jtkratzer

Recipes 

How about your system for the bev-seal lines? I have 50' and I'd like to get my three liquid lines hooked up to my shanks and make progress on getting my faucets into the fridge. I heard boiling water works well and when it cools, it's not coming off and doesn't even need a hose clamp. Also, where did you get your numbers on making the lines the length you did? I could split my lines into three 16' sections. Seems like plenty of length, but this is my first rodeo using anything other than a picnic tap.

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thadius856

Recipes 

I bought 100'. Each Perlick gets 20'. I used the remaining 20 piece in two halves; 10' for a picnic tap and 10' for a keg jumper. Just hooked up brown and weizen tonight and gave it a test. At 12 psi in the keg and line, it's a slightly slow pour with decent head on the 20' lines. Somewhere around 16' and 10 psi would probably be fine. I'm not sure which beers you're looking to serve.

As for getting the 1/4" barbs on there... yeesh. Need a heat gun and a leather glove.

Pass the Bev-Seal in front of the heat gun for a few seconds. Once it starts to go from dull white to clear (will look like it's melting somewhat), you know it's getting too hot. Remove from heat or you'll deform it. Wait for it to start to turn back to dull white a bit. While waiting, warm up a #1 phillips screwdriver like a branding iron. The #1 phillips slides easily inside the line, where you''ll hold it to warm the PET lining. You'll be able to feel the heat radiating through the tubing.

Warm a #2 phillips now. Wait for it to get warm, then inset it into the Bev-Seal. You're trying to stretch it slightly. If the Bev-Seal starts to cool on the outside too much, re-warm with the gun. Do not stop moving the #2 phillips or it'll get stuck like a Chinese finger trap and then it's all over. Continue until you have the first 1" stretched out slightly. You'll be able to see the bell shape to it.

Now hold the barb and swivel nut with the glove over the heat gun. Remove immediately from the heat once you can feel the heat on your finger. Place the #2 phillips head into the swivel nut side, rest the screwdriver against your thigh, briefly re-warm the Bev-Seal, then push it over the swivel nut using your thigh as an anchor point.

If you do it right, it slides on smoothly in under a second. If you didn't get the inside of the Bev-Seal or the barb warm enough, it'll jam mid-way. If you didn't get the tip belled out enough, you'll have trouble starting the barb in the end. If you got the Bev-Seal too warm, it'll squish and kink.

It's a very elaborate balancing act. My first good barb took 5 tries and nearly an hour to discover the technique, all of which forced me to cut 1" off and try again. The next dozen or so took 40 minutes total.

And no, 3/16" Bev-Seal on 1/4" barb does not need clamps if done right. If using 3/16" barbs, you'll definitely need clamps.

Good luck! Don't give up.

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