Are there any "rule of thumb" methods for balancing keg systems?

[gungnir77]

I have a kegerator with 3 kegs and a 10ln c02 tank in it. here are three separate regulators going to each keg. I have two taps through the door and one cobra head picnic tap on the third. I typically keep the fridge around 45 degrees and the regulators set to 10psi. (i know that I need to set them differently for different syles of beers but I'm lazy about it and 10psi seems to work ok for me) but once the kegs get to be half full or less, the pours come out really foamy. I know there is a good page on balancing your system to avoid this but there is a LOT of math involved, . Is there a good "rule of thumb" method that any of you use to avoid this or do I need to just buckle down and get my measuring tape and slide rule out and do some work? All my kegs and lines were bought from keg connection and they are all 5 feet long. the taps on the door a bout 5 inches lower than the ball lock connections on the top of the kegs.

 

[hamiltont]

About all I can suggest is try a longer beer line on one of the kegs. My setup is very similar to yours & @ 10 PSI I needed 8' lines. You might start with a 9'-10' line & whack off a half foot at a time until you get it working right. Then just replace the rest of your lines with the same length. Cheers!!!

 

[kpr121]

I second the idea of longer lines. Go with at least 10 feet at first. You may need even more since you arent getting much resistance from gravity head pressure. If you are serving at 45 deg F, you may want to bump up your pressure to 12-15 psi for proper carbonation of 'normal' style ales and lagers. You absolutely need longer line to accomplish this.

I suspect that you havent played with different serving pressure because of your foam issues. If I were you I would get a 15 ft line on a dedicated tap (of the three) if you plan on serving styles that typically require higher carbonation (wits, belgians, lambics, etc). If you put a beer that requires less carb on that tap it will just pour slower.

This is a pretty good website on beer styles and carbonation. It has a colored chart towards the bottom that really doesnt require a whole lot of slide-ruling. If you can get in the ballpark you'll be happy:

http://www.goallgrain.com/2011/05/03/carb/

 

[wildwest450]

If the first half of the keg pours fine it's NOT line length, that doesn't even make sense.
I have 5-6 feet of line on both kegerators and have no problems.
_

 

[flabyboy]

I have 7 ft line and have no problems. You using 3/16 or 1/4 diameter tubing?

 

[Bobby_M]

The reason why the beer would start pouring foamy towards the end of the keg is that it was already on its way to being fully carbed and time has simply passed. It's not how much beer is left but how much time it has been there. Given how cheap this tubing is, start at 10 feet of 3/16" ID and see how that works. If the pour is too slow, remove a foot.

 

[gungnir77]

Yeah, I have tried different serving pressures and that didn't help much without venting the kegs a bunch. I hate venting them because I don't want to eject hop aroma from the beer. I will buy some longer beer lines and play with that.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I'm glad it can be just as simple as lengthening the beer lines.

 

[DeafSmith]

I'm surprised any of you young guys even know what a slide rule is. That's really old school.