Length of tubing

I am going to be building a 4 tap keezer soon and I am trying to find out how long of tubing I will need from the ball lock to the faucet. I know if you go too short too much foaming is a problem and I am sure there are problems if the tubing is too long. I have tried a google search and searched other threads here without any luck. Any references / advice would be greatly appreciated.

I use 6ft. on mine. I get lots of foam on the first pour, but after that it's fine. I'd suggest about 6-10' per keg. I know that's a ton of line, but you'll be glad you used it.

It depends on the serving pressure, diameter of tubing, style of beer, temp in the fridge, height difference between the beer and the faucet, etc...

6'-10' should work fine. 6' will be fast pouring but foamy. 10' will be slow pour and no foam. make sure you get the thick wall high quality tubing. 3/16" inside diameter works great.

This is a good article from balancing your kegging system.

maida7 said:

6'-10' should work fine. 6' will be fast pouring but foamy. 10' will be slow pour and no foam. make sure you get the thick wall high quality tubing. 3/16" inside diameter works great.

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No, no, no,no. There are a lot of factors that cause foaming and 6ft line isn't one of them. I would start with 8ft, you can always trim them(to speed pouring if necessary) after everything has been adjusted.

Don't skimp on tubing, the best is from micromatic, it's awesome stuff.

wildwest450 said:

No, no, no,no. There are a lot of factors that cause foaming and 6ft line isn't one of them. I would start with 8ft, you can always trim them(to speed pouring if necessary) after everything has been adjusted.

Don't skimp on tubing, the best is from micromatic, it's awesome stuff.

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What's the deal? You disagree with me then repeat everything I just wrote

maida7 said:

What's the deal? You disagree with me then repeat everything I just wrote

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No, it's just that 6 feet of line should work fine in most setups, my lines are 5' and 6'. Most homebrewers aren't willing to balance or tinker with their systems in order to get them properly set. I'm conceding when I suggested 8ft of line, it's just is a pet peeve of mine when people suggest 10ft of line. I mean how much free time do people have to wait 5 minutes for their glass to fill up?

I know i'll get blasted for it, but i'm tough I can take it.

I'm going to suggest an alternative.

I've successfully utilized mixers in my out tubes on kegs and cut the tubing down to just long enough to reach the taps with just a bit of slack to make them easy to unhook.

mcmaster.com part number 74695A12

I also use them on my portable keg setup and have a 12 inch "whip" picnic tap on them.

Sometimes people just like it longer. I've heard that others don't mind it short, but if I were you I would risk being too long that being too short.

BargainFittings said:

I'm going to suggest an alternative.

I've successfully utilized mixers in my out tubes on kegs and cut the tubing down to just long enough to reach the taps with just a bit of slack to make them easy to unhook.

mcmaster.com part number 74695A12

I also use them on my portable keg setup and have a 12 inch "whip" picnic tap on them.

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+1, see this post: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/cure-your-short-hose-troubles-100151/

I have not cut down my 5 foot lines, but I have found 1 mixer for pale ales, porters, stouts, and 2 for more carbed stuff like hefes works very nicely.

I've been confused on this topic as well. I have a dual keg system. One line is 3 foot and the other is 6 foot. The shorter line pours much better, perfect foam and speed. The 6 foot line pours mostly foam (75%). both have identical pressure. I suppose it could be style of beer (hefe (foamy) vs. belgiam).

I think I had heard of that short hose fix before. I'll have to look into it again.

Wildwest, I completely agree with you on 10' being excessive. I don't mind a slow pour, I just hate messing with that much line. With my first setup, I had about 2' lines. That's all I needed to get to my shank and the LHBS genius' told me to keep it short. I always had foam and I was getting pissed about it. I had to turn my pressure down to practically nothing to serve and then the keg would be flat in 2 weeks.

Now, as I said, I have 6' lines. I still turn down the pressure to 5 or 6 psi when I'm planning on having people over and I know it'll be used a lot. But, when it's just me, I get foam on the first pull and great pours from there on out at 12psi.

Heineken said:

I've been confused on this topic as well. I have a dual keg system. One line is 3 foot and the other is 6 foot. The shorter line pours much better, perfect foam and speed. The 6 foot line pours mostly foam (75%). both have identical pressure. I suppose it could be style of beer (hefe (foamy) vs. belgiam).

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You should probably be using the same size lines on all of your kegs. A balanced system is a happy system. Also, what sort of regulators are you using? When it shoots off from the main CO2 line, does each keg have it's own seperate PSI meter? This may be a factor too.