Beer Gas Line Length & Carb With Beer Gas Or CO2?

[J2W2]

Hi,

I know this question has been asked a number of times. I just got done reading the various posts in this forum, but I'm adding one more.

I'm building a keezer with five faucets - four Perlick 650SS flow-control and one stout. This is my first try with beer gas.

The main reason I'm asking on line length is because I'm going with Ultra Barrier Silver tubing. At $1.69 a foot, I don't want to mess this up! I have 35' - this wasn't really calculated, it's just how much I had to order to get free shipping.

This tubing has a resistance of 2.2lbs/foot. Using various calculators, it tells me I need 5.5 to 6 feet for 14psi, depending if I enter my vertical rise or not. If I use 35psi for the nitrogen, it tells me 15 to 15.5 feet (this is just regular calculators, not one for nitrogen).

However, I've read in a number of places that the line length really doesn't matter much for nitrogen because of the restrictor plate in the faucet. I also don't believe line length will matter a lot on the Perlicks either, since they are flow-control.

I could just cut it evenly and have five 7' lines, but that seems wasteful. I can cut four 6' lines for the Perlicks and have 11' for the stout. Or I could go with 5' lines on the Perlicks and have 15' for the stout line.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the right way to go?

As long as I'm on the topic of nitrogen, do you typically low carb with CO2 first and then dispense with the beer gas, or just do it all with beer gas? The 5lb beer gas tank I just bought cost me $55 for the gas alone, and it takes about a month to get one since they fill them out of state. I can get my 10lb CO2 tank filled locally for $22.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[LLBeanJ]

Let's start off with the beer gas questions. You should be using normal line lengths (10-12') for the stout tap. You can pre-carb to about 1 vol with CO2 before switching to the mix or you can carb on the mix. Obviously, it makes better sense economically to use CO2 first, but either way works. If you use CO2 first, you just need to make sure you don't overcarb, as it can be easy to do.

Now to the other lines. Since you're using the 650s, I do believe you can go shorter on the line than with non-flow controlled faucets and use the flow control to mitigate foaming, so go with 11' for the stout tap and 6' on the others. However, before you go slicing them up into 6' sections, I'd just cut one piece off and try it to make sure you can get a good pour. Worst case is you may find out that 6' won't work and have to buy some more line.