Installing Accuflex Bev-Seal Ultra 3/16

Williams 728
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thadius856 said:
I think you'd saving yourself a lot of trouble by buying a 5/8 BSPP John Guest fitting.
Click to expand...

+1

This tubing is not designed to be fitted over a barbed connector. Sure, with a bit of grit and determination it can be done, as many on this site can attest, but why punish yourself like that when the proper fittings are available?
 
My first tap was connected to a barbed disconnect and tail piece using the accuflex bev-seal tubing for the last year or so. It took me like 2 hours heating up a screw driver, needle nose pliers, heating up the tubing, the disconnect barb, melting the tubing into a sloppy mess or only getting it 1/3 of the way on, cutting it off, starting over... And even after I had it on, I constantly had drips here and there no matter what type of clamp I was using. I had enough. I just finished my 5 tap kegerator and used John Guest fittings on 4 of the 5 shanks and ball lock keg disconnects and just ordered the parts to convert the 5th. It took me seriously 20 minutes to do 4 lines, including measuring the tubing , Cutting it, removing picnic taps, etc. So far I've not experienced a single drip and 2 of my taps serve soda and carbonated water at 40psi. I will never go back to barbed connections again.

Shameless plug here for Birdman Brewing. I bought all my stuff from them and it was priced right and arrived quickly. I just wish they had more BM logo pint glasses in stock!


 
Why did you use so much tubing? I have read up on balancing but have not mastered it. In my refrigerator keezer I keep Lager at 13psi and dispense via 3ft tubing to the taps with no issues. Of what benefit are the longer lines?
 
13 psi and 3 ft? That shouldn't even work with vinyl lines.

BevSeal has a lower line restriction rate than vinyl, about half actually, because of the inner coating.

I find I need 25-30' of 3/16" ID BevSeal to balance 13 psi with a <2' rise.
 
FredTheNuke said:
Why did you use so much tubing? I have read up on balancing but have not mastered it. In my refrigerator keezer I keep Lager at 13psi and dispense via 3ft tubing to the taps with no issues. Of what benefit are the longer lines?
Click to expand...

The two kegs on the right are my soda/water kegs @ 40 PSI. i have 40ft of bev-seal for each of these. The other 3 kegs for beer have 20ft each. The soda at 40 PSI is a little foamy but since it's soda the head dies quickly. It pours better at 30 PSI but I like really carbonated soda. The beers pour perfectly at ~12-14 PSI. This is for my fridge at 42F. if you keep yours warmer or cooler you may need to adjust your pressure and lengths accordingly.
 
thadius856 said:
13 psi and 3 ft? That shouldn't even work with vinyl lines.

BevSeal has a lower line restriction rate than vinyl, about half actually, because of the inner coating.

I find I need 25-30' of 3/16" ID BevSeal to balance 13 psi with a <2' rise.
Click to expand...

Interesting - now I am lost. I will post a short video once I keg a few more batches - just popped empty on my last corny. I have no issues dispensing.
 
thadius856 said:
13 psi and 3 ft? That shouldn't even work with vinyl lines.

BevSeal has a lower line restriction rate than vinyl, about half actually, because of the inner coating.

I find I need 25-30' of 3/16" ID BevSeal to balance 13 psi with a <2' rise.
Click to expand...

Holy ****, you have 250-300 feet of tubing in your keezer ? Where do you put all of it ?
I have a 100' of this line collecting dust, looks like I need another 100' and some JG fittings.
P.S. I love my Raspberry Pints Display
 
rossi46 said:
Holy ****, you have 250-300 feet of tubing in your keezer ? Where do you put all of it ?
I have a 100' of this line collecting dust, looks like I need another 100' and some JG fittings.
P.S. I love my Raspberry Pints Display
Click to expand...

Unlike with standard PVC tubing (10-12'), there seems to be a wide range of line lengths that people report needing with the accuflex.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/accuflex-bev-seal-ultra-length-line-300630/

I personally use 20 feet at 40 degrees and get perfect pours, so far I haven't gone above ~15 PSI though.
 
JayDubWill said:
My first tap was connected to a barbed disconnect and tail piece using the accuflex bev-seal tubing for the last year or so. It took me like 2 hours heating up a screw driver, needle nose pliers, heating up the tubing, the disconnect barb, melting the tubing into a sloppy mess or only getting it 1/3 of the way on, cutting it off, starting over... And even after I had it on, I constantly had drips here and there no matter what type of clamp I was using. I had enough. I just finished my 5 tap kegerator and used John Guest fittings on 4 of the 5 shanks and ball lock keg disconnects and just ordered the parts to convert the 5th. It took me seriously 20 minutes to do 4 lines, including measuring the tubing , Cutting it, removing picnic taps, etc. So far I've not experienced a single drip and 2 of my taps serve soda and carbonated water at 40psi. I will never go back to barbed connections again.

