Dispensing line tweaking

I came across a clever idea from Greg Terpay in Zymurgy's homebrew gadgets piece called a "Serving String". As a method to control pressure drop through a dispensing line, Greg inserts a length of weed trimmer string into a 3/16" ID dispensing line. The string reduces flow area and hydraulic diameter both of which increases pressure drop WITHOUT tinkering with tube length. The length and number of strings can provide a wide range of tuning.

I have a few highly carbonated brews (serving with 15-18 psi keg through 10 feet 3/16" at 40F) that will not dispense without excessive foam. Recently installed a fan to balance temperature in the keezer but saw only a slight improvement. So, this clever approach is on my radar.

Can anyone shed light on this idea or similar approaches to increasing line pressure drop without lengthening hose?

Cheers!

epoxy mixing sticks have been used successfully before.

the biggest 'caveat' of any solution, in my mind, is the deterioration of the item you put in the serving line or diptube. as long as the solution doesn't breakdown or deteriorate then, if it works, it's a reasonable solution (albeit, another item to clean and watch for).

If you have the cash, flow control faucets are a great way to be flexible on the carbonation of any keg on your system (within reason), without having to muck with putting stuff inside the beerline.

stpug said:

epoxy mixing sticks have been used successfully before.

the biggest 'caveat' of any solution, in my mind, is the deterioration of the item you put in the serving line or diptube. as long as the solution doesn't breakdown or deteriorate then, if it works, it's a reasonable solution (albeit, another item to clean and watch for).

Click to expand...

gnef said:

If you have the cash, flow control faucets are a great way to be flexible on the carbonation of any keg on your system (within reason), without having to muck with putting stuff inside the beerline.

Click to expand...

stpug, I like you epoxy mixer idea but I believe a more gradual breakdown of pressure may avoid turbulence that will drive CO2 out of solution. Maybe my thinking is baseless. I plan to run some experiments using a keg and water (no need to waste beer) and some wacky .095 dia trimmer line called UGLY snaked into the line. gnef, I built my keezer a month ago and considered the Perlick 650 but I went wih 630 to save a few bucks. In the scheme of things that savings was trivial.

I'll keep this thread posted with any meaningful results. Thanks.