Beer line tests & solution to the "plastic" taste

[Scut_Monkey]

Just pulled the trigger on this bad boy. I hope tygon is the real deal. The only thing I worry about is that my worm clamps won't work with the smaller OD at 7/16. I'll get it to work somehow.

http://cgi.ebay.com/TYGON-B-44-4X-AAA00012-3-16-ID-5-16-OD-Tubing-50-/260597230228

http://cgi.ebay.com/TYGON-B-44-4X-AAA00012-3-16-ID-5-16-OD-Tubing-50-/260597230228

Thanks for posting the link.

 

[tincob]

Scut Monkey,

What I did with my set up is to use a small section of tubing with 7/16" ID, split it lengthwise, put it over the Tygon tubing, then put the worm clamp over it.

The clamp should just secure the tubing on the nipple, not make it air/liquid tight, so for that purpose my method should work fine.

Hope it helps.

 

[user 40839]

Yeah, I ended up having to put a couple wraps of electrical tape on the ends for my oetiker clamps to work. Of course, I bought 32 feet of lines, thinking that 8' each would be enough, now it looks like that's not the case so just ordered another 50 feet, and have 15' lines (will splice two of the old ones together...)

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Scut Monkey,

What I did with my set up is to use a small section of tubing with 7/16" ID, split it lengthwise, put it over the Tygon tubing, then put the worm clamp over it.

The clamp should just secure the tubing on the nipple, not make it air/liquid tight, so for that purpose my method should work fine.

Hope it helps.

Sounds good. I think I have some 7/16 ID tubing that would work. I also have some rubber gasket material that should work.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I installed my first TYGON line tonight. I used 16'8" as that's 50' divided by 3. I figured it's easy to cut more off but not to add length. 16' worked great. No foaming, not to slow, and it takes up less room than 8 feet of regular 3/16" beer line as you can coil it up with a very tight bend radius. Also, I was able to use standard worm clamps from HD without doing anything special.....they worked just fine.

I'll have to see about the plastic taste from these lines. Seems to work great so far.

 

[user 40839]

I'm getting absolutely zero off tastes from mine. I ended up going with 12.5 feet (50' divided by 4) and then used a splicer to join two of the 8' lengths for my fifth tap. I see absolutely ZERO difference between the rate from the 16' line, and the 12.5' line.

Wierdly enough, I'm getting almost too little foam - even though I check my regulator fairly frequently, and it's right there at 12psi, I often have to do a little squirt at the end of a pour to get a nice head. But the flow rate is still really quick compared to the original lines.

 

[jbirch]

Has anyone located a reasonably priced source for the Tygon tubing ScutMonkey has in his post. I have some of it but I could use a bit more and the ebay seller doesn't have any more available.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Has anyone located a reasonably priced source for the Tygon tubing ScutMonkey has in his post. I have some of it but I could use a bit more and the ebay seller doesn't have any more available.

I bought 50' from the ebay seller and had planned to buy 50 more feet but never got around to it. I didn't find the original source and currently don't have one at a good price. Sorry. It does work great though. Much, much better than standard tubing and actually easier to work with as it has such a smaller bend radius. Try to find some, it's worth it.

 

[Stevorino]

To follow up - I bought 100' of the Bev-Seal from Better Bottle. The BB people were great and shipped it quickly. I've installed it in a kegerator at about 20ft runs and a keezer at about 15ft runs. Even with the little swizzles in the beer pickup tubes, I am still getting unbearable foam at 12-15psi. My 20psi beer is simply unserveable through the tap.

I'm gonna try out this Tygon stuff and hope that I can finally get a setup that others can serve from as well.

 

[spotter]

To follow up - I bought 100' of the Bev-Seal from Better Bottle. The BB people were great and shipped it quickly. I've installed it in a kegerator at about 20ft runs and a keezer at about 15ft runs. Even with the little swizzles in the beer pickup tubes, I am still getting unbearable foam at 12-15psi. My 20psi beer is simply unserveable through the tap.

I don't have any experience with the swizzles, but I think your line is just too short for those pressures. My testing showed the bev-seal added about .45 psi resistance/ft, so you'd need around 42' to push at 20 PSI.

I use 26' at 12-14 PSI with few problems. I do tend to keep it closer to 12 to keep the first pour from being too foamy (poor temp control on a long line).

The space that much line takes may be an issue, but if you can try a longer run I'd be interested in your results. Good luck.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

To follow up - I bought 100' of the Bev-Seal from Better Bottle. The BB people were great and shipped it quickly. I've installed it in a kegerator at about 20ft runs and a keezer at about 15ft runs. Even with the little swizzles in the beer pickup tubes, I am still getting unbearable foam at 12-15psi. My 20psi beer is simply unserveable through the tap.

I'm gonna try out this Tygon stuff and hope that I can finally get a setup that others can serve from as well.

