Beer Line Length

I've been looking through a lot of foaming threads and balancing articles and I am curious if it's possible to have lines that are too long. A lot of people seem to suggest getting 10' lines. According to some equations this would balance a system for 20 PSI. Does this work at controlling foam at 12 PSI? Is there any detriment to having lines that are too long?

Beer lines that are too long will simply take a lot longer to fill a glass and if extremely long you might only get a dribble. The goal is a good pour without an excess of foam. I use 10' lines on my keggerator. 10' seems like a good starting point. If you feel it's not pouring fast enough you simply cut off a foot at a time and see if foaming is an issue.

In my opinion, buy 'em long and experiment with cutting them down.

I started by believing the folks at kegconnection (though they've been great with everything else) and went with 5-footers... I struggled for months with foaming at 10 psi. Finally broke down and bought new 10-foot lines... problem solved nearly instantly. Sure, some folks might say I have a slow pour, but at 10 psi and about 38-deg, I can pour my first beer on a tap that hasn't been touched in weeks, perfectly everytime. I keep thinking about cutting one back to 8 feet or so to try it, but figure why mess with what's working....

On another note... I've got one tap sporting 25 foot of line and 25-psi for root beer... perfect pours every pull.

Just start long and experiment... hose is cheap, and it's easier to cut then to add.

Ok thanks. I was missing the slowing down the flow piece. Now that I think about it, it makes complete sense and I feel a bit dumb.

The line length needed for your beer really depends on a few factors, the temperature of the beer and the pressure that your beer is under. This will determing how much CO2 is dissolved in your beer. Take a look at the thread that I linked below and use the excel sheet to let you know how long of a line that you need for your given pressure and temperature. The nice thing about it is that it tells you what is the general standard CO2 volume that should be in your beer based on your style if you want it.

Beer Line Length and Pressure Calculator

I started with 5' and had tons of foam, at 10' it's perfect for me at 12 psi.

There are a lot of beer line length calculators out there but IMO you can simply just go with 10' on all your lines and never have any problems.

I have a strange problem:

I currently have a heffeweissen at 20 PSI, using 10 foot beer line @ 36 degrees Fahrenheit. For the first week, the pour was great. Then it started to get foamy, and now it is just foam. I have tried reducing the pressure right down to 2 PSI, same result, and the little beer that is collected is flat.

I cleaned my system when I first connected the keg, but clean the tap every other day. I use a 3/16 ID line and a proper tap with a flow controller, and I am perplexed. The temp is electronically controlled, and the keggerator has only recently been opened to fiddle with the pressures to try fix the issue.

Anyone had this issue?

ngula said:

I have a strange problem:

I currently have a heffeweissen at 20 PSI, using 10 foot beer line @ 36 degrees Fahrenheit. For the first week, the pour was great. Then it started to get foamy, and now it is just foam. I have tried reducing the pressure right down to 2 PSI, same result, and the little beer that is collected is flat.

I cleaned my system when I first connected the keg, but clean the tap every other day. I use a 3/16 ID line and a proper tap with a flow controller, and I am perplexed. The temp is electronically controlled, and the keggerator has only recently been opened to fiddle with the pressures to try fix the issue.

Anyone had this issue?

Click to expand...

What's a "flow controller"? I don't know what that means.

Yooper said:

What's a "flow controller"? I don't know what that means.

Click to expand...

I think he means the Perlick 545pc with the flow controller.

Sounds overcarbed to me. 20 psi at 36° seems rather high. I would think it should be closer to 10-12 psi at that temp.

Take it off the gas and vent the excess CO2 several times over the next couple of days until you can get a decent pour without excess foaming. Then put it back on at 10 psi.

Also, if you are overcarbonated, dropping the pressure on the keg will actually make the foaming worse (at least with first pours) as the CO2 will come out of solution in your lines because the CO2 will want to equalize between what is dissolved into solution as well as what pressure is on the beer. Has the flow control lever on the faucet been tinkered with recently? Have you tried opening it all the way up? with the 10 foot lines, the flow control shouldn't be as necessary.

Thanks for the reply guys.
In response to some comments, the pressure is high to keep in style with the CO2 levels for a heffeweissen. One thing I have trawled the net for and never found a conclusive answer is the difference (if any) carbing pressure and serving pressure. Should I carb at a high (or required pressure) then drop it down to a serving pressure, like say 10-12 PSI? Wont that then create a problem mentioned earlier where the result of reducing the pressure is that CO2 comes out of solution, causing foam - and going back to square 1?

ngula said:

Thanks for the reply guys.
In response to some comments, the pressure is high to keep in style with the CO2 levels for a heffeweissen. One thing I have trawled the net for and never found a conclusive answer is the difference (if any) carbing pressure and serving pressure. Should I carb at a high (or required pressure) then drop it down to a serving pressure, like say 10-12 PSI? Wont that then create a problem mentioned earlier where the result of reducing the pressure is that CO2 comes out of solution, causing foam - and going back to square 1?

Click to expand...

People use all sorts of pressures to carbonate when using burst carb methods. The pressure you'd use for the set and forget method, which is the equilibrium pressure for a particular temperature and carbonation level, is what the keg should be on for the entire time it's being served. A higher serving pressure will cause the carbonation level to increase. A pressure lower than the equilibrium pressure will cause CO2 to come out of solution as it sits, forming bubbles in the lines, and make the first pour of every session foamy. It will also cause the carbonation level to drop slowly over time.

If you want to serve a beer at 3.4 vol without a lot of foam, you'll need to slow the flow down to a gentle trickle, and be meticulous about the care of your glassware. This requires either super long lines, or flow control faucets. You mentioned a flow control faucet, are you using the flow control feature on the faucet to slow the pour way down?

That is correct. my tap looks like the Perlick 545pc, with a lever to adjust the flow. The guy who sold it to me said that with this type of tap, you dont need lines with narrow inside diameter, as this lever controls the flow.

So have you tried turning the lever to slow the flow way down or not?

I have turned the lever way down, all the way open, and everything in between.
Beer has been quaffed now, so I'll have to check when I refill, if I have the same problem.