Shameless plug here for Birdman Brewing. I bought all my stuff from them and it was priced right and arrived quickly. I just wish they had more BM logo pint glasses in stock!


Click to expand...

What's the bend radius of this stuff? i.e how tight are the coils
 
I left about 2 feet or so uncoiled on both ends. Sometimes the door doesn't want to close unless I have the coils pushed further back into the fridge, but it works ok.
 
I was putting this project off in angst... I'm glad I finally did it. I don't understand why people are having issues. It was a synch.

I thought I was going to have to buy a heat gun and tools... Naw. I used one of those electric boil pots for making hot water.

I used boiled water, put the barb on a coupler and let it sit in the hot water. Then put the tip of the tube in. I had a dimple punch tool (just like the tool for countersinking a nail head) that had a smooth transition from thin to thick... I used it to flare the end a little then jammed the barb in. If it didn't go in enough, I put the coupler and hose back in the hot water, pulled out and re applied pressure...

Smooth fit no kinks... No problems. No need for hose clamps either.

It took more time to boil the water than it did to get the tube on.

Done done and done... Thank god! Now I need to do the same for my portable kegerator.
 
Mine was simple also. I took Needle nose pliers and heated them with a cheap $12 torch and then pushed them in the line to give the line a flare. I then heated the barb with the same torch and it slid on like butter.
 
My point is you should be CHILLING the barb to make is contract. Heat should only be applied to the tubing to expand and relax it... Heating the barb does not make things slide easier. Lubricating it with keg lube while it's ice cold would. But then you have to make sure the keg lube doesn't let it release later on.

Folks should put the barb connections in the freezer for a day or two and heat the tubing. Same principles utilized to remove pressed bearings or insert them.
 
FredTheNuke said:
My point is you should be CHILLING the barb to make is contract. Heat should only be applied to the tubing to expand and relax it... Heating the barb does not make things slide easier. Lubricating it with keg lube while it's ice cold would. But then you have to make sure the keg lube doesn't let it release later on.

Folks should put the barb connections in the freezer for a day or two and heat the tubing. Same principles utilized to remove pressed bearings or insert them.
Click to expand...

Are you serious?

So you're telling me it didn't work with ease as I experienced because I did it wrong by heating the barb up? Well crap... I guess I should disassemble the entire thing and freeze the barb instead. I mean it looks like it worked, but if you're telling me I did it wrong, I'll go cut it off right now! :smack:

Go make a video of you freezing the barb and heating the tube and getting it in with ease... I'd like to see that. As soon as the tube hits that cold ass barb, it'll stiffen up and you'll have one hell of a time.

When you're dealing with bearings, you're not dealing with plastic tubes that are shaped via heat
 
FredTheNuke said:
My point is you should be CHILLING the barb to make is contract. Heat should only be applied to the tubing to expand and relax it... Heating the barb does not make things slide easier. Lubricating it with keg lube while it's ice cold would. But then you have to make sure the keg lube doesn't let it release later on.

Folks should put the barb connections in the freezer for a day or two and heat the tubing. Same principles utilized to remove pressed bearings or insert them.
Click to expand...

Yeah I don't think that would work at all. Heating the fitting makes it much easier, if the barb were ice cold it would instantly cool the plastic and make it set, defeating the purpose of heating it.

The heat isn't about heating or expanding things, it's about making the plastic hot enough to deform/stretch a little.
 
Quick question that I never saw answered in this thread; when you use the JohnGuest fittings in the shank, do you need a neoprene washer too (like with using a tailpiece)?

Thanks.

:mug:
 
Shanks are not flare fittings... Not that I was ever aware of. And it is the shank to JG fitting I am curious about. There was a brief mention of not needing a gasket, or one the JG coming with one built in.

So, just looking to confirm the JG to shank connection.
 
There is no need for a gasket between the John Guest 5/8" BSPP fitting and the shank. Never had one leak, and I have 10 of them installed.

Tighten to about 12 ft-lb (approx. pulling the wrench around moderate force using one finger) when installing and you'll never see a leak.

