Group Buy: Accuflex Bev-Seal Ultra barrier line

[Flomaster]

Mine should be coming within the next day or so. Has anyone tried a Heat Gun for shrink tubing? I'm not keen on taking a flame to it. Don't want to melt or leave char marks on it.

I just used boiling water.

although a heat gun it
Is a great idea

 

[SankePankey]

I just did this yesterday when I setup my 5 tap system.

The heat gun worked awesome after I got the hang of it. I started with my propane stove. Nope! Crushed tube.

The heat gun is good because you can just heat up a portion of the tube and not crush the structural integrity of the tube by pushing something in it.

First, I started with a phillips head screwdriver and ream it in by just heating the screwdriver and the end of the tube. Then while still hot, I spread with needle nose. After, I dunked in water to decrease heat and maintain integrity towards pushing. Then I reamed in the nipple (on a ball lock for grip) while carefully heating the nipple too. After reaming, I heat the whole thing around and then dunk in water. That way I'm not reaming after heating and hopefully creating a good seal.

After waking up this morning I have no leaks and no hose clamps on 10 attempts. Done!

Yeah... this stuff is skinny and takes up no space. Sweet. 40' for my seltzer tap is like nothing...

 

[emjay]

Good to hear. I was a bit worried what 200-250 feet inside a freezer would look like

 

[garbs]

Thanks for putting this together for us! Between the price of the line and the super fast shipping, this deal cannot be beat.

I got my line yesterday and boy was it hard to get it on 1/4 barbed fittings. I'm going to let some beer sit in the lines for a few days and see if I'm able to detect any plastic or oxidation taste. I suspect that I definitely wont taste plastic, but I'm a little bit concerned about oxygen leaking in around the fittings.

 

[Toecutter]

Received mine today. Much thanks for the fast shipping and the work to put this together, can't say enough about what a great person you are for doing this. Now it's off to my LHBS to find some barbs that fit.

 

[wcrooker]

I just got mine today as well, and I know this has been said alot but thanks for doing this. I found this tread as I started looking at lines and this was above and beyond what I could find retail. Thanks again.

 

[wcrooker]

I just got mine today as well, and I know this has been said alot but thanks for doing this. I found this tread as I started looking at lines and this was above and beyond what I could find retail. Thanks again.

 

[emjay]

Apparently I just got mine. In Canada. Pretty quick!

Thanks a ton.

 

[Boleslaus]

It's a four tap keezer at 38*, 11psi and a one foot rise from kegs to shanks. I used to have five foot 1/4" vinyl tubing. That setup resulted in 2/3 glass of foam on the first pour every time. After a few pints last night I may actually knock two feet off the accuflex line for a faster pour.

So you're thinking about cutting back to 18ft? If you've done it yet, how is the resulting pour? I have mine at 22 ft. right now and it is definitely a little slower than I'd like.

 

[mb2696]

Im going to install mine today. Anyone care to share more line length/pour info?

 

[Demon]

So you're thinking about cutting back to 18ft? If you've done it yet, how is the resulting pour? I have mine at 22 ft. right now and it is definitely a little slower than I'd like.

Not yet. I'm going to cut one line down this weekend to test. I'll post results after I do.

 

[Schrodinger]

[TLDR] The Resistance for this line is 1.16 lb/ft... maybe[/TLDR]

So, I found some data on generic 'barrier tubing' and decided to extrapolate the resistance of our line in lbs/ft.

Judging from the five points of data given for vinyl tube, it seems that Restriction vs. Size (inner diameter) and Restriction vs. Volume (oz. per linear foot) are best fit with exponential curves. This is sensible given the expected response of a tube approaching 0" ID.

I then applied an exponential fit (with and without X offset) to the three points of data given for barrier tubing and extrapolated for a 3/16" ID tube. Size vs. Restriction yields either 1.30 or 0.87 lb/ft with and without an X offset respectively. Fitting Volume vs. Restriction yields 1.16 lb/ft in both cases.

As the Volume vs. Restriction numbers are more consistent, and are within the range given by Size vs. Restriction, I suggest using the value of 1.16 lb/ft for our calculations.

