The cure for your short hose troubles

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RichBenn said:
This topic always comes and goes for every HDPE or PET container we use for brewing. But your link basically says not to use non-food grade material!

The difference, AFAIK, is between food grade and non-food grade. Food grade(FDA) has (supposedly) followed all the rules about how and from what machines, dyes, chemicals(like release agents) it was manufactured from/with; non-food grade is not. The non-food grade "might" be just as good or then again not. Like what the extruder had on it before, was it cleaned, were recycled materials used(that contained chemicals), etc. You just don't know with non-food grade, for certain.

There is a different, more expensive restrictor:
http://www.chicompany.net/insta-balance-foam-preventer-859.html

Haven't used, but they look like stainless.

Like a friend used to say, you pays your money and you takes your chances....
Click to expand...

My bad, I only read what I wanted to read on that link, which was rather irresponsible of me. I apologize.

There are lots of "green living," "family safety" etc. sites out there that claim plastic (polypropylene, HDPE, what have you) is the work of the devil and going to give you cancer, and there's also plenty of scientific stuff showing the opposite. I guess you just have to make an informed decision, which, granted, is hard to do when you don't know how they're producing these mixing sticks.
 
Got these little guys in yesterday. Put two of them in an APA with five feet of line that was foaming like a banshee. Great pour now!
 
If anyone cares, I contacted the manufacturer directly about these mixing sticks to see what they said about safety. The outer cage (the clear plastic part) is polypropylene, the actual part we are using is made from delrin in a non-food safe environment. They do not make a reasonable food safe alternative.
 
avaserfi said:
If anyone cares, I contacted the manufacturer directly about these mixing sticks to see what they said about safety. The outer cage (the clear plastic part) is polypropylene, the actual part we are using is made from delrin in a non-food safe environment. They do not make a reasonable food safe alternative.
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I wonder if they can't call it food safe because of how it is manufactured in a "non-food safe" manner? I believe delrin can be food safe in many applications.
 
Looks like Delrin is approved by the FDA... Wiki article..

The Food and Drug Administration has approved Delrin for use in the food industry. Delrin was used by Mattel from 1968 to 1972 to produce the low-friction wheel bearings found on redline Hot Wheels.

So it just isn't manufactured in a food safe environment. I think a good soaking in non-chlorine cleaner should be ok for us.

It has a really low coefficient of friction which is why it's being used in the mixing tip application. It is also really susceptible to oxidation in the presence of chlorine even at low levels like in city water.
 
Bought a bunch of these. They're now in all my kegs.


Only issue: its a PITA when I want to transfer between kegs.
 
Just wanted to say, i ordered 6 of these for my 2 kegs, put 2 in each keg, just ordered 6 for "just in case". Just put them in and pulled a pint...absolutely perfect. It is slow, but man what a difference, i was getting 1/2 a pint of foam because of short 5' lines on my kegconnection setup, and this solved it. Very cheap and awesome advice. Thanks again!
 
Anybody know if these work fine in a 3 gallon keg? Wondering cause I also don't want to lower my keg pressure or lengthen my lines from 5 ft! Also is this something I can find at home depot or lowes or do I have to order online?
 
bscuderi said:
Anybody know if these work fine in a 3 gallon keg? Wondering cause I also don't want to lower my keg pressure or lengthen my lines from 5 ft! Also is this something I can find at home depot or lowes or do I have to order online?
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yes you can use them on 3 gal kegs also I use just 1-2 inserts vs 2-3 for 5 gallon kegs. And no you cant buy them at home depot
 
Oh my god this is a must for anyone who kegs I popped two in the 3 gallon keg with 5 feet of line perfect pour at 14 psi I was having to go to 7 psi without these! It worked way better than I expected thank you to the founder of this great idea!
 
bscuderi said:
Oh my god this is a must for anyone who kegs I popped two in the 3 gallon keg with 5 feet of line perfect pour at 14 psi I was having to go to 7 psi without these! It worked way better than I expected thank you to the founderS of this great idea!
Click to expand...

I think it would be FounderS. Someone in the Maltose Falcons brew club first came up with the idea to use the epoxy mixer - I believe inspired by the Ventmatic flow-gate. This first step in the evolution of the idea had the mixer spliced into the beer line. I had seen this but didn't like the idea of having to splice something into my serving line. Then one day Bobby_M was postulating about adding some tubing INSIDE a keg, basically making the dip tube longer, effectively making the serving line longer. I just put two and two together - simply put the mixer in the dip tube.
 
Hey all - first post, just wanted to try to give back to the community... great thread, and thanks to the OP for the suggestion - works like a champ!

Here's the Delrin MSDS from DuPont.

I'm no chemical engineer, but looks to me like you shouldn't burn it, or use with "strong" acids or bases, or oxidizers.

The last part got me - might not want to hose the swizzle down with Star-San without a good rinse afterward... I like preserving the flavor of my beer, but preferably not with formaldehyde. I'm pretty sure Star-San is considered an oxidizer, but it's definitely an acid-based cleaner: StarSan Tech Sheet. Whether or not it's "strong" enough in diluted form to affect the swizzle is anyone's guess.

With that said, I'll give them a good wash and rinse with bottled distilled water, then pop them in tonight to see how it goes... but I think I'll take my chances avoiding the StarSan...
 
OK so I read all 22 pages and I'm fairly convinced that this will solve my carb / pouring problems. But considering the 'you might die by using this product' aspect is the alternative using longer hose?

I have a Sanyo kegerator with a 2 tap tower and 5' of 3/16 line on each keg, serving at 10 - 12 psi. I find that my pours have about 1/2 pint of foam and the beer is not bubbly. It has a nice head, but no sparkle, and that definitely affects the flavor - for the worse in my opinion. How much hose would balance the system vs. using a swizzle?
 
