Hands on Review: Kegland DuoTight Ball Lock QDs!

Kegland’s DuoTight Fittings are designed to work with EVABarrier Double Wall Tubing.  They offer quick, reliable connections, easy implementation, a variety of fitting options and feature amazing versatility.  They’re also, generally speaking, very well priced.  DuoTights are push to connect fittings and require no tubing clamps.

DuoTights are… awesome.  Check out my extensive Hands on Review

When DuoTights first came out, the solution for connecting kegs to EVABarrier was using an MFL QD + DuoTight Flare fitting. That works just fine and is still the only option available to pin lock keg users.

Ball Lock keg users now have a native DuoTight option. Here’s a hands on look!


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Related: DuoTight Keg Faucet

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Hands on Review Kegland DuoTight Ball Lock QDs

These look pretty cool. They keep the standard grey for gas and black for beer but add some flare with yellow and red accents.Liquid QD on left, Gas QD on right Closer look at Kegland DuoTight Gas QDGas QD installed on gas post with EVABarrier TubingCloser look at Kegland DuoTight Liquid QDLiquid QD installed on liquid post with EVABarrier TubingDisassembled. These consist of four main parts. What I’ll call the body, cap, poppet and spring. There is no o-ring and the design is… tool-less. Caps come off by hand. A look inside A look at the cap. Notice there’s no o-ring. The cap screws on and off without the need for tools. My caps were a little tight. I’m guessing you’ll want to keep caps tightly screwed on. The pressure exerted on the threads must be what causes and airtight seal. Kegland DuoTight Ball Lock QD compared with standard Ball Lock QD. One of the innovations of these QDs is their small size. The reduced sized is designed to allow compatible kegs to stack with QDs on! Top down view, comparted to standard QD See how this QD cap is marred from opening and closing using a screw driver. I’m sure there’s a tool for doing this that won’t mar the top, but I don’t have it. Kegland’s new tool-less design means no marred caps. With EVABarrier Tubing InstalledTop down view. I will say that EVABarrier tubing seems to fit tightly in my QDs. I’ve seen this on some other fittings. Tight is a lot better than… loose. When you get used to used to engaging and disengaging DuoTight fittings, it’s pretty easy. I do recommend having the KOMOS tool on hand. it’s much, much sturdier than the Kegland Tubing Cutter/DuoTight Remover. The tubing cutter works great but the DuoTight removal end is too flimsy. The sturdy KOMOS tool makes disengaging tighter fittings a lot easier.Like every other DuoTight fitting I’ve tested, these are compatible with Valuebrew’s DuoTight Compatible Locking Clips. Those are a great addition to any DuoTight setup.  These snap into the collar of DuoTight Fittings and lock connections in place. This makes the connection more secure and reduces the chances of leakage.Liquid with locking clip in stalledOne of the big benefits of this QDs, beyond natively working with EVABarrier Tubing, is their low profile. This allows, you to stack standard kegs… with QDs on. I don’t know that anyone is guaranteeing this will work with every keg combo, but my guess is that stacking works with all standard kegs.Torpedo KegsReview – are designed to stack with standard QDs. As I expected, a Torpedo keg will not stack on top of a standard keg with DuoTight QD. Well, it does stack, but it’s not lining up right and I would not consider it to be stable or usable in this configuration.Here’s the gas from another angle with stacked standard kegs

An Easy Add On for Cleaner Installs

By adding a check valve to each QD you can completely eliminate a CO2 manifold from your kegerator. Add a tee to add a new keg. You don’t even need to include ball valves. Just make sure to disengage keg QDs before disassembling.

Kegland’s Rigid Joiner – Hands on Review – makes this setup easy and clean.

Conclusions

These are classic Kegland… super well thought out, good build quality and great price. Tool-free design, EVABarrier compatibility and the ability to stack kegs with QDs on. If you have ball lock kegs and use DuoTights+EVABarrier, these are an easy upgrade that make a lot of sense. If you don’t use DuoTights+EVABarrier check out my extensive hands on review of this great system to learn more.

Although standard QDs can be converted to DuoTight, it’s great to have a DuoTight native option.


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Another Option… Announcing: CombiBarb QDS

Ball Lock Quick Disconnect (QD) | Beverage Out | Combibarb | Duotight Compatible | WilliamsWarn

CombiBarb QDs by WilliamsWarn are designed to work with both standard and EVABarrier Tubing. They have a barb that works with 1/4″ to 5/16″ ID tubing AND they work with 8 mm EVABarrer.  They’re available in both gas and liquid variations.

Announcing: Kegland DuoTight Ball Lock QDs w/Flow Control

Kegland has introduced DuoTight Ball Lock QDs + Flow Control

These will allow DuoTight and EVABarrier users to easily dial in resistance without long lengths of tubing.

