Two sizes of beer lines...

I have my first keg carbing in the fridge. I bought a tower with 1/4" lines coming from the faucet, down the tower. The lines that came with the keg were 3/16". Instead of cutting the line from the beer tower, I simply coupled them. I now have about 5' of each size of line coupled together.

Does anyone know what this will do to my pour?

Thanks!

How did you couple them together? 10' of line won't do anything terrible. Too short of lines will result in foam. FWIW, you can fit 3/16" tubing on a 1/4 barb with the help of boiling water and needle nose pliers.

Are you using mfl connections on your kegs? or barbs? I like mfl and you can by different size fittings for different diameter tubing.

I was able to couple them together with a barb reducer and some clamps. I ran santizer through them and didn't have any leaks. I'm using barb connections, since that's what came with the set up.

Um, pull the lever and let US know what your pour looks like :rockin:

Seriously though,
Corny or Sanke?
If Sanke, is it a barbed QD or flare?
I'd just make the drive up to Beer Crazy on 100th and Douglas and get the right size stuff. Shouldn't cost more than $10 for a new disconnect and 10' of 3/16 line. He's got the Otker clamps too. WAY better than worm clamps

so you have 5 feet of each hose like this....
(corney keg)------3/16--------(coupler)-------1/4----------(tap)

it would be similar in restriction to having 5.5 or 6 feet of all 3/16". the only thing that might cause problems would be a potential pressure drop as it goes from small to large while flowing. this could produce foam. if the pour is foamy but not excessively fast, i would look at that junction as the cause.

audger said:

the only thing that might cause problems would be a potential pressure drop as it goes from small to large while flowing. this could produce foam. if the pour is foamy but not excessively fast, i would look at that junction as the cause.

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Increasing the diameter of the serving line will absolutely create a pressure drop which will cause CO2 to come out of solution. The only questions is whether it will be enough to create a problem or not.

If it does create issues, I'd suggest replacing the spliced together line with one 10' length of 3/16" ID.

So, I'm all for replacing the beer line. However, there's a metal clamp (looks like a cinch clamp) on the barbed connection to the faucet. How do I get this off? Is there a special tool to remove this? Or do I try to cut it somehow?

That's called an Oetiker clamps. Use a screwdriver or side cutter to pry up the tab on the side. It'll pop apart

Awesome, thanks!

I poured my first beer last night. I had about a 1/4" of foam at the top of my glass. The beer has been slowly carbing at 12psi @ 36F for a week and a half. I thought it was a bit under-carbonated. It was certainly drinkable, but nothing to get too excited about. It's an American Wheat all extract.