Shanks are not flare fittings, BTW. Even on flare fittings, a nylon washer is not required. You need nylon washers only with metal-to-metal flare connections, not with metal-to-plastic, as the plastic will deform slightly and create its own. I have over 50 flare connections in my setup, and none of them leak.
 
cyberbackpacker said:
Shanks are not flare fittings... Not that I was ever aware of.[...]
Click to expand...

Shanks and tail pieces work the same as any flare fitting in that a gasket or o-ring is required to seal the mating faces and the threads are non-sealing. The JG push-to-connect fitting for connecting Bev Seal Ultra beer line provides the required o-ring. At least the literature says there's a nitrile o-ring in there...

Cheers!
 
cyberbackpacker said:
Shanks are not flare fittings... Not that I was ever aware of. And it is the shank to JG fitting I am curious about. There was a brief mention of not needing a gasket, or one the JG coming with one built in.

So, just looking to confirm the JG to shank connection.
Click to expand...

All you need is one of these to connect your shank to the tubing: http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/shank-connector-for-accuflex-bev-seal/

And at the other end of the tubing to connect to a threaded keg quick disconnect: http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/1-4-mfl-connector-for-accuflex-bev-seal/

You don't need any other parts, gaskets, etc.
 
how 'not flexible' is the line? My lines have to make a couple 90 degree turns to get from the keezer to the taps.
 
Just guestimating here, but I'd say that maybe a 3" radius is about as tight as you can get it. Even that may be a bit ambitious.

You should be able to use 90° elbows to make tighter turns, though.
 
BirdmanBrewingCo said:
All you need is one of these to connect your shank to the tubing: http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/shank-connector-for-accuflex-bev-seal/



And at the other end of the tubing to connect to a threaded keg quick disconnect: http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/1-4-mfl-connector-for-accuflex-bev-seal/



You don't need any other parts, gaskets, etc.
Click to expand...


I just bought a couple of these from Birdman and they work great with the Bev-seal tubing. I originally had the normal tailpiece barbs and got them to work, but it was still a bit of a pain to get them on the barbs. These fittings make it ridiculously easy and convenient.
 
Here's a short video to show how easy it is with the parts referenced above by Zzyzx3:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0dPgHwfeI8"][YOUTUBE]K0dPgHwfeI8[/YOUTUBE]K0dPgHwfeI8[/ame]
 
The John Guest fittings work nicely for the keg side and for a faucet/shank setup, but is there an easy way to connect in a tower setup?
 
Has anyone ever mentioned that what's being sold as 3/16" Bev Seal Ultra Series 235 beer line is actually 1/5" ID? Which explains most of why it needs to be much longer than a straight PVC line that actually is 3/16" ID?

Just wondering, can't remember...

Cheers!
 
So I got my lines all installed last night. First I tried using the boil method with the nail punch previously talked about and it worked alright. Later in the night I tried using a heat gun (on the LOW setting) and using the punch again. This method worked in about 1/4 of the time and definitely saved my finger tips a lot of pain. Going to clean the lines tonight and get the beer flowing again.
 
A little off topic, but thought it might be a good place for this info from my personal experience...

Switched from Bevlex Ultra to EJ, and as far as flavor impact I initially thought the EJ lines were just as good. Now I'm having second thoughts. Pulled about 5 oz from the line that has been sitting for 24 hours, and then pulled another 5 oz from the same tap. I could taste a difference.

I wouldn't call it a plastic taste. Maybe some slight oxidation? Flavor and aroma seemed dull compared to the second pull.

I think I might be going back to my Bevlex with my John Guest fittings. Never had an issue with flavor or aroma. I think these lines are the least permeable to oxygen. The only issue is the amount of line you need to get a proper pour, and I also find if you don't cut the ends square it can create a nucleation sight for co2 to break out in John Guest fittings.
 
How do you go about using these lines if you have a tower with 90* tailpieces?

Heat and squeeze it on? I assume there's no John Guest fittings for that.
 
The_Bishop said:
How do you go about using these lines if you have a tower with 90* tailpieces?

Heat and squeeze it on? I assume there's no John Guest fittings for that.
Click to expand...

I would recommend using the heat gun and a nail punch to expand from the inside of the hose and slide the 90* tailpiece right in. It worked the easiest for me when i was installing them on normal tailpieces.
 
90 fittings are made, but so hard to find. There was a hbt member with a connection to the manufacturing company and he could get any size and type.
 
My shanks have the 90* fitting soldered in. I guess when I make the switch I'll be using the heat/punch method.
 

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