I have had pretty good luck with tygon tubing. I used 16'/line at 36F and at 15psi I still get a good pour. I would probably cut it down to about 12-14' or so as 16' is a little slow of a pour but I don't mind at all and I get a good poor with the ability to go to a higher pressure without a bunch of new hoses.

The big problem is now I can't find any more cheap sources for tygon. The link posted earlier on ebay has dried up. Let me know if anyone has a source.... I have looked hard.

 

[ekjohns]

Are people that are buying the 3/16ID getting 1/4 or 5/16 OD? I can get the 1/4 OD for half the price of the 5/16. Also with this better line how often do the lines need to be changed? Finally, is everyone using special clamps or just putting a piece of thicker tube over the tygon tube and using that to clamp

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I bought the 5/16 OD. Otherwise I thought it would be too thin and would collapse easily. Have the 3/16ID by 5/16OD product I would still agree with this. Perhaps someone else has the 1/4OD and can comment.

I have not changed my lines yet. If you clean them between kegs and care for them I can't see why you would need to except after a very long time. I use standard 1/4 hose barb fittings with a standard Home Depot worm clamp. They work great and I'm not sure why other were having problems with this.

 

[Stevorino]

I don't have any experience with the swizzles, but I think your line is just too short for those pressures. My testing showed the bev-seal added about .45 psi resistance/ft, so you'd need around 42' to push at 20 PSI.

I use 26' at 12-14 PSI with few problems. I do tend to keep it closer to 12 to keep the first pour from being too foamy (poor temp control on a long line).

The space that much line takes may be an issue, but if you can try a longer run I'd be interested in your results. Good luck.

The kegerator I have has 3 taps and is at my folks' lake house that we use in the summer. I'll try putting together a couple lines up there and trying it out - although it won't be until May that I refresh the keg supply up there.

I considered ordering a new order of the BB lines, but I really don't want 100+ feet of beer lines flying around in there - it's already a jungle as it is.

 

[Stevorino]

Are people that are buying the 3/16ID getting 1/4 or 5/16 OD? I can get the 1/4 OD for half the price of the 5/16. Also with this better line how often do the lines need to be changed? Finally, is everyone using special clamps or just putting a piece of thicker tube over the tygon tube and using that to clamp

I'm with skutmonkey on the 5/16 OD

I was very close to pushing the button on the 1/4 OD. But as someone said in here earlier, if you make a mistake by underordering, you just wasted a ****load of cash. Now that I'm on beer line #3, I bet I've spent nearly $200 on beer lines. Makes me want to barf.

And no, I couldn't find a cheaper place than McMaster and USPlastics. I went McMaster because of good experiences in the past although it looked like USPlastics was cheaper.

 

[ekjohns]

stevorino - beer line #3 is that cause there was problems with the other lines or cause you have to change them out cause they are getting dirty. I ALWAYS! run star stans and warm water through my lines after each keg. It seems that since these are pore-less they should last a long time (several years) but i am only assuming this

 

[Stevorino]

stevorino - beer line #3 is that cause there was problems with the other lines or cause you have to change them out cause they are getting dirty. I ALWAYS! run star stans and warm water through my lines after each keg. It seems that since these are pore-less they should last a long time (several years) but i am only assuming this

Beer Line 1= Defective MoreBeer Line - beer tasted like plastic water w/ beer added - it was undrinkable.

Beer Line 2= Bev-Seal Line from Better Bottle - beer tasted amazing but came out too fast for someone other than me to easily serve themselves.

Beer Line 3= Tygon, hopefully last line in a while.

Yeah, so I haven't changed any due to crap in the lines yet. That being said, I usually only clean them out once a year w/ BLC, Water Rinse, and then Star San. Probably need to do it more often like you though. After each keg sounds about right and without a doubt decreases risk of infecting the entire new keg.

 

[ekjohns]

it seems the tygon is the best. how good is the bevlex 200? i am having a hard time buying $50 worth of tubing

 

[Stevorino]

it seems the tygon is the best. how good is the bevlex 200? i am having a hard time buying $50 worth of tubing

I hear ya man - i was not happy to spend the $60+ on what seems like it should be only $10-$20.

My only advice is do it right the first time and be done with it. I've now spent close to $200 on beer-side tubing alone.

 

[kal]

I hear ya man - i was not happy to spend the $60+ on what seems like it should be only $10-$20.

I only wish I'd have been as lucky to know what to buy the first time...! I spent hundreds on 10 different types of tubing before figuring this out (and starting this thread)!

Stop your whining...

Kal

 

[emribecky]

Just replaced some keg lines with Perlick Branded PVC line from NB... same vinyl taste leeches into the beer if it sits in the line for more than 20-30 minutes. This is totally unacceptable! I'm just shocked that something from Perlick does this. Beer is what they do!

 

[wildwest450]

One word, micromatic.

 

[Flomaster]

One word, micromatic.

do you have a link or part number for said tubing?

-=Jason=-

 

[ExHempKnight]

I'm waiting for some Tygon Silver tubing to come in the mail... Will post a review once I get it and get around to putting it in the keezer.

