Pour speed on low carbed beers is abysmal

I've got a five tap keezer, with individually regulated CO2 for each. One of my favorites to have on tap is a Premium Bitter, which I serve at 1.8 volumes. Using polyethylene tubing, this means about 14" of line, and about 6.5 # pressure.

This results in a pour speed somewhere around 0.4 ozs/sec. It takes forever to fill a pint glass. Is this just a part of low carbonated beers that I need to accept, or is there some trick I'm unaware of?

You have 14 inches of beer line? Should move along with such a short line. I was going to suggest shorter line for the low volume faucet but it looks like you have that taken care of already.

Yes, 14". Multiple keg line calculators showed a little over 11" for vinyl tubing, so I ratioed the flow resistance of polyethylene vs vinyl.

What is the diameter of your beer line?

Stephonovich said:

Yes, 14". Multiple keg line calculators showed a little over 11" for vinyl tubing, so I ratioed the flow resistance of polyethylene vs vinyl.

Click to expand...

Inches? Are you sure you don't mean feet?

[ame]https://vimeo.com/94459739[/ame]

@passedpawn,

I couldn't believe he/she confirmed inches. How do you get the kegs close enough to the faucets? Maybe this is 1/16" ID beer line? Or 1/32" line????

Also, for the OP, I'd start here: http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

@passedpawn

Don't even need to play that one. Just visualizing the tiny "henge" descending on the stage mid act is enough to send me into stitches. Just as well there is no one around other than a 1 and 3 year old. The boys in white coats would be called.

Make the lines go to 11. It'll work then

Subdivisions said:

Make the lines go to 11. It'll work then

Click to expand...

But why not just make 10 louder?

sandyeggoxj said:

But why not just make 10 louder?

Click to expand...

But these go to 11

:d

The thread is getting OT and is in technical forum.

Stephonovich said:

I've got a five tap keezer, with individually regulated CO2 for each. One of my favorites to have on tap is a Premium Bitter, which I serve at 1.8 volumes. Using polyethylene tubing, this means about 14" of line, and about 6.5 # pressure.

This results in a pour speed somewhere around 0.4 ozs/sec. It takes forever to fill a pint glass. Is this just a part of low carbonated beers that I need to accept, or is there some trick I'm unaware of?

Click to expand...

You don't by any chance have this hooked up to a stout tap do you? And, what calculator(s) did you use to determine your beer line length?

Brew on

stpug said:

The thread is getting OT and is in technical forum.

Click to expand...

Yep, my fault. Let's get back on topic folks. This is Slow Tap.

Even at 6 PSI it should be gushing out with 14" (inch) of line unless there's some kind of clog in the line or maybe some hop material in the poppet. That has caused me some grief in the past.

Sorry for OT earlier. I couldn't resist.

UPDATE: Beer has started pouring at an alright rate, albeit a bit slower than my others.

passedpawn said:

Inches? Are you sure you don't mean feet?

Click to expand...

Indeed, inches.

doug293cz said:

You don't by any chance have this hooked up to a stout tap do you? And, what calculator(s) did you use to determine your beer line length?

Click to expand...

No, standard Perlick. As to the calculator, in Googling, I'm not sure. I know it's not the one sandyeggoxj linked to - come to think of it, I used that one for all my other beers, and found it to be marvelous. I remember looking at that one, seeing that it calculated 4.57 feet for this beer (with vinyl tubing, so with poly, around 6.2 feet), and scoffing based on my previous history with this beer. Confirmation bias, perhaps...

Subdivisions said:

Even at 6 PSI it should be gushing out with 14" (inch) of line unless there's some kind of clog in the line or maybe some hop material in the poppet. That has caused me some grief in the past.

Click to expand...

That's an excellent idea, about the poppet. Especially considering I've only used this keg for this beer, and have had this same issue twice in a row. I do a full flush, sanitize, and clean between batches, but I didn't take the gas and liquid posts off. Worth looking into, certainly.

It's worth noting that it's carbed beautifully, and other than pouring a bit slower, works fine.