Keggin' Root Beer

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RadicalEd

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Ok fellas, I need you help. I set up a corny of Gnome Root Beer up in my fridge a few days ago, but for the life of me I can't properly control the carbonation! I'd seen threads on here suggesting anywhere from 15 to 30 PSI, so that's where I put it for a couple days, but the entire cup when poured what foam. I tried massively reducing the pressure to less than 5 PSI, but there's still a lot of foam, and little carbonation left over when it subsides. I'm running 5-6 ft of 3/16th tubing to the faucet. I'm really stumped here, any advice would be welcome!

Thanks in advance!
 
In order to carbonate root beer to a level that is similar to store bought root beer, or any soda, you will need to carbonate it to 30psi at about 40˚F. In order to do that, you must balance out that high pressure with a longer length of 3/16" ID beverage tubing.

I have a dedicated soda tap on my kegerator. I run 35' of 3/16" ID beverage tubing, coiled up in the back and zip tied. I get a perfect pour and virtually no foam. You will never get anything but foam if you carbonate to 30 psi and serve through only 5' of tubing. Even if you turn down the pressure to 5 psi when you serve you will get nothing but foam because the root beer still has the volumes of CO2 in solution from carbonating to 30 psi.
 
Ditto what John says.

I have my first batch of root beer at 40 deg F and 25PSI with 20 ft of 3/16 hose coiled up. The mug fills up fairly quick with a good head of foam but it dies down and then I top it off. There is still plenty of carbonation in the soda and tastes great.
 
Holy schikey, that's a lot of tubing! I guess I need to go get some more; hopefully HD or Lowes has 20-30ft sections so I don't have to splice (I'm way to cheap to buy that length by the foot :p ).

Thanks for the advice fellas. I thought I had read earlier that since 3/16 was so restrictive, that it would only take 5 ft to get a proper pour at higher pressures; guess I read wrong!
 
You most likely are not going to find 3/16" ID thick walled, smooth bore beverage tubing at a hardware store. It would also totally defeat the purpose of going with a longer length of tubing for the purpose of balancing your system if you try to splice two lengths of tubing together. The point of the splice would create a restriction and knock the CO2 out of solution, causing foaming.

It's cheaper in the long run to do it right the first time than to get the wrong stuff and have to do it over. JMO
 
Good point on a splice not being a good idea...Once again reality and my laziness are in perfect alignment! (Or is that for once? :D)

I guess then it's another run to the LHBS. At least the tubing's only $.29/ ft., so even 35 ft would only run ~$10. And I completely agree, it's always cheaper done right first.
 
being brand new to kegs I found 3/16 tubing at HD for 5 bux for 20 feet. I just have picnic taps, and my root beer is all foam too, unless I turn it down to no carb land.
This carbonation thing is a little hard to master, and having 3 taps in my sunroom may not be a good idea if I want to avoid alcoholism!
Norm
 
Movinfr8 said:
being brand new to kegs I found 3/16 tubing at HD for 5 bux for 20 feet.

Does the 3/16" ID tubing that you got at HD look like what is pictured below, with the thick walls? If not, it is not beverage tubing and will not drop the pressure sufficiently to balance your system unless an excessive length of it is used. Thin walled tubing will expand under pressre, effectively increasing its inner diameter.

%20g3-16.jpg
 
Movinfr8 said:
being brand new to kegs I found 3/16 tubing at HD for 5 bux for 20 feet.

Does the 3/16" ID tubing that you got at HD look like what is pictured below, with the thick walls? If not, it is not beverage tubing and will not drop the pressure sufficiently to balance your system unless an excessive length of it is used. Thin walled tubing will expand under pressre, effectively increasing its inner diameter.

You will also need to use a longer length of the correct tubing when using a picnic tap as opposed to a faucet.

%20g3-16.jpg
 
One more thing to consider - after you've served root beer, the tap, lines, and keg will be utterly permeated with root beer aroma and flavor. It will take MONTHS and 10's of gallons of beer to flush all traces of root beer from the system, regardless of your cleaning methods.

A brown ale or porter would be a good next brew - they can benefit from the accidental flavors introduced.
 
Yuri_Rage said:
One more thing to consider - after you've served root beer, the tap, lines, and keg will be utterly permeated with root beer aroma and flavor. It will take MONTHS and 10's of gallons of beer to flush all traces of root beer from the system, regardless of your cleaning methods.

