Epoxy Mixer Caveat

[crazyworld]

Hey guys. So my current setup is 2 kegs sitting on the floor of my basement at ambient temperature (about 60 - 65 degrees or so). The high temps force me to carb at around 25 - 28 psi; fine. I believe I have 3 ft of liquid line so I added epoxy mixers to the liquid dip tubes. Two mixers seemed to work fairly well but I needed a little more resistance so I added a third to one of the kegs.

Here's what I noticed. I believe there's a sort of inverse bell curve regarding the amount of epoxy mixers to foam. The more mixers you add past a certain point, the more foam. I came to the conclusion based on the fact that I noticed the foaming was happening more in-line and although pressure was reduced, foam would still be poured. My hypothesis is that the more breaks in the epoxy mixers and their misalignment are causing the foam even before it hits the liquid line.

A proposed solution would be to force the epoxy mixers together (glue is of course sketchy but melting them to align properly could work). Of course I could add more line for resistance but it would be a ridiculous amount. I could also put them in a refrigerator which will happen eventually but I'm sure I won't be the last person to deal with this issue and I don't mind (and sometimes prefer) my beers at a 50 - 60 degree serving temperature.

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Any other theories or solutions?

 

[day_trippr]

Comment: You're making your beer life way harder running 3 foot lines...

Cheers!

 

[audger]

if you take the money you would spend on a few of these mixers, and instead spent it on a length of tubing, you would no longer have these problems.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Yeah, there's a chart around somewhere showing pressure reduction based on line length, also the higher the line is placed the more reduction.

3 feet of beer line is insanley short regardless of pressure! My setup had 8 feet of line for 12psi. Could handle 18PSI without foaming (I htink, it's sitting in storage atm).

 

[purplehaze]

What size line are you using?

I'm not sure of the exact length but I have about 4.5 feet of 1/4" OD line with two mixer stix and have no issues. Unless I over carb of course.

 

[runningweird]

yeah, you need more cow bell. I have 15 foot lines, they work great. 3 foot lines is asking for continued beer loss and frustration.

increase your line lenght instead of spending time breeding longer epoxy mixers.

also, melting plastic and adding that to your beer - even after cooling - could release some nasty stuff.

I suggest birdmans accuflex line, its pretty nice after you get it all set up.

 

[JRems]

I noticed the same issue when trying to pour seltzer. Any more than 2 mixers, the co2 was coming out of solution in the line.

 

[crazyworld]

Yeah I guess I just wanted to see if others noticed the same issue and warn newbies at kegging (like myself) that the epoxy mixers are the end all, be all solution.

I think I'm lying and it's probably 4' or 5' of line, I'll have to measure. Regardless, it's too short. Not sure of the diameter but it's surely the standard size.

I already had bought the mixers before I started kegging so I was trying what I had first. I considered the risks of remelting the plastic to form them together (but still may do it as a proof of concept). Any quite honestly, 15' of beer line seems completely unwieldy in a freestanding setup (but not completely unmanageable if it needed to be done).

 

[the_bird]

Any quite honestly, 15' of beer line seems completely unwieldy in a freestanding setup (but not completely unmanageable if it needed to be done).

Coil it up and hit it with a couple zip-ties. That's what I do with my picnic taps.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Coil it up and hit it with a couple zip-ties. That's what I do with my picnic taps.

And/or wrap it around the keg and fasten it with a long zip tie or whatever.

You can wrap it around the keg a few times then feed it through the keg handle. easy.