Related: What Does a Flow Control Faucet Do?Step by Step Balancing Your Kegerator Draft System


Related: Digital Pressure Gauge

Kegland has released a digital gauge option that works with their great inline secondary regulator and BlowTie Spunding Valve.  They have also released a DuoTight version. This is a hands on look at both including upgrades of the inline regulator and BlowTie.

The KL18081 can easily be combined with this keg QD to create a digital pressure gauge for easily checking for leaks and monitoring keg pressures.

Related:  Hands on Review: Kegland Digital Gauges

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William’s Brewing

Related: DuoTight Keg Faucet

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DuoTight Pin Lock Keg Disconnects?

As of this writing native DuoTight/EVABarrier Keg QDs do not exist. Use an MFL Pin Lock QD + DuoTight Flare fitting for pin lock setups.

Related: DuoTight Keg Faucet:

DuoTight Keg Faucet

DuoTight Keg Faucet – This ball lock keg faucet fits the OUT fitting on any ball lock keg, and lets you dispense directly from the keg. Lightweight, compact, and easy to use.

DuoTight Keg Faucet

Buy DuoTight

DuoTight Reviews, Resource Posts & How-To’s!

DuoTights are so amazing – at least in my book 🙂 – that I have several reviews and related top posts

My DuoTight Review!

I Recommend These!

More Kegland Gear Reviews!

Kegland Ball Lock QD Stock Photos & Specs

Specs from Kegland

The humble plastic ball lock disconnects have been around a long time and are used by thousands of home brewers around the world.  Despite the extensive use they have seen little to no innovation for decades and KegLand wanted to change this.  As a result we have come out with the new duotight ball lock disconnect.

Some of the features include:

  1. duotight push in
    These duotight ball lock disconnects already have the duotight fitting built into the ball lock disconnect. No need for additional threaded fittings. Simply push the beer/gas line in and you are done!
  2. Compact
    The worlds most compact ball lock disconnect every manufactured. This new compact form factor is great for tight spaces or fridges where you want to pack as many kegs in as possible. This is the only ball lock disconnect that allows standard ball lock kegs to be double stacked while still connected to beer and gas lines.
  3. Overmoulded Poppet
    The overmoulded poppet design means you can couple and disconnect this ball lock disconnect under extreme pressures of 150psi and will never have issues with the o-ring blowing out.
  4. Tool-less Disassembly
    Other ball lock disconnects require a tool such as a flat head screw driver or spanner to take them apart for cleaning. The new caps on these allow for easy disassembly by hand, making these easier to break down for cleaning. It’s literally never been easier to remove hop particles from your ball lock disconnects.
  5. Extreme Chemical Resistance
    No cheap ABS plastic or nitrile seals. This ball lock disconnect is made from stainless spring and ball bearings, with an engineering polykeytone resin body, EPDM and PP/EPDM overmoulded poppet.  This makes this ball lock disconnect resistant to extreme chemicals such as phosphoric and acetic acid, caustic soda, peroxide and many other acid or base chemicals which are commonly used in homebrewing.
  6. Toughness
    This ball lock disconnect is more robust than any other plastic ball lock disconnect ever manufactured due to the use of new engineering plastics. Don’t be fooled by the small form factor – these bad boys are tough!
  7. High Flow
    The internal design of these allows for faster flow meaning you can slightly quicker transfers when compared to other plastic ball lock disconnects.

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Make sure the components you use are compatible and rated for your intended application.  Contact manufacturer with questions about suitability or a specific application.  Always read and follow manufacturer directions

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7 thoughts on “Hands on Review: Kegland DuoTight Ball Lock QDs!

  1. Thomas

    What’s not clear, is whether or not torpedo kegs will stack on top of *each other* with the keg land quick disconnects.

    Can you test THAT out?

    Reply
    1. admin Post author

      Hey Thomas! Yes I can, I’ll test and do an update. Since Torpedo kegs stack with taller standard QDs, I see no reason at all that there would be any problem at all stacking two Torpedo kegs with these on.

      Reply
  2. Joe D

    I purchased several of these for both liquid and gas posts on my kegs. I do have one small problem with them, as I use color codes post o-rings that are slightly larger than the regular black o-rings. Where the black o-rings sit flush with the post, the colored ones stick out slightly past the top of the posts. Because of that, these QD’s can be a pain to pop off when I need to and I really need use force to remove them.

    Reply
  3. Joe D

    Just ordered 3 of each. Have slowly switched my system over to Duotight. First with beer lines, then gas lines, then the DuoTight gas manifold with individual regulators per line, and these will complete the system.

    Reply

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