 

[rabeb25]

Bringing this one back...
Heres my deal. I have a 30ft run from the garage keezer to the basement taps. On the fence between building my own trunk line or just buying pre-made. I can get bev-seal ultra for about $27 per 100' roll, and some 5/16" for glycol lines for the same price, from the same place I can get premade trunk with the same tubing for $6/ft, my dilemma is this..
The smallest premade trunk I can get is 5/16", but if I build my own I can get 1/4" and not have to change my tail pieces and shanks (currently 3/16"). What would you guys do?? How am I going to be able to balance this system?

I am also building a glycol system from a de-humidifier.

Thanks!
Bryan

 

[spotter]

I am also building a glycol system from a de-humidifier.

Curious about this, are you going to be condensing the glycol? If so, can you share details?

How many lines are you running?

Bringing this one back...
Heres my deal. I have a 30ft run from the garage keezer to the basement taps. On the fence between building my own trunk line or just buying pre-made. I can get bev-seal ultra for about $27 per 100' roll, and some 5/16" for glycol lines for the same price, from the same place I can get premade trunk with the same tubing for $6/ft, my dilemma is this..
The smallest premade trunk I can get is 5/16", but if I build my own I can get 1/4" and not have to change my tail pieces and shanks (currently 3/16"). What would you guys do?? How am I going to be able to balance this system?

You're right to focus on balancing the system- the happiness you get will be enough to offset minor price differences. A few key things:
- Gravity is helping you, to the tune of about -2.1 PSI.
- 30' of 5/16 is only about 5.1 PSI resistance, meaning 2.9 PSI of CO2 to balance. It'll take forever to pour and flatten the beer in your keg.
- Bev seal gives about 0.45 PSI resistance.

Your options (assuming a 6 foot drop from keg bottom to faucet):
- Push at 12 PSI and use just 5/16", but you'd need 80+ feet of it.
- Push at 13 PSI, use 26' of 5/16" plus 4' pigtails of 3/16" before each tap
- Push at 13 PSI, use 35' of 1/4" bev-seal (less of something with higher resistance).

Given that, I'd recommend a similar setup to mine: Made my own trunk using bev-seal ultra 1/4" for a 25' run (all within the basement). I use a pond/fountain pump for the glycol hooked up to 1/4 tubing. The glycol reservoir and pump is in the freezer section of my kegerator. I used smaller tubing (faster/higher pressure with a smaller pump) and a decent sized reservoir to be sure the glycol is still cold on return.

Lessons learned:
- Decide what PSI ranges you want to push at, then calculate the length of tube you need.
- If the system is just barely balanced in the winter, it will probably be unbalanced in the summer. Balance in mild weather, then adjust as needed.
- With a longer run your biggest enemy for the first pour is heat. Your faucets will want to be close to room temperature, warming the beer as it pours and breaking the CO2 out of suspension. Get longish shanks and wrap them with lots of glycol line. I originally tried copper like Kal (too hard for me to work with, but still used in most of my trunk), then 'ice maker' line (poly? not flexible enough), and I now use cheap very flexible (pvc?) tube from lowes/home depot wrapped completely around each shank.

Good luck!

 

[rabeb25]

Excellent! thanks for the response. I will just do 1/4" care to tell me where you purchased the trunk line supplies.. mainly foam and stuff.


Plan on gutting the coils out of the de-humidifier and using the coils submerged into a reserve tank with a pump and a temp controller... I have a spare one I have never used (somehow ended up with one???) so I figure why not.


Thanks

 

[spotter]

Excellent! thanks for the response. I will just do 1/4" care to tell me where you purchased the trunk line supplies.. mainly foam and stuff.

Most large building supply place sell 6' lengths for insulating pipes (my lowes keeps it near the ventilation supplies). It has an open seam so it slips over the bundle. I used the thickest one, which happens to have a self adhesive seam. Those are nice if you need to wrap a wide bundle of lines, you can stick two pieces side by side.

Zip tie your bundle together every few feet, put the foam over it, then join the lengths of foam with duct tape. I also used some thick foam to create an insulated "box" around the shanks and some spray foam (most of that was removed in a later revision).

 

[ekjohns]

so i bought some tygon b-44-4X tubing (3/16 ID) and am gonna install it this weekend. I split a 50' roll with a friend and I got 2 taps, so 12.5 feet max for each tap. Without the epoxy spacers should 12.5' at 12 PSI and 40 F be fine? too much? or not enough? according the the beer line calculator would need about 5'. right now I have 10' of 1/4" ID tubing and its pretty foamy

 

[ekjohns]

i got the tubing in and installed 1 tap with 12.5 ft of tygon b-44-4x and its pretty foamy at PSI of 11 (the beer was carbed at 13 PSI). Im going to try and put some of the 1/4 OD Polyethylene in the dip tube first then look into either the epoxy spacers or a ss spring