I've been having some big foam problems with my new kegerator setup. I saw a video where a guy hooked his gas line up to his beer out line on his corny keg and it fixed the over foaming issue. My question is if I can do this on a keg with a sankey coupler? Getting desperate to fix my problem. I'm probably going to order a 10' line as I have 5' now, but thought id give this a try! Thanks
More likely a line balancing issue as others have mentioned. If it is an overcarbonation issue, and you want to use the quick de-gassing method you saw for corny kegs, it is possible. You will need to pull apart your sankey coupler and remove the check valve on the liquid side. Then reassemble, cap the gas in port, put the gas line on the beer out port, and turn the gas on at low pressure. Pull the pressure relief valve and the gas bubbling up through the beer will knock bunch of CO2 out of solution and out of the keg through the relief valve. Disconnect and reassemble the coupler in it's stock configuration, and you should be all set.
I have a balanced system and there is no guess work involved. I have 13 PSI on kegs with 6 feet of line and they pour perfectly. You guys can keep extending your lines, but I promise that it is easier to punch some numbers into a calculator and have it tell you what you need to know.
Those calculators make a lot of assumptions that don't apply to all kegging systems, especially kegging systems set up by the average homebrewer.
Lol, I don't know why you question that a calculator worked well for me. I promise you I am not making this up. I have a 4 tap kegerator, 6' lines and my regulator is set to 13 PSI. I pour a pint in about 7 seconds and it has a perfect head on it.
We believe you, but that doesn't mean that the calculator will come up with reasonable numbers for someone elses system.
You are right, each kegging system is different. These differences are the variables for the equation. I am not telling you to go cut your lines back, obviously you tried shorter lines and it didn't work for you. Something was wrong so you went with longer lines to solve the issue. But, I think it's worthwhile to try and solve the real issue, rather than spending money on longer lines to band-aid the problem. Sure, it will work, but you will end up a few dollars poorer and have a tangled mess of unnecessary line to deal with. Don't you think that you should first try to remedy the situation with the lines you have?
Longer lines can be used as a solution to some existing problem, but in many cases the length the calculator gives will be way too short, even if there are no problems or issues with the system. Those calculators all assume an "ideal" flow rate of ~1gal/minute, which is fine for commercial systems with cold beer and moderate carbonation levels. Many homebrewers like to serve their beer warmer, in which case a slower flow may be needed to keep the CO2 in solution. The calculators also assume fixed resistance figures for line resistance, when line resistance is actually variable depending on several factors, including flow rate and the SG of the beer. The last major assumption those calculators make is that the carbonation level will fall within a certain range. Many homebrewers like to carb belgian's, hefe's, wheat's, etc to levels above that range, in which case the flow needs to be slowed down below 1 gal/min once again, which once again requires longer lines and makes the calculator useless.
Those calculators were designed for commercial systems, where beers are required to be stored between 34° and 38°F, carbed between 2.2 and 2.7 vol, and poured at 1 gal/min. If you keep your beer/system within (or relatively close to) those parameters, then the calculators will probably work fine for you. If not, then the calculators are likely useless.
The other issue I have with the calculators is that they all imply that the "ideal line length" is the shortest one that doesn't create major foaming issues. For a commercial setting (what the calculators were designed for) this is true, since being able to pour a lot of beers quickly has an impact on profit and customer satisfaction. The only downside to a longer line is a slightly slower pour. For me, the "ideal length" is the one that allows me to pour a wide variety of beers at a wide variety of carb levels and temperatures without having to worry about foaming issues. I'm not usually trying to serve a crowd of thirsty people where the time it takes to pour a beer is important. I figure that if I have time to drink a beer, then I also have a few extra seconds to wait for that beer to pour. IMO that's a small price to pay for the ability to serve a wide range of carb levels and temps through my keezer.
As always, YMMV.