1/4 vs 3/16 Beer Line?

I built a keezer, I have 2 taps one for sprechers root beer and one for my home brew (currently an ESB).

I picked up (2) 15' lines of 1/4. I'm trying to serve the root beer at around 20psi (what I read) and I get nothing but head, should I have got 3/16 instead?

also, I get a REALLY funky plastic taste in the first pint. whats up with that? how do i fix it?

thanks in advance.

You need 25-30' of line for a root beer. I use 25' and carb it at about 27psi @38F.

Anything less that this and you'll see foam or have flat beer.

Yes, 3/16" ID is preferable. 1/4" drops less than 1psi per foot.

what about that "rubbery" taste?

Where did you buy the tubing? Several people have found some brands are way worse than others in the off taste area. In some cases it goes away after time but for the most part, that first 1oz of pour should be tossed.

1/4 inch vinyl only has .65 psi/ft. restriction, which 15 ftx .65= 9.75 of restricton, plus .5 psi for each foot of elavation. This isn't enough restriction
for 20 psi. Maybe try about 9feet of 3/16, which has 2.2psi/ft restriction.That
equals 19.8 psi of restriction, that should get you about right. If its pouring to slow, just cut off 4 to 6 in. segments till you get right balance. Hope this helps. Cheers

Brewerforlife said:

1/4 inch vinyl only has .65 psi/ft. restriction, which 15 ftx .65= 9.75 of restricton, plus .5 psi for each foot of elavation. This isn't enough restriction
for 20 psi. Maybe try about 9feet of 3/16, which has 2.2psi/ft restriction.That
equals 19.8 psi of restriction, that should get you about right. If its pouring to slow, just cut off 4 to 6 in. segments till you get right balance. Hope this helps. Cheers

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This is good advice...but 20psi isn't enough to carbonate root beer to a level that makes it taste like commercial examples. 25-30 is about right.

When I did soda water, I carbed it at about 30-34 PSI at 40*. I needed 35', (THIRTY FIVE FEET) of 3/16" to pour it without knocking all the CO2 out of suspension. I know that's not what the balancing calculators say, but I say those things are BS. They have never worked once for me. I use 10' of 3/16" for my 11 psi beer and 35' of 3/16" for my 34 PSI soda....works great.

Also, 35' of thick walled bev tubing takes up a ton of space, and gives you that plastic flavor. I bought 50' of polyethylene tubing (3/16, thin walled, hard) from McMaster (part no 5181K424, $0.15/ft), coiled 35' of it and bound the coil with electrical tape....takes up very little space.

Info on the plastic taste: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/beer-line-tests-solution-plastic-taste-60380/

shortyjacobs said:

When I did soda water, I carbed it at about 30-34 PSI at 40*. I needed 35', (THIRTY FIVE FEET) of 3/16" to pour it without knocking all the CO2 out of suspension. I know that's not what the balancing calculators say, but I say those things are BS. They have never worked once for me. I use 10' of 3/16" for my 11 psi beer and 35' of 3/16" for my 34 PSI soda....works great.

Also, 35' of thick walled bev tubing takes up a ton of space, and gives you that plastic flavor. I bought 50' of polyethylene tubing (3/16, thin walled, hard) from McMaster (part no 5181K424, $0.15/ft), coiled 35' of it and bound the coil with electrical tape....takes up very little space.

Info on the plastic taste: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/beer-line-tests-solution-plastic-taste-60380/

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thanks for this, I ended up buying 100' of 3/16" polyethylene tubing (5181K424) from McMaster for only $0.11/ft!

Aberrix said:

thanks for this, I ended up buying 100' of 3/16" polyethylene tubing (5181K424) from McMaster for only $0.11/ft!

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When I bought it a few years ago, it was like $.15 a foot- you got a better deal that I did, and I thought it was a bargain then!

Well it is still $0.15/ft for <= 99', its $0.11 for >= 100'. I figure I only need about 50' (2 lines) but 50' * 0.15 = $7.50 where 100' * 0.11 = $11.00 so for $3.50 more I get twice as much... figure it'd be nice to have extra to play with (just in case).

Aberrix said:

Well it is still $0.15/ft for <= 99', its $0.11 for >= 100'. I figure I only need about 50' (2 lines) but 50' * 0.15 = $7.50 where 100' * 0.11 = $11.00 so for $3.50 more I get twice as much... figure it'd be nice to have extra to play with (just in case).