Thanks all for compiling all this info.. this really works great but i still have to much flow and im using two mixers and ten feet of 3/16 line at 12psi.. should i use more? any feed back would be appreciated.
 
This is going to sound like a really stupid question, but...

I ordered a dozen of these for my kegs and when I got the shipment, they come individually in these clear plastic hardshell sleeves - I've heard these are reasonably delicate. What's the best way to get the spiral out of the sleeve without busting it?
 
WickedSoxFan said:
Hey all - first post, just wanted to try to give back to the community... great thread, and thanks to the OP for the suggestion - works like a champ!

Here's the Delrin MSDS from DuPont.

I'm no chemical engineer, but looks to me like you shouldn't burn it, or use with "strong" acids or bases, or oxidizers.

The last part got me - might not want to hose the swizzle down with Star-San without a good rinse afterward... I like preserving the flavor of my beer, but preferably not with formaldehyde. I'm pretty sure Star-San is considered an oxidizer, but it's definitely an acid-based cleaner: StarSan Tech Sheet. Whether or not it's "strong" enough in diluted form to affect the swizzle is anyone's guess.

With that said, I'll give them a good wash and rinse with bottled distilled water, then pop them in tonight to see how it goes... but I think I'll take my chances avoiding the StarSan...
Click to expand...


AFAIK a "strong" acid is anything lower than pH 3 (and arn't you meant to keep starsan under 3 for it to be effective?), "strong" alkali was something like pH of 11+.
The MSDS doesn't seem to suggest it is an oxidiser but I might be wrong, but as with most things don't mix with sodium hypochlorite (bleach) or you will probably die from chlorine gas. MSDS
 
This fix is amazing. It took me two trips to the hardware store to get a socket that would fit my keg post, and I had to kick the damn thing to get it off, but the pour after that ordeal was very satisfying.
 
I ordered a 12 pack of these, so I can tweak my 5 kegs and hopefully have a couple of spares.
Everything gives you cancer, so I don't care about the swizzle.
 
I recently went a similar route for a party. I used 1/4in. OD tubing stuffed into the dip tube of the keg. I have a faucet to QD conector I never used because I never thought about restriction when I bought it. Worked perfect. Poured the beer at 10 to 12 psi with gas from a paintball tank. Most portable keg yet. Next I need a wetsuit for the kegs.
 
My local auto paint supply had these on hand but they only sold them by the pack of 12 and the wanted $28 for them :eek: So I will wait till I do a McMaster order ;)
 
Akthor, I saw home depot had a bottle of epoxy that came with one or two of these but that's the best I saw. I would just recommend the polythylene hose in the dip tube or order mixers online
 
I can say that mcmasters does not charge a ton to ship 12 of those mixers out. I found that I need 2 or 3 in my kegs for the line length i find convenient.
 
So until I can get a Mcmaster order going to tide me over in the short term I can shove some 1/4" OD tubing into the dip tube to help? I tried looking up the details no luck. So how much and where do i put it?

My Kegerator isn't ready yet so all I've got is my keg sitting in a cooler of ice with 2 ft of hose and a picnic tap for football sunday. 12 psi gives me 1/2 cup of foam, if I turn the psi just enough to push the beer out I get a good beer but the psi is way low and I am afraid of the CO2 starting to equalize andlosing some of my carbination.
 
Can you share the details of the 1/4'' OD tube method? Exactly what kind of tube and what length? I think Bobby M said 18'' but I'm still not sure about the type..
 
Got it at Lowes this morning. $2.98 for a 25' spool of it. Fit snugly in the dip tube. I will install it on the keg I am carbingand pull a pint at 12psi and report back. If it works it is actually a cheaper fix than the mixers.
 
akthor said:
Got it at Lowes this morning. $2.98 for a 25' spool of it. Fit snugly in the dip tube. I will install it on the keg I am carbingand pull a pint at 12psi and report back. If it works it is actually a cheaper fix than the mixers.
Click to expand...

This is the method I use, and it works OK with a 3 ft. line. I think it would work great with a 5-6 ft line.

The mixers may end up giving you more surface area/resistance than the ice maker tubing but I guess the question is do you really need it.
 
Bump for a great idea. I just used it on a seltzer faucet so I wouldn't have to run 30' of line.

I just put 4 of the stirrers down the diptube and got a lovely pour at 40psi with only 3' of hose and a picnic tap.

Thanks for this thread!

seltzer.jpg


-Joe
 
Nostalgia, I love seltzer, looking good! I need to carb up some water here, I use the mixers in my beer, never thought of using them to carb a seltzer, good thinking!
 
Has anyone performed any sort of scientific data collection on this? It would be great if we could calculate the resistance in feet of tubing similar to calculating piping system head loss in equivalent feet. I'm guessing the best way to do this would be to use the same exact system with and without the mixers and measure the flowrate coming out. We could do a calculation to determine what this loss in flow equates to in pressure and feet of line.

I'd do it, but I don't currently have the equipment or time (baby just arrived Saturday morning and I'm more concerned about my actual beer supply!). I just thought it would answer a ton of peoples questions if someone could do the calculations and we could post exactly what impact a single mixer piece has on line balancing.
 
what do you guys clean the swivel with, I have star san but its a acid cleaner and im not sure if its ok to do that with the swivel since its not 100 percent food safe
 
One word of caution with the mixers - they can clog. We had a beer that had a bit of crud in the bottom and it clogged the mixer. I was wondering why the beer pour was so slow... no foam though :)
 

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