First post! Serving beer at a party... Line size and length?

First post!

A little background! I've been brewing beer for about 3 years, I'm about 25 5gal batches into my homebrew career. Ive always bottled my beer, and out of 25 batches only had to dump batch (neighbor was left incharge of fermentation, and my yeast never did grow... It tasted like dirty medicine porter) that's a little about me!

Ok, I just kegged 2 batches for a party, one is a porter and one is a pale. I'm not sure how to figure line size and pressure. I failed on the math formula earlier, and am not sure if I should split the diff on the pressure...

I bought 2 perlick perl faucets, 2-3" shanks, 2 90* 3/16 tail pieces, 2- 5' sections of 3/16 line.

My faucets will be 3' taller then the center of the kegs.


Also the only way to cool the beer is to keep it on ice, will this be an issue?

As far as gas goes, I have a 5# tank, a single stage reg, red co2 line, a 4way manifold with 2 outlet valves and 2 check valves.

i usually try to use about 8 feet of line from teh keg to the faucet just to make sure i don't get excessive foaming. 5 should probably work.
how much time do you have to get these up to pressure? will you be able to slowly force carb them, or are you going to have to do the shake up thing? (i hate shaking good beer)

I kegged yesterday, I added some priming sugar, and the kegs are sitting at 65*f

The party is in a month


I can let them force carb also, what pressure should I set the reg to?

BuckshotBrewing said:

I can let them force carb also, what pressure should I set the reg to?

Click to expand...

Use this chart: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

For 'general purpose force carbing,' I set mine between 10 and 12 psi at 40degF.

EDIT: NEXT time use that chart. If you added priming sugar, you don't need to force carb.

Good call using 3/16" hose. 1/4" will foam too much. Didn't believe it until I experienced it.

Nugent said:

Good call using 3/16" hose. 1/4" will foam too much. Didn't believe it until I experienced it.

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In my experience, 1/4# is generally only needed for LONG runs.

Smaller is better.

For a party, I would not sweat it too much. Once the line is cold, it should be ok as long as the pressure is close to equal.

If you have primed, then just follow the chart and you've only got a head start. It will be fine. Sounds like fun! I am totally wishing more of my friends liked good beer.

I just served 5 corny kegs at a wedding......not the first time by a long shot. My system....force carb warm at 30 psi, no shake three to four days...till it tastes right. About one week before transporting jump transfer to a clean keg, taking off the first pint or two with most of the yeast. MAKE SURE to cool the kegs to serving temp or not more than 45 F before trying to jump or you will get LOTS of foam. Drop CO2 to 12 psi and cool if possible then transport. If you then have a couple days to let the kegs sit before serving that is best. Put the kegs on ice not less than 4 hours before serving. I take off about a half pint before serving to pick up any more settled yeast and deliver with picnic taps 5 ft of 3/8 line at 5 psi and never have a bit of trouble. That is just my system not the only way I am sure. Can give more detail if you need it.

badhabit said:

I just served 5 corny kegs at a wedding......not the first time by a long shot. My system....force carb warm at 30 psi, no shake three to four days...till it tastes right. About one week before transporting jump transfer to a clean keg, taking off the first pint or two with most of the yeast. MAKE SURE to cool the kegs to serving temp or not more than 45 F before trying to jump or you will get LOTS of foam. Drop CO2 to 12 psi and cool if possible then transport. If you then have a couple days to let the kegs sit before serving that is best. Put the kegs on ice not less than 4 hours before serving. I take off about a half pint before serving to pick up any more settled yeast and deliver with picnic taps 5 ft of 3/8 line at 5 psi and never have a bit of trouble. That is just my system not the only way I am sure. Can give more detail if you need it.

Click to expand...

That sounds like a good plan. It's best to get the sediment out before moving the kegs around, so you get just good clean beer. Otherwise they will cloud up like crazy.

Also, when you jump the kegs, do you purge with CO2, then pressurize them both before starting the transfer? I think you would eliminate any foaming by using the pressure relief valve on the accepting keg to keep the pressure at just about the same as what the beer was carbed at.

General rule of thumb on serving line length IIRC is 1' of 3/16" line per 2psi serving pressure. 5-6' of line is good for most serving.

Homercidal said:

That sounds like a good plan. It's best to get the sediment out before moving the kegs around, so you get just good clean beer. Otherwise they will cloud up like crazy.

Also, when you jump the kegs, do you purge with CO2, then pressurize them both before starting the transfer? I think you would eliminate any foaming by using the pressure relief valve on the accepting keg to keep the pressure at just about the same as what the beer was carbed at.

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OOOPS! 3/16th not 3/8ths...typo
Clean and purge the receiver. Take the yeast off the sender first before you connect the transfer to the receiver, when you run clear you can connect the jumper. I put 5 psi in each tank to start the transfer. Bleed off the receiver with the relief valve to keep the transfer going as you progress with the fill and keep the CO2 going to the sending keg until you see yeast in the line, it will turn pretty white or until you start getting lots of bubbles and can hear the sending keg getting empty. Pull the line at once when that happens. You must use a jumper line, mine is 2 ft long, with an out to out connection. That is to say you are filling the receiver through the out line. Again you must cool the sending keg or you will run foam....it doesn't hurt to cool the receiver and even the transfer line as well but I have transfered without doing that. I have heard of folks using 10 psi in the process, I just want to keep things as calm as possible durring the transfer. When I finish I carb up the receiver to 12 psi to hold it, if you stay at 5 psi you will loose carb in the beer. I have found that the beer transports better cold, just be sure to transport upright and to shake as little as possible. When I serve with the 5 ft picnic lines I drop the pressure to 5 psi. If I had an 8 to 10 ft hose I would start to serve at 10 psi and adjust if needed. If that isn't clear enough, just ask. The first time is a little confusing but by doing it once the process becomes simple and very clear.

I wish I could transfer the beers to another keg, but I only have 3 5gal kegs and 1 3gal keg... And I'm making a 3rd batch today for keg #3

The beers looked cleared after they spent 8 days in secondary so I'm not too worried about making it more clear.

So I will use 5' of 3/16 line, and I guess I will start at 10psi and turn it up until I get 8-10 sec per pint pours...

apratsunrthd said:

Use this chart: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

For 'general purpose force carbing,' I set mine between 10 and 12 psi at 40degF.

EDIT: NEXT time use that chart. If you added priming sugar, you don't need to force carb.

Click to expand...

I'm going to force carb at 24psi because I have no way to chill the beer down to 40*f so I'll be forcing it at around 60-65*f

Any idea how long? It's a month away, do I keep the kegs hooked up to the regulator for that long?

BuckshotBrewing said:

So I will use 5' of 3/16 line, and I guess I will start at 10psi and turn it up until I get 8-10 sec per pint pours...

Click to expand...

Why not use equilibrium pressure and adjust line length to get appropriate pour?

Regarding transferring, this should also take place at equilibrium pressure too. You can use gravity (once you get a siphon started, jumper the gas posts) or head pressure (vent from receiving keg periodically) to move the beer.