I think my line is too short (not that line)

Alright, get your mind out of the gutter and help me with my keg line

I have a single tap sanke and I think the line is probably 3-4 ft and 1/4" I will be measuring it tomorrow. I have a party Saturday I am loaning my keg set up to a friend to celebrate their anniversary and I'm having foaming issues with my kegs.

I will be mounting my tap in a skinny bar style trash can that is 19X10X28 which is almost perfect size for one or two 5 gal kegs (sanke or corny). I just need to figure out how to keep everything from foaming so much. I know my beer isn't overcarbed. If I pour a pint the first one is over 1/2 head. If I pour another one right after that it is almost perfect, but if it sits for a few minutes it is back to 1/2 head again. From what I've read I think I need longer lines, probably start at 10 ft and work my way back. I can source the lines locally but I'm not sure about bumping up to 3/16 by saturday that may have to wait.

What things do I need to consider for this set up to work for the trash can and my kegerator, which is a standard top freezer single door fridge with a single tap coming out the fridge door??? Any help is greatly appreciated, I just don't want to be in trouble for wasting a bunch of beer in the form of foam!!

If you use 1/4" ID line, you'll need at least 20 feet. If you use 3/16, you can reduce it to about 8 feet. Your line is like a fire hose at this point.

well, I thought I could source the lines locally! I've called every place I can think of and no one stocks the stuff. Any suggestions? One local brewery said he uses Lowes and Depot to fix lines occasionally so I'll be running out there here in a minute to see if they have anything that would work as a stop gap.

My line is 1/4 id and approx 5 ft, so I'm sure this is the culprit.

You don't have a brewstore in your area? I really like lines designed for beverages- no "plastic taste" in them. I have 10 feet of 3/16" lines at 11 psi and it works great.

For now, if you don't want to change lines, you could lower the pressure to about 2psi for the night. That should be enough to push the beer without excessive foaming for one night.

Finally!!! I found the one place in town that carries it. Hopefully this will solve the problem! I checked the line again and it is 3/16 so at least I don't need new fittings.

Neither of the LBHS carry kegging supplies and I wouldn't buy them from one of the places anyway but that's a whole other story.


Thanks Bobby and Yooper!!

OK, now that the line is replaced with the fancy 3/16 micromatic clear stuff I can see what is happening. The line is emptying after the tap is closed. What I mean is you pour a beer and the line is full, then you close the tap and it sits for a minute or so and the beer disappears?? I know the tap isn't leaking, is it being sucked back into the keg?? What would cause this and how do I fix it??

EuBrew said:

OK, now that the line is replaced with the fancy 3/16 micromatic clear stuff I can see what is happening. The line is emptying after the tap is closed. What I mean is you pour a beer and the line is full, then you close the tap and it sits for a minute or so and the beer disappears?? I know the tap isn't leaking, is it being sucked back into the keg?? What would cause this and how do I fix it??

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Now that's trucking weird.

If it's not coming out the tap, and it's not coming out the connections, it's going back into the keg. You have no drips or anything? Well even if you had drips, it shouldn't be emptying....there would be a vacuum in the line then.....

Ummmm....you have CO2 pressure in the keg right? Well of course, you must, or else beer wouldn't come out when you opened the tap.

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Absolutely stumped.

You have to have a leak somewhere venting for the beer to be able to come back in.

I think my regulator could be off. I had dialed it back a bit to cut down on the foaming and I took a closer look and it looked like the pressure in the line was greater than that in the keg causing it to flow back into the keg. I bumed it up to 13 psi and I could see the beer fighting through the foam to get back into the line. I'm gonna be hammered by the time I figure this out

IrregularPulse said:

You have to have a leak somewhere venting for the beer to be able to come back in.

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If there were a leak I'd be out of CO2 by now (5lb). This keg's been on the tap for a couple weeks carbing and it had already carbed and pushed a couple kegs.

Had the same problem with our first keg/kegerator. Exact symptoms - tons of foam, beer falling back into keg when the tap was closed. First we got the right size beer line (we were using a 3' section, put 8' on). Still not right. It was a leak. Could not see or hear ANYTHING leaking or bubbling. Changed out all the keg seals, problem solved.

Yeah, there is a leak somewhere. Now, you might not be losing co2 because maybe the leak is in the "in" post, in the poppet there. So, when the pressure from the tap is closed, the beer flows backwards to where there is less pressure. So, could it be backing up into your gas line?

If you beer is leaving the beerline and going back into the keg, there is a vacuum. So, purge the pressure from the keg, reset and try again. And check the "in" post. You could even take it off of the gas, and try to pour a pint. It should still flow, and you might be able to spray some star-san on the post and see if it's leaking.

YooperBrew said:

You could even take it off of the gas, and try to pour a pint. It should still flow, and you might be able to spray some star-san on the post and see if it's leaking.

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That's what I would try. Remove your Gas in connector. Then pull a pint and watch to see if the beer falls down again afterward. If it doesn;t that's your problem. Then just replace the o-ring on the poppet valve or the poppet valve itself. I forget, does it do this on just one keg?