Party tap length

So I know the length of the line makes a huge difference in foam control. I recently used the suggestion of adding the stirrers into the dip tube and that drastically made my pours better. My question now is if i have a party tap for a keg that will be served out of the kegerator, how long should the line be? Also, what should be done to keep the line cold? since i know a warm line will cause foam as well. Thanks guys.

 

Are you talking about inside a kegerator?

I use 10 foot 3/16" beer lines, with picnic taps. Since the coiled lines sit inside the kegerator, on top of the kegs, no special cooling is needed.

Last summer, I was serving from two kegs sitting in ice at a family reunion. The tops of the kegs were not isulated and the coiled lines were on top of the kegs.

For that, I put together "poor man's jockey boxes". I simply put the coiled beer lines in gallon ziplock bags filled with ice. Every pour was nice and cold, with no extra foaming.

 

Nah, I'm talking just bringing a keg to a friends house, attaching a co2 charger and a picnic tap.

 

For that, now I use this:



We sucked 6 gallons dry Saturday night out by the bonfire.

:rockin:

 

Is there a reason that I can't just put the keg in a trash can filled with ice? If so, what size line should I have??

 

The same rules apply with a portable setup as with a standard setup. You need the same length of line to dispense at the same pressure. BUT, there are cheats:

Search for the "cure to your short hose problems"...I think it's a sticky. Stick some swizzle sticks into your dip tube and you can get away with a much shorter line.

Also, since you are gonna be drinking this fast, you can dispense at only 2-3 PSI. This is especially beneficial with a keg charger, since you don't go through as many cartridges...just make sure that if there is any leftover, you shoot it back up to 10-12 PSI, (or whatever you desire), so you don't lose carbonation over the long run!

Finally, yeah, you can put it in a trash can....search for BierMuncher's rolling trash can kegerator or something like that....same rules as above apply.

 

Awesome, thanks for the info man.