which closes it moves off slightly to the side by how they have arranged it inside the valve. What you are giving up, however, is that there is larger cavity in there, which will be able to trap other material as well. One other item with the butterfly is that it is able to trap sediment underneath the disc, in between the resilient silicone and the wafer, and it is very hard to clean out.