Beer line suggestions for keezer.

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

KarlHungus76

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2011
Messages
162
Reaction score
7
Location
Chicago
I'm building a collar for my fridgidaire 7.2 chest freezer (4 kegs for now) and I was wondering if beer line selection was terribly important. Any particular types to stay away from or are things pretty much the same. I don't want to spend more than necessary but want to do the job right the first time. T thanks.
 
IMO.

Stay far away from plain old vinyl tubing, gas or liquid. Use FDA approved beverage line, 3/16" ID for the beer line. Start with about 10' of beer line on each tap. ID and length matters very little for gas. I use swivel nuts on all my tubing, which allows flexibility and ease of cleaning. The 1/4" barbed swivel nuts work well on the 3/16" line if you warm the line up in a cup of hot water. I use oetiker style clamps with no complaints.

Shutoff valves with built-in check valves are a good thing on the gas manifold.

I use a dual regulator setup which allows me to boost psi for keg lid seating, keg testing and initial carbonation while leaving the rest of my kegs unaffected.
 
Do a search on poly tubing-- that will keep you busy for a while. I'm a little concerned about soft plastics and petro chemicals contacting my food and decided to splurge on the Accuflex Bevseal poly tubing and am happy. There's no agreement on lengths -- I've seen guys suggest everywhere from 12 ft to 20 ft. I settled on 14 ft per tap, and it's working great.
 
I'm building a collar for my fridgidaire 7.2 chest freezer (4 kegs for now) and I was wondering if beer line selection was terribly important. Any particular types to stay away from or are things pretty much the same. I don't want to spend more than necessary but want to do the job right the first time. T thanks.

Not all lines are created equal.
At low temp many lines are no longer flexibele.

The lines I by from this vender stay flexible at very low temps.
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/hose-fittings.shtml

Cheers,
ClaudiusB
 
Definitely avoid non-barrier lined vinyl. You won't find decent beer line at Home Depot, Lowes or Ace.

If you want an easy to handle and flexible barrier line, Bevlex 200 is the one, and I wouldn't start with less than 10 feet of the 3/16" ID line. If you want the best of the "glass lined" tubing and don't mind perhaps struggling a bit fitting it up, the Bev Seal Ultra Series 235 is it, and I would start with 15 of the 3/16" line, minimum (it has much lower resistance than pretty much any alternative line).

Cheers!
 
Definitely avoid non-barrier lined vinyl. You won't find decent beer line at Home Depot, Lowes or Ace.

If you want an easy to handle and flexible barrier line, Bevlex 200 is the one, and I wouldn't start with less than 10 feet of the 3/16" ID line. If you want the best of the "glass lined" tubing and don't mind perhaps struggling a bit fitting it up, the Bev Seal Ultra Series 235 is it, and I would start with 15 of the 3/16" line, minimum (it has much lower resistance than pretty much any alternative line).

Cheers!

If I understand the above post correctly, that means lower resistance means longer line? and you are saying 15 feet per tap?
 
Yes. The reason for longer lines is to provide resistance to slow the pour. This allows the beer to pour without knocking all the CO2 out of solution and giving you nothing but foam. This way you keep your pressure and carbonation at the appropriate levels and can still pour properly. Lines with lesser resistance will cause you to need more length to achieve the same speed pours. I believe you want to go for 60-90 second per pint pours for best results.
 
I eat my words. Looks like Mr. Google says pretty unanimously that the ideal flow rate is 2 fl oz/second. I stand corrected.
 
Back
Top