Beer Line Length 5', 10', 15' ?

[BrewMasta]

What's up fellow home brewers? The question I have before you today is about beer line length, and what is the accepted norm, or standard length that will best apply to all beer styles.

I have two beers on tap in my fridge kegerator, one is a imperial nut brown ale, and one is a wheat beer. Both are on 15' of coiled up beer line as this is what was recommended by my LHBS as the length needed to best suit most beers. My nut brown pours beautifully, but my wheat beer, quite clearly a fizzier brew foams horribly no mater what serving pressure I set it at. I have been trying multiple serving pressures throughout the 5 gal. batch to try and get it right, to no avail. Is my line too long? Is my beer too fizzy, is this just the way it is? Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Adrenaline-Junkie]

What kind of kegerator are you running?

 

[hnbc34]

15 feet is pretty crazy. Most people use 5. This is a function of temperature and carbonation levels. A normal range would be 2.0 to 2.2 levels which is like 12lbs of CO2 at 37° which would need about 5 feet of hose to maintain it. YMMV of course

 

[BrewMasta]

The wheat beer volumes is between 3.0 - 4.0 but because I suspected this may be the issue I toned it down a bit, wheat beer is traditionally very fizzy. The volumes on the imperial nut brown is about 2.0-2.5. The brown pours fine, the wheat gets an ok pour on the first serving, but gets about half head, half beer after that. I have varied the serving pressure from between 2psi, and 12 psi to try and find a sweet spot, but no luck with the wheat beer.

 

[BrewMasta]

My kegerator is a full size whirlpool fridge with two taps, all the lines are inside and cold always, fridge temp is around 42-44 degrees F.

 

[BrewMasta]

Bump

 

[Yooper]

for beers carbonated to 2.5- 2.7 volumes, I find that 10' works pretty well although if I have a higher carbonated beer, it foams too much.

15' sound be pretty good, but for a really highly carbonated beer it may not be enough.

For soda (carbed at 30 psi at 40 degrees), 30' is what I needed for good pours.

 

[BrewMasta]

Cool, that's a good response, I'm trying to get this right, and when company is over I don't want to pour them a foam geyser, it's embarrasing, I guess I will buy a 30' line and give it a try. I like to have a wheat type, or fizzy beer on tap, thanks for your input Yopper.

 

[sigmund]

Maybe I missed it, but what's the ID of your lines?

 

[BrewMasta]

They are the standard 3/16 ID liquid lines

 

[JuanMoore]

The wheat beer volumes is between 3.0 - 4.0 but because I suspected this may be the issue I toned it down a bit, wheat beer is traditionally very fizzy. ...... I have varied the serving pressure from between 2psi, and 12 psi to try and find a sweet spot, but no luck with the wheat beer.

My kegerator is a full size whirlpool fridge with two taps, all the lines are inside and cold always, fridge temp is around 42-44 degrees F.

You need the serving pressure to match the equilibrium pressure for the carbonation level and serving temp. If the serving pressure is lower than that, CO2 will break out of solution in the lines while the beer sits, creating foamy pours. Over time, this will also cause the carbonation level to drop, until it eventually matches the carb level that corresponds to the serving pressure. At 43° and 3.0 vol, your serving pressure should be nearly 20psi. That kind of pressure is going to require really long lines to slow the pour down to a manageable speed.

Here's a chart that show the relationship between temperature, pressure, and carbonation level-http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

The warmer the beer is, the more the CO2 wants to come out of solution, and the slower the pour needs to be. Same thing for higher carb levels. This means for your case that the lines need to be not only long enough to handle the high serving pressure, but even longer to slow the pour down further.

One cheater method you can try to help reduce the foam a little is to rinse the glass with cold water just before pouring the beer. This can also help reduce any foaming issues from improper glassware maintenance. And FWIW the beer typically warms up about 2° during the pour, so if you want to drink 42° beer, you should be storing it at 40°.

 

[chumpsteak]

I recently cut all my 3/16th lines to 5ft. I run 40 degrees at 12 psi and I think my pours are perfect. With 10ft lines I felt like too much Co2 stayed in the beer resulting in too much carbonation affecting flavor.

Next time you are at a bar or restaurant watch the bartender pour your beer and pay attention to how fast it comes out of the tap and how much the beer foams. I personally think a bigger head and more bubbles means smoother more flavorful beer.

 

[Crito]

15 feet is pretty crazy. Most people use 5. This is a function of temperature and carbonation levels. A normal range would be 2.0 to 2.2 levels which is like 12lbs of CO2 at 37° which would need about 5 feet of hose to maintain it. YMMV of course

Plus one

 

[BrewMasta]

Thanks for your replies, I realize this is subject matter that many seem to grapple with. I will likely get a series of lines at different lengths and keep them on hand for use with different beers. Most often my 10 - 15' lines will be ample. Based on Yoppers response as well as others it sounds like I will need a 25' line or better on hand for my highly carbonated beer. My wheat ale is stored at 20 psi, which is standard for the style, and it sounds like serving pressure needs to be at 20 psi with 25-30' of line. Having the extra line in my fridge is no big deal...I just coil it and zip tie it to the shelf on the inside of the kegerfridge, so it's not in my way at all. If anyone else would like to chime in feel free to, I'm going to monitor this thread for some time, and keep it viable, as I feel the subject matter is of great use for people with home made keg systems.