Beer lines

[speedpacer]

Well, I was hoping after lurking around here for a couple of years, I could do this without asking any questions. I was wrong.

I'm ordering all of the parts to build my keezer and the lines I received in the kit, 3/16" ID and 7/16" OD weren't long enough, so I ordered an extra 10' from Amazon. It says 7/16" OD in the product description but what I received was 5/16ths.

I also ordered an 8640 Jockey Box Shank and a couple of connector ends for each one, thinking I could poke those through the holes in the lid of the deep freeze and have one tube going from the keg to it, and another going from it to the shank in the coffin.

Unfortunately, the center of these shanks are a little bigger on the inside (not like the shanks that attach to the faucets that came with the kits) and I'm afraid that over time, beer will settle inside there and I'll have to clean my lines more often.

However, the wrong beer lines that I ordered fit almost perfectly inside those shanks and I wouldn't need the connectors.

So now I have two questions. Should I be concerned about the bigger opening in the middle of the shanks causing problems, and is there any reason why I couldn't use 5/16ths lines?

 

[m00ps]

The 5/16OD line fits exactly into the bore hole in the shank? If its watertight and doesnt loosen easily I dont see why you couldnt

 

[day_trippr]

^no no no^

First, best as I know all standard shanks are drilled 1/4", and pretty much everyone I know runs 3/16" ID tubing. Beer isn't going to sit in the shank bore, it'll move along just fine.

Second, you should have the option of contacting the Amazon tubing seller and getting them to fulfill your order correctly. I guarantee if that ad actually says 7/16" OD, Amazon will straighten it out without cost to you.

Third, when you finally go to cut your lines, use the only beer line length calculator worth using and never look back...

Cheers!

 

[speedpacer]

Yeah, I love Amazon. I wasn't prepared to send it back just yet since it fits through the shank, thought maybe I could go ahead and use it. I did leave the seller feedback though to let them know they needed to update the description.

Here's what I mean about the difference.

I'm afraid that once the caps are put on and the lines hooked up on either end, beer could settle in the shank since it's bigger than the lines.

But then I realized the smaller line they sent me fit through that hole, so maybe I should just use those instead...

Thanks for the link!

 

[cjones]

u have to put the barb on- there should be a nut to attach the barb - the hose goes on the barb which gets a nut to hold on to the shank over that hole you have the tube in

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446518488.644578.jpg

 

[Yooper]

u have to put the barb on- there should be a nut to attach the barb - the hose goes on the barb which gets a nut to hold on to the shank over that hole you have the tube it

Right! You're missing the nipple and nut for the tailpiece. The way it is in those pictures is totally wrong, and will give trouble.

you want it to look like this- with a barb for the line to go on (with a clamp):

 

[speedpacer]

Haha! Okay, so those first pictures were a bad example. Maybe these will help...

The upper left shank that hooks to the faucet and will go through the coffin came with a kit. I purchased the second shank, the one in the bottom right, because I thought that would be a cleaner way to go through the lid of the freezer. So this is option 1:

You can also see the difference between the hoses. The one on the bottom is 7/16ths and came with the kit. The top one is 5/16ths that I ordered from Amazon.

When I received the shank that I was planning on putting through the lid, I realized it was bored out bigger than the one I got with my kit (as seen above in my previous post). But then I realized that the smaller line would go straight through the shank for the lid without the end caps / nipples, so this is option 2:

 

[speedpacer]

The nuts on the lower right shank aren't on backwards btw. I probably won't use the black pieces. I just threw those on there for the picture.

 

[day_trippr]

In this image

...the thing at the far left is part of a tail piece. It's missing the nut and gasket that would attach it to the shank. The full assembly looks like this

Cheers!

 

[splyn]

if its just some sort of coffin keezer, then you have no need for the larger inner-diameter shank. i think most people just run the hose through a hole in the keezer lid and into the coffin and dont use a fitting. fewer fittings mean fewer connections to cause turbulence, fewer places for leaks, fewer places for nasties to set up shop, etc.

 

[stpug]

You don't want that tubing for your keezer. Get some proper beverage tubing at the 7/16" OD. JMO.

 

[PapaO]

thinking I could poke those through the holes in the lid of the deep freeze and have one tube going from the keg to it, and another going from it to the shank in the coffin.

How are you going to cool your shank and beer line so you don't have co2 come out of sulution?