Beer Line - Have to drop pressure to serve

[d_m_s_00]

I think I need a little help figuring out how much beer line I need. I tried to follow the calculator... but I get a 3/4 glass of foam.

I force carb by letting the beer sit for 2 weeks at 12 psi/5c. (For 2.4 volumes of CO2) There’s 5 feet of 3/16" tubing attached to the keg and it's served around the same height as the top of the keg from a cobra tap.
lately I’ve been setting the pressure around 6, purging the keg and I get a good pour. It’s a waste of gas doing it that way. Any suggestions? What works for you?

 

[BigKahuna]

Jump to at least 10' of beer line. You'll be amazed a the results.

 

[springer]

I had the same thing . Went with 10 foot 3/16 beer lines . No more foam but I may snip a foot or two off the head is a little light

 

[BigKahuna]

the head is a little light

with a cobra tap...you can foam the **** out of it...just barely open the tap, and spray as much head as you'dl like.

 

[Bobby_M]

Even without, drop the glass down about 10" for the last 1/4 pour and it will foam plenty of co2 out of solution to create the head.

 

[springer]

with a cobra tap...you can foam the **** out of it...just barely open the tap, and spray as much head as you'dl like.

regular Perlick taps very old but work well

Even without, drop the glass down about 10" for the last 1/4 pour and it will foam plenty of co2 out of solution to create the head.

Try that tonight. I have tried just leaving the glass straight up and pouring right down the center still not a lot. Carbonation is just right so I wont be raising the pressure

 

[d_m_s_00]

Ten foot line it is. Thanks guys

 

[IrregularPulse]

is 3/16 the general consensus for beer line or do you guys ahve different size hosing you swap out for different beers? i'm setting my kegerator up with 1/4" is this gonna be ok?

 

[Dpostman]

is 3/16 the general consensus for beer line or do you guys ahve different size hosing you swap out for different beers? i'm setting my kegerator up with 1/4" is this gonna be ok?

Your gonna need more than ten feet if you use 1/4". More like 20' or so.

dp

 

[IrregularPulse]

based off the beer line length calculator someone created and posted here, I would need about 4 feet to serve at 41 degrees. Where do you get your 20 feet number from? No offense but I wait for another post. From someone with more than 13 posts to the forum. Not saying you don't know what you're talking about, but I know of a lot of people here that I do trust and your numbers don't mesh at all with the calculators.

 

[Bobby_M]

4 feet of 1/4"? That's a firehose in the world of draft unless all you drink are bitters at 6psi.

I serve most of my beers at 43F and 12psi and I like my pours through 10 feet of 3/16" ID. Bitters pour a little slower than I'd like and Hefes/Wits pour a little faster than I'd like but I NEVER have to change my lines to style or touch my regulator to pour.

The absolute worst case scenario is that you drop an extra $5 on tubing and end up cutting half of it off. With 1/4", you'll end up replacing all of it. Trust me.

 

[Dpostman]

No offense but I wait for another post. From someone with more than 13 posts to the forum.

So.. Is 8500 plus posts good enough for ya

Just Teasing. I'm also on many other forums for many other subjects, and I know what you mean about taking info from noobs. Anyway good luck


dp

 

[StunnedMonkey]

based off the beer line length calculator someone created and posted here, I would need about 4 feet to serve at 41 degrees. Where do you get your 20 feet number from?

In my personal (albiet limited) experience, the calculators drastically underestimated the required length. They show that I need something like 42 inches of 3/16, but when I started with 6 feet it foamed like crazy. I swapped my lines out for 10ft of 3/16 and now it's fine.

You can try it, but 4 ft of 1/4 will be crazy foam, regardless of what those calculators say.

 

[wildwest450]

based off the beer line length calculator someone created and posted here, I would need about 4 feet to serve at 41 degrees. Where do you get your 20 feet number from? No offense but I wait for another post. From someone with more than 13 posts to the forum. Not saying you don't know what you're talking about, but I know of a lot of people here that I do trust and your numbers don't mesh at all with the calculators.

Take it from someone with close to a thousand post's ditch the 1/4" line and buy 10' of 3/16" line you can always trim it down if it doesn't pour fast enough and doesn't foam. I was dispensing from a kegerator long before I started homebrewing.

 

[MrNate]

I've been rebelling against those calculators since I first tried them, but recently I've noticed more and more people speaking out against them. It's not that the math is wrong, they just have some bad assumptions in there somewhere. Probably in the friction of the tube wall.

Some people take the calcs as gospel and swear up and down that it works. Good for them. I got fed up with wasting hose and finally just put 10' of 3/16" on there, never had a problem since.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think the folks who are happy with 10@3/16 outnumber the formula geeks ten to one. Nuff said, pull the trigger on the order.

Don't look at the post count.. I just sit here hitting "post" until my fingers bleed.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I think the folks who are happy with 10@3/16 outnumber the formula geeks ten to one. Nuff said, pull the trigger on the order.

Don't look at the post count.. I just sit here hitting "post" until my fingers bleed.

It's not just the post count, I'd never seen a post by him. I was looking for the re-assurance of a big name. Such as Bobby_M. I know it's petty, but just a peiec of mind.

I guess I'll go with 10' of 3/16, even though I'd already order my fittings I imagine 3/16 should have no problem going on 1/4 fittings. My first keg beer is fermenting right now. English Mild. 2nd (scottish 60) is going into Mashtun Sunday!


