Serving beer through 1/4" hose

I have a bunch of 1/4" ID hose from micromatic. I know that most dispensing hose is 3/8. Could I use this 1/4" hose and just make a longer run? I would hate to throw it away.

 

I thought most dispensing hose is 3/16"... it's what was recommended to me anyway. I had foaming problems with 1/4"

 

I'd recommend 3/16" hose. Regardless of all of the calculators, I'd recommend at least 10' lines with 3/16. For 1/4, you'll probably want 15-20"

 

I just bought a 15 ft section of the micromatic 3/8" id hose for a homemade glycol system This that is long enough?

 

15' should be long enough, though most system require you draw off the first hose lengths worth to rid the lines of CO2 bubbles and old beer. 15 feet of 3/8ths beer will probably cost you 4-5 ounces per session.

Plus...15 feet of hose is a PITA to have to manage in a confined space like a kegerator.

Why not just get some 3/16ths hose and git-her-done proper like?

 

they dont sell it - This is the only hose they sell that carries two types of beer:

Beer Line Hose - Trunk Line

I guess i could pull out the 3/8 and put in the 3/16.

 

Not sure I understand this - are you saying that the beer in the line will not stay fresh? isnt that the whoe point of this system?

 

Most hpse we use is 3/16. You could sue the 1/4" but you would need a lot of it and it's not worth it.

Save the 1/4" hose and if it's braided use it for gas line in a portable setup or use it next time you add more kegs or redo your system.

 

Not so much that the beer won't stay "fresh", but if you examine a beer line that has been sitting for even several hours, CO2 bubbles accumulate and create pretty substantial pockets in the lines. These pockets of CO2 will wreak havoc on your first pour.

And to an extent...yes, beer that sits in the beer lines for a week will become stale.

 

Why at least 10' of hose?

Is this 10' run from CO2 bottle to keg or from keg to fawcet?

I'm getting ready to assemble my lines, so I'd like to do it correctly the first time.

Thanks in advance

 

This shouldnt be a problem

 

Sure they do. It's $0.80 cents a foot.

Beer Line Hose, Clear Vinyl

 

If you get pockets of co2 after a few hours, your co2 is coming out of solution in the lines. This is likely due to your dispense pressure being too low. I know it sounds odd that too low of pressure will cause this but it's true.

And yes this will cause trouble on the first pour as well as not let the beer keep the proper carbonation levels.

I have 5' of 3/16" beer line and no problems with even the first pour of the day despite a non-cooled tower.

 

FYI - I cannot get 3/16" line over the nipple of my shank. Even heating it. The nipple is 1/4" (assembly from Hearts Homebrew). This is part of what caused me to lose an ENTIRE KEG OF HEFE the other week. I'm using 1/4" this time. Beer doesn't last long enough to get stale in my house.

 

You don't necessarily need 10' of hose. Most people won't take the time to properly balance their draft systems, and long beer lines is an easy fix to stop foaming. There's a ton of articles on balancing online, http://www.micromatic.com/keg-beer-learning-center-cid-3076.html is a good resource.
I will warn you, getting your system perfect can be a ridiculously diffucult undertaking. I've been fiddling with my 2 tap setup for close to a year. For some reason one line is 6ft. the other is 5ft (from keg to tap). They both pour the same if you let them sit for a minute or a month, perfect.

 

Huh, I've never had that problem... I know when I upped the length of my lines that came with my tower, I actually boiled the water in the microwave and soaked it for 30 seconds- I didn't feel like removing the shank so just did it in the tower, no problem.

I would recommend 3/16 micromatic lines as well...

 

Deacon, is your 3/16 line actually beer line or is it something a little more rigid. I got mine over the 1/4 barbs on my fittings without so much as breathing hot air on them straight from the kegerator.

 

I get my lines from a supplier here in town. I guess it's a bit more rigid. It's the line that factories around here use. Food grade. Cheap. Just rigid. It fit over my two shanks from AHS, but the nipples on my 2 new shanks is noticeably bigger. Maybe I'll try the water...I used a heat gun the first time.

 

Oh, you're trying to stretch polypropylene or ethylene and it isn't going to happen. That stuff actually isn't meant for hose barbs but rather compression fittings.

 

It's tough, that's for sure. I got the 3/16 over 2 of my barbs using heat. Once they're on there all the way, you have to cut them off. The cool quickly and HARD. It's just a matter of getting them all the way on there.

 

You can strech polypropylene over a barb but its a bit of a pain. heat the barb to about body temp with a torch, apply lube, torch your hose lightly while turning until it starts to become more transparent (but not until it bubbles and bursts into flame).

 

How stiff is this line in your kegerator?

Just wondering- From the sounds of it, I don't see it to be very flexible... I use micromatic lines and am quite happy (didn't buy from micromatic). They have very thick walls, and even under cold, they are very flexible.

 

put a little lubrication on the barb, and heat the hose end in a pot of boiling water, it'll slide right on. I have to enlarge that same type of hose for hydroponics projects all the time. It's a pain, and you need to cut it off if you ever need to remove it, but it saves you from having to buy different sizes of hose.

 

There is a drastic difference in the vinyl hose that most people use in kegerators and the Polyethylene Tubing that is used in the glycol systems.

I am using the Polyethylene Tubing.

By the way I spoke with a rep from micromatic and he said that (by blind luck on my part) I had the perfect set up with my hoses

3/8 - id Polyethylene Tubing running 15 feet and vertically 6 feet.

 

The 6' vertical makes a huge difference.