A brown ale or porter would be a good next brew - they can benefit from the accidental flavors introduced.

Good point for newbie keggers to understand Yuri. That's why I have two dedicated rootbeer kegs and one deicated rootbeer tap. Even companies that make sodas have a dedicated section of the plant for making rootbeer to avoid cross contamination. Rootbeer odor/flavor is quite powerful!
 
Oh yes, I'm well aware of the "dangers" of root beer (I spend waaay too much time reading threads here :p). Anything rubber and or plastic that it touches will henceforth be dedicated to RB. I may need to use the corney for beer, but I will swap out the o-rings and keep them separate in a sealed container. Of course, I could just order more cornies, too...

I just got back from the LHBS and sadly, they only had 19ft of 3/16", so I had to take a pass. I've got to pick up an Oxy bottle for a torch of mine, so I figure I'll look at their tubing selection just in case...and iirc Lowes had a pretty decent selection too. Now that I think about it, it'd be a good chance to pick up mash tun parts, too :D. But anybody know a decent place for tubing (beyond a HBS)? There's an ACE in my area too...
 
this has helped me a tun thanks guys! my daughter and I did a rootbeer and kegged it and I could never get the damn thing to carb so... boosting the PSI tonight and see what happens. ???? did anyone here use honey in there rootbeer and if so how much?? we used 3# ( like recomended) and its WAY too much?
JJ
 
RadicalEd said:
I've got to pick up an Oxy bottle for a torch of mine, so I figure I'll look at their tubing selection just in case...and iirc Lowes had a pretty decent selection too. Now that I think about it, it'd be a good chance to pick up mash tun parts, too :D. But anybody know a decent place for tubing (beyond a HBS)? There's an ACE in my area too...

Most big box hardware stores do have a great selection of tubing, but as I stated before they will not have thick walled, smooth bore beverage tubing. At least none that I have ever been to has. Beyond your LHBS or any of the online vendors, you could look in your local Yellow Pages for a local beverage or draft supplier. They often won't sell to the general public, but you might get lucky.
 
johnsma22 said:
You will also need to use a longer length of the correct tubing when using a picnic tap as opposed to a faucet.

How much additional length do you suggest if I were to use a picnic tap over the faucet?
 
Uncle Argyle said:
How much additional length do you suggest if I were to use a picnic tap over the faucet?

I must admit that the info I posted on picnic taps does not come from personal experience, but rather from information that I have read here on the forum. Since I have been kegging I have only used Ventmatic (Shirron) faucets. It's always best to start with a length of tubing that is too long and cut it back to obtain the pour rate that you like, while at the same time keeping your pour foam free.

I would say starting with 10' with your picnic tap would be a good place to start. You should get a foam free pour with most beer styles (volumes of CO2), and just adjust the length down if you think the pour rate is too slow.
 
you'll also have to replace both dip tube o-rings and the lid o-ring before you put beer in this.
and use a separate beer line and tap.

root beer extract permanently imbeds its flavor and aroma into rubber and vinyl.
 
Hmmm, yeah I've pretty much decided that I need more cornies. Now it's just a matter of waiting for a good deal to come along...

I'll head of to HD or Lowes shortly; I'll chime in later on as to whether they have any good tubing.
 
johnsma22 said:
I would say starting with 10' with your picnic tap would be a good place to start.

Thanks, I should have mentioned that the questions was in regards to root beer. You mentioned 35' for a faucet...I'm guessing get 50' for the picnic tap and cut back from there? Or is that overkill?

I bought a dedicated corny for root beer...it even had a "Root Beer" sticker on it when I bought it:)
 
RadicalEd said:
Hmmm, yeah I've pretty much decided that I need more cornies. Now it's just a matter of waiting for a good deal to come along...

I'll head of to HD or Lowes shortly; I'll chime in later on as to whether they have any good tubing.


ahh don't take my mention of finding tubing as it being GOOD tubing. the tubing I have used in the cooler is hardening up. I thought since it noted "good for icemaker supply" it would be food grade. I still, it seems, have much to learn!!
Norm
 
Ok, just got back from my local Ace Hardware, and I now officially love this place. They had 5/8" SS washers (for MLT) and 3/16 thick walled tubing. At very reasonable prices to boot; cost less than $5 for all of the tubing. As of now, all of my hardware shopping will be done through them; I have no clue how they manage to squeeze more useful hardware into their tiny footprint than the big box stores do.
 