DPostman- thanks for understand what I was trying to say. Wasn't to say you didn't know what you were talking about at all. I'd just never seen you post before.

 

[StunnedMonkey]

...even though I'd already order my fittings I imagine 3/16 should have no problem going on 1/4 fittings.

Soak the tubing in very hot water first, and I'll bet you can wiggle it on. Getting it off someday will be more of a challenge though.

Is the 1/4 inch actually part of the shank and ball lock? Or are you using screw on tailpieces?

 

[Dpostman]

DPostman- thanks for understand what I was trying to say. Wasn't to say you didn't know what you were talking about at all. I'd just never seen you post before.

:fro:

No problem. I've in fact only stumbled onto this forum a few weeks ago. Like it has been mentioned, get a bowl of very hot/boiled water, and soak the end of your 3/16" tubing into it for about 30 seconds, and it'll slide right on the barbs of your fittings. You'll have a difficult time getting them off in the future if you have to remove them. I just cut them.

You can always use the 1/4" for your gas/CO2 side of things. Same thing there, many shutoff valves and check valves are 5/16" but the 1/4" hose when warmed up will slide right on the 5/16" Barbs.

That is what I'm running. I just bought my whole setup (used) a few weeks ago, but I rebuilt all the Beer and Gas lines. I have a 5lb tank with 2 in line regulators for 2 Kegs in Kegorator, and a 20lb tank in my cold room with a regulator with a 3 way manifold. Each output of the manifold has it's own check valve and about 3ft of gas line with disconnect. So I can carb/condition 3 kegs at once in my cold room.

I'm using 3/16" for both beer lines, and 1/4" for all my gas lines. Both my beer lines are 8ft. One is OK cause I have a Brown Smoked Ale at 8 or 9 PSI and the pour is perfect. The other is for a Weiss style that I keep at 17 PSI, and it comes out too foamy, so I'll bump that one up to 12ft of line this weekend or next week. My fridge temp is 38F.


Hey, BTW, it's Friday... Friday night Steak night
dp

 

[BrewBrain]

So, I've got my first beer all gassed up and I'm getting a perfect pour out of 5' of 3/16 line at 13psi and 42*. Nice head atop my glass, but not foamy beer.

Why would mine be fine, but loads of other people have gotten nothing but foam with such short lines? I doubt my setup is different enough to be the issue as I have a typical collar on a typical freezer.

I've been working with short tubing my entire life. Maybe I'm just better with it?

 

[wildwest450]

So, I've got my first beer all gassed up and I'm getting a perfect pour out of 5' of 3/16 line at 13psi and 42*. Nice head atop my glass, but not foamy beer.

Why would mine be fine, but loads of other people have gotten nothing but foam with such short lines? I doubt my setup is different enough to be the issue as I have a typical collar on a typical freezer.

I've been working with short tubing my entire life. Maybe I'm just better with it?

I believe kegerators are as different as snowflakes in how they pour. I have two taps one has 5feet of line the other 6 feet. Don't ask me why, but the 6 foot side would foam like mad with 5 feet of line on it. That's why it's my advice to start long then trim the lines as necessary.

 

[Dpostman]

So, I've got my first beer all gassed up and I'm getting a perfect pour out of 5' of 3/16 line at 13psi and 42*. Nice head atop my glass, but not foamy beer.

Why would mine be fine, but loads of other people have gotten nothing but foam with such short lines? I doubt my setup is different enough to be the issue as I have a typical collar on a typical freezer.

I've been working with short tubing my entire life. Maybe I'm just better with it?

Just my opinion, but
1 - maybe your beer hasn't finished absorbing enough CO2 yet, and foaming might develop in the next few days.

or

2 - Perhaps your regulator is not calibrated and your 13PSI is actually 7 or 8 PSI.

or

3 - Maybe the type of 3/16th tubing your using has a restriction on the upper end of the scale, say 2.7 PSI of restriction per foot instead of the 1.7 on the lower end of the range. in that case you would have 2.7PSI Resistance X 5 ft of tubing = 13.5 PSI plus add another 0.5 PSI for your rise above the Keg and you end up with 14PSI of resistance.

Someone with a stiffer type of tubing with a super smooth or glass like interior would offer less resistance, such as 1.7 PSI per foot. This person would need at least 8 ft or more to obtain the same result with the same I.D. beer line.

Just 3 possibilities of many factors that can influence results
Just my thoughts.

dp

 

[MgMt_Home_Brew]

I too run 5' of 3/16 tubing and I get good results. It seems like my first pour is kind of foamy but then after that it is perfect. I have been thinking of going with longer tubing in the future though just to try and avoid that first pour foam.

 

[Jester369]

There are definitely a lot of variables involved. I have 7 taps, all with 10' of 3/16 line, and I can get different pours - even with the same pressure. I just went long - some pour slow, but they are never too foamy.

 

[Dpostman]

I too run 5' of 3/16 tubing and I get good results. It seems like my first pour is kind of foamy but then after that it is perfect. I have been thinking of going with longer tubing in the future though just to try and avoid that first pour foam.

That is probably because the beer that is in the beer line (I'm assuming in a Tower) is warmer and will foam more. The second pour is cold and does not foam as much.

dp