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It's a nice pretty rigid line, so it coils up on the keg pretty well. It's hard to work with to straighten it, but works well in a coil! I still have some for future use for soda. Since you have extra, I'd suggest starting with 30' for 30 psi, and cut if you need to. Easier to do that than to cut it into 25' lengths and find it's not quite long enough!

precisely, always easier to remove excess than add to a shortage...

okay, quick update. I got the 100' of new 3/16" line in the mail yesterday, total price shipped to my door was $16.57. Which is way cheaper than the 30' of beer line I bought from my LHBS for $21.

I cut a 35' line for my soda keg (sprechers root beer), first 3/16 PVC is a PITA to get on barbed ends... once I got it all setup It was an amazing difference, it poured really nicely (30PSI) and I didn't notice any sort of off taste as I did with the vinyl.

I cut a 12' line for my beer keg (ESB from Northern Brewers) and it also poured nicely (4PSI).

should note my keezer is currently at 38F +/-

overall, an amazing difference 3/16 vs 1/4 and also PVC vs. vinyl. thanks for the tips guys and the lead on the pvc tubing!

i just picked up some of the recommended mcmaster polyethylene tubing for my root beer kegging endeavors. i saw the tubing mentioned in a different thread about root beer draughting. so, i ordered some of the 3/16" polyethylene tubing and wasnt expecting it to be rigid. however, reading THIS thread clearly indicates that i got the right stuff.

continuing... when i have root beer kegged for family parties, i usually keep the root beer keg(s) in a garbage can full of ice with a cobra faucet on it. so, now my question is, am i going to be able to jam a cobra faucet into an end of this stuff by boiling a little of the end or what!? thoughts?

ha, and on that note.. ill need to jam a 1/4" tail piece into the other side to even connect to the silly keg.. i hope this stuff heats up well.

i just found this thread if anyone else was interested!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/connecting-3-16-poly-beer-line-1-4-ball-lock-disconnect-45763/

I tried using those calculators to setup my kegging system and all I ever got was a bunch of foam for all my efforts. I started out using 12 feet of 3/16 tubing so I think it has to do with the diameter of the fittings on your ball locks and beer taps too. When I tried a 12 foot length of 3/16 tubing and 12 psi serving pressure it didn't work for me so I kept cutting off a foot and pouring but still foam.

Finally I used a 52 inch length of 5/16 inch tubing gassed to 30 psi at 34F for 3-5 days, burped the keg and reset the serving pressure to 3-5 psi, the results were perfect pours with just the right amount of foam.



It took me weeks of fiddling with different tubing lengths and diameters until I found what worked best for my setup, now I get consistently perfect pours that fill a glass quickly and the beer has great carbonation.

That looks like 3/4 glass of foam to me.

There's no way a little over 4 ft. of 5/16 vinyl is going to give enough resistance. That's a scientific fact!!!

ScrewyBrewer said:

I tried using those calculators to setup my kegging system and all I ever got was a bunch of foam for all my efforts. I started out using 12 feet of 3/16 tubing so I think it has to do with the diameter of the fittings on your ball locks and beer taps too. When I tried a 12 foot length of 3/16 tubing and 12 psi serving pressure it didn't work for me so I kept cutting off a foot and pouring but still foam.

Finally I used a 52 inch length of 5/16 inch tubing gassed to 30 psi at 34F for 3-5 days, burped the keg and reset the serving pressure to 3-5 psi, the results were perfect pours with just the right amount of foam.

It took me weeks of fiddling with different tubing lengths and diameters until I found what worked best for my setup, now I get consistently perfect pours that fill a glass quickly and the beer has great carbonation.

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I'm glad you're happy, but I want to correct some things wrong with what you say so others don't get confused.

First, longer line = less foam, shorter line = more foam...so cutting feet OFF the 3/16 tube will never fix a foam problem, only make it worse. You had foam at 12 psi and 12 feet of line because you were overcarbed.

You're getting good pours now because you are serving at 3-5 PSI. Leave your keg at 3-5 PSI for a few days, and it will be very flat beer. You need to keep the keg at carbonating pressure, around 10-15 PSI, to maintain carbonation. You need 5-10 feet of 3/16" line, (not 5/16"...god that's huge), to drop the pressure down as you pour. If you can't pour without foam at 10' of 3/16" and fridge temps, (35-45*F), and 12 PSI, then you are overcarbed. The fact that you are burst carbing reinforces my belief that you were.

Again, glad it worked for you, but I wouldn't recommend it to others, and keeping at keg at 5 PSI WILL give you very flat beer very soon.

What shorty said is perfect advice. What he says is 100% spot on!!!