Change beer line for different carb levels?

[StankAle]

Ok so I have a Micromatic dual C02 regulator for my two tap Sanyo 4912 kegerator. I bought this so I would be able to run different styles of beer at their proper carb levels (high carb levels for a wheat and low carb for an English bitter).

I have 5' of 3/16" ID beer line @ 36F using a temp controller.


I am about to tap my English bitter and I realized that I would have to install a different length of beer line to have my system "balanced"

With that said am I going to have to change beer lines to the right length for style every time I change out a keg?
There has to be a better way.....

 

[McKBrew]

The only other options would be to get extra in-line regulators to adjust pressure or carbonate to style with priming sugar and use the CO2 at low pressure only to push the beer out.

Edit: Or you could just pick a set pressure somewhere in the middle and accept that it's not going to be perfectly carbonated to style.

 

[Bobby_M]

To me, balanced is all about stopping a beer from flying out causing excessive foam. It really says nothing about pouring at an optimum rate. In other words, what is the harm of a slightly longer line that pours a LITTLE slower on a lower volume beer.

So.. that's my theory and in practice I have 10 feet of line on each of my 5 faucets. Wheats at 3 volumes pour optimally...ie quick and foam free while English bitters at 1.5 volumes pour foam free but take an extra 2 seconds to pour.. I can wait.

 

[StankAle]

To me, balanced is all about stopping a beer from flying out causing excessive foam. It really says nothing about pouring at an optimum rate. In other words, what is the harm of a slightly longer line that pours a LITTLE slower on a lower volume beer.

So.. that's my theory and in practice I have 10 feet of line on each of my 5 faucets. Wheats at 3 volumes pour optimally...ie quick and foam free while English bitters at 1.5 volumes pour foam free but take an extra 2 seconds to pour.. I can wait.

Ahh that is a great way to look at it. I agree, I couldn't care less about pour rate, or speed. I am most concerned with the carb levels being close the the style.
OK it looks like I should replace my 5' beer lines with 10' and go with Bobby's method. This way I should be able to "set it and forget it" regardless of my beer style.
Much appreciated......

 

[Bobby_M]

The only other thing I can think of is if you have a few faucets and ALWAYS have varying volume styles on tap, you can have one faucet be your low carb and another be your high carb. I have 5 faucets and 3 different pressures. If I knew I'd always have an English beer, I might dedicate one faucet to that style and cut the line shorter. Again though, slow pour is OK for me. If I want a bigger head, I drop the glass lower so the beer falls further.

 

[the_bird]

The only other thing I can think of is if you have a few faucets and ALWAYS have varying volume styles on tap, you can have one faucet be your low carb and another be your high carb. I have 5 faucets and 3 different pressures. If I knew I'd always have an English beer, I might dedicate one faucet to that style and cut the line shorter. Again though, slow pour is OK for me. If I want a bigger head, I drop the glass lower so the beer falls further.

More common would probably be the opposite. David_42, for example, I know keeps a keg of soda water, so I'd imagine he has one line that's probably fifteen or twenty feet long and dedicated to that only.

 

[Bobby_M]

Hmm, that's where I'd be looking into some 1/8" ID stuff.

 

[the_bird]

That's a good thought, too. At one point, I promised the wife that I'd start making us some low-cal soda to have on draft, although I *think* that's all been forgotten about.

 

[Bobby_M]

Yeah, until your next argument about not following up with plans... it will come up.

 

[the_bird]

I've thought about hooking up a fifth faucet for just this reason (soda as well as apfelwein, which I'm thinking would be tastier at a higher carbonation level). You got a source on 1/4" beverage tubing, and any idea what the resistence might be? Last I looked, I'm pretty sure that I could pick up a forward-sealing faucet and a nipple shank for about $50, shipped, from Superior Products, might be a worthwhile investment.

 

[StankAle]

Ok last thing then.
I am running my kegerator @ 36F.

So to "set and forget" I should be able to just set my English Bitter to 8PSI and in a week I should have 2.29 volumes of C02 in the beer along with a good slow pour. This is with the existing 5' of 3/16" line.
I ask because I want to tap this keg while waiting on the longer beer line to come in.

 

[Bobby_M]

Bird, Mcmaster: 5231K321 is 20cents a foot, 25' minimum. Looks promising for this task.

Stank, the set and forget method seems to take 2 weeks to reach target equilibrium. My advance warning is that a few people will chime in an suggest otherwise but I'm going to preemptively disagree. I submit that anyone that thinks set and forget only takes 5-7 days are just not judging carb levels accurately because yes, it will be somewhat carbed, just not to the equilibrium of the set pressure.

If you want to get a head start, set it to 30psi for 24 hours, purge the headspace and then set to your "set and forget' pressure. This is like the "set, don't forget, reset, then forget" method.

 

[StankAle]

Ok thanks bobby,
This is very much like biermuncher's method, just a shorter duration @ 30psi (24hrs vs. 36hrs)
Thanks again for the help.

 

[StankAle]

To me, balanced is all about stopping a beer from flying out causing excessive foam. It really says nothing about pouring at an optimum rate. In other words, what is the harm of a slightly longer line that pours a LITTLE slower on a lower volume beer.

So.. that's my theory and in practice I have 10 feet of line on each of my 5 faucets. Wheats at 3 volumes pour optimally...ie quick and foam free while English bitters at 1.5 volumes pour foam free but take an extra 2 seconds to pour.. I can wait.

Bobby,
you aren't losing any carbonation with running a bitter on 10' of 3/16" line? I know these beers are meant for low carbonation but I fear that the beer will almost be flat by the time it travels the line to my glass.
Thanks for the input, I am almost there.

 

[Jester369]

Bobby,
you aren't losing any carbonation with running a bitter on 10' of 3/16" line? I know these beers are meant for low carbonation but I fear that the beer will almost be flat by the time it travels the line to my glass.
Thanks for the input, I am almost there.

I don't think you are losing carbonation with a longer line - it just flows slower. With shorter lines, however, the CO2 can come out of solution without sufficient line resistance.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

OK it looks like I should replace my 5' beer lines with 10' and go with Bobby's method. This way I should be able to "set it and forget it" regardless of my beer style.

Exactly my method and works perfectly... a 10psi beer still pours in only 5 or so seconds longer than it takes a 15psi wheat. And the best part, no foam, ever...

 

[Bobby_M]

You could trickle a 10 psi beer out of 20 feet of 3/16" line and you'd never lose any carbonation unless the tubing was warm. The whole idea of longer tubing is to increase flow resistence to keep the CO2 in solution.

 

[evandy]

You could always put some barbed flare fittings at the end of your beer line where it gets into your fridge space (end of tap/tower), and then swap out lengths of line between that point and the QD. McMaster has the fittings cheap, and if you're going to be cleaning out your beer lines periodically, it doesn't seem to be too much of a hassle to grab a wrench and swap out 4' of line for 8' of line at the same time.

 

[Bobby_M]

You could, but that's too much work for me when a slower pour doesn't bother me. When I say slower, I literally mean a 7 second pint instead of a 4 second pint. If you need beer faster than 7 seconds, time for an AA meeting.

 

[StankAle]

Thanks again everyone.
This forum has taught me so much more than books ever could.

Real world advice that is tested and proven is a valuable thing to have access to.


Oh and Jester you are my F***ing hero man.
Just sayin'......Red's a looker.