I'm not doubting you in any way, I'm just surprised that Ace had smooth bore beverage tubing. Could you post a photo of it, as you have peaked my curiosity.
 
Here you go! Sorry, but it was a pain getting the tubing onto the barbs, so I'm not gonna take it off ;). My Ace may be a special one; I think they're nationally ranked or something.

Also please excuse cr@ppy cell phone pic.

rblinepp0.jpg
 
That's great that you were able to get beverage tubing at your local hardware store. The wall thickness doesn't look as thick as the stuff I got from Micromatic, but if it works for you that's all that matters. I would, however, suggest that you get some hose clamps on those barbs ASAP before you are swimming in beer!
 
A good recommendation indeed! I'm not too worried, as I did give each end a test pull before re-pressurizing the keg, and going at about 3/4 full strength I couldn't pull it off. I think it's because pulling on it streches the tubing around the barb, which then tightens it further. But I do happen to have several 1/4 inch barbs laying around already, so I might as well :D. Oh yeah, the wall thickness is 1/8 inch.
 
RadicalEd said:
I'm not too worried,.
Famous last words when cleaning up 5 gallons of soda. FWIW pulling on the hose dose tighten BUT pressure inside the hose is the same as pushing. Remember those chineese finger things.
JJ
 
Good point. I'll have them on there shortly.

Right now a bigger concern of mine is that the tubing imparts a plasticy taste to the liquid running through it. I had a spare corny filled with PBW solution, so I flushed that through the line, and then a couple gallons of Starsan as well...but I can still smell/taste the plastic when I dumped some water into the carboy and dispensed it. A quick google has told me that vinegar or baking soda should do the trick...Can anybody confirm this? Or do you have your own ways of getting rid of it? They guys at the store confirmed that this is beverage line, so I would have thought that it wouldn't have this issue...

Thanks in advance!
 
Are the words "Beverage Hose" printed on the tubing? If not, then it probably isn't, regardless of what the guy from ACE told you. I have gotten beverage line from a few different manufacturers, Micromatic and Perlick just to name two. They all had "Beverage Line" or "Beverage Hose" printed on them. I have never experienced any plastic flavors or odors with the proper tubing I have used over the years.

You can also see that the wall thickness of this Perlick tubing is thicker than the stuff you got from ACE. Like I always say, it's cheaper to do it right the first time than to have to do it over. JMHO.

DSC00002-1.jpg
 
Heh, the funny thing is I thought I was doing it right. :mad: I still agree that right is better done first. FWIW I do get a really nice pour off of it...

I just called them up and they said that it's USDA approved line, and it that doesn't qualify as acceptable then I'm not sure what does. Fellow said that I was more than welcome to exchange it or return it if I can't get the smell/taste out.
 
Good God.....the tubing IS FINE! I have used thin wall non smooth bore non beverage hose........... no really, almost ALL I use is thin walled tubing. Add about an extra foot and you are fine. Don't "have to have" thick wall smooth bore beverage hose that is only made in 3 plants around the world with included gold leaf box for safe transportation. Forgive my sarcasm but I feel that the point has been sufficently made. This is for drinking beer not launching a space craft.
 
As for getting the taste out, I have found that vinegar just makes it worse if you have used star san in the lines. I normally just pump a few gallons of really warm water through em and they are fine.
 
Drunkensatyr said:
Good God.....the tubing IS FINE! I have used thin wall non smooth bore non beverage hose........... no really, almost ALL I use is thin walled tubing. Add about an extra foot and you are fine. Don't "have to have" thick wall smooth bore beverage hose that is only made in 3 plants around the world with included gold leaf box for safe transportation. Forgive my sarcasm but I feel that the point has been sufficently made. This is for drinking beer not launching a space craft.

My first reaction to this was to be a smart a$$, but I've learned to ignore my first reaction because it usually gets me into trouble. All I was attempting to do was to point out that there is a product specifically made for this application and share what I have learned over the years. I was asked, and I answered. The bottom line is people are going to do whatever they want regardless of what anyone says anyway. You guys can use garden hose for all I care. I'm done here.
 
Thanks for the reply, drunkensaytr; I'll just keep running water through it then and see if that helps.

Johnsma; I certainly hope I didn't add to your irate attitude; I have taken all that you have said to heart, and I don't think I've done anything to upset you.
 
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