Now to see how this value compares to reality.

Published data comes from here:
http://www.draughtquality.org/Components-of-Balance

And a little warning about making extrapolations:
http://xkcd.com/605/

 

[Gritsak]

Are there any special instructions for cleaning this line? properly diluted BLC?

 

[CidahMastah]

[TLDR] The Resistance for this line is 1.16 lb/ft... maybe[/TLDR]

So, I found some data on generic 'barrier tubing' and decided to extrapolate the resistance of our line in lbs/ft.

Judging from the five points of data given for vinyl tube, it seems that Restriction vs. Size (inner diameter) and Restriction vs. Volume (oz. per linear foot) are best fit with exponential curves. This is sensible given the expected response of a tube approaching 0" ID.

I then applied an exponential fit (with and without X offset) to the three points of data given for barrier tubing and extrapolated for a 3/16" ID tube. Size vs. Restriction yields either 1.30 or 0.87 lb/ft with and without an X offset respectively. Fitting Volume vs. Restriction yields 1.16 lb/ft in both cases.

As the Volume vs. Restriction numbers are more consistent, and are within the range given by Size vs. Restriction, I suggest using the value of 1.16 lb/ft for our calculations.

Now to see how this value compares to reality.

Published data comes from here:
http://www.draughtquality.org/Components-of-Balance

And a little warning about making extrapolations:
http://xkcd.com/605/

So what is there a standard accepted line resistance for the 3/16 bevlex line? I have read for 3/16 bevlex anywhere from 2-3psi. It would be great to have a number so we could solve this as HBers. Or at least know that X feet of bevlex = ~ Xfeet of bevseal.


Thanks for the work on the 1.2 though


If we assume 1.2 is the line resistance and 3.0 is the resistance of the bevlex 3/16:

10ft bevlex = 25ft of Bevseal

if 1.2 = Bevseal and 2.2= bevlex:

10ft bevlex = ~18 ft Bevseal

for 1/4 diameter hose = 10ft bevseal = ~8.5 line resistance (.85r); so with 10ft 3/16 bevseal = ~7ft.


Sounds like a lot of people thought 20 feet was pouring a bit too slow. So I would venture 1.2 is pretty close, if you use 2.2 value for bevseal line.

Of course I am going to screw this all up by using the epoxy mixer sticks, which I have no idea on how much line resistance they add....

 

[BirdmanBrewingCo]

Would people be interested in this if we could offer 100ft for about $33.99 or $34.99, including shipping? If so, we would consider stocking it for you. Would be easier than organizing a group buy. The trade off is you pay a few extra dollars.

Let us know...

 

[CidahMastah]

Would people be interested in this if we could offer 100ft for about $33.99 or $34.99, including shipping? If so, we would consider stocking it for you. Would be easier than organizing a group buy. The trade off is you pay a few extra dollars.

Let us know...

I think so - did you see how fast the rolls of this stuff sold?

I know keg connection had said they planned on buying a reel of the 3/16 after seeing how fast the group buys went.

 

[jsguitar]

Would people be interested in this if we could offer 100ft for about $33.99 or $34.99, including shipping? If so, we would consider stocking it for you. Would be easier than organizing a group buy. The trade off is you pay a few extra dollars.

Let us know...

I have no doubt they would be based on the activity in this thread alone.

 

[Toecutter]

Installed mine yesterday. I used the hot phillips screw driver, needle nose method, and used an electric hair dryer to heat the tubeing. I used 25' each on 2 taps on my tower. Coil and zip tie, and sit the coils on top of the cornies I carb at 12-14 PSI it worked very well. about 1/2" foam on the 1st pour, that was it

 

[megalomani]

Got mine today. Thanks to op for all your efforts. I am curious about this on a beergun. Anyone have an idea if this would work? How much length?

 

[Gritsak]

Picked mine up at the post office this morning. Pretty easy to shove it on the tail piece with boiling water, but i had a bit of a time getting it on the ball lock nipped (i have the type that actually screws the nipple on with a compression fitting). But, it went on fine after several dips and shoves using boiling water. Be careful when you're shoving not to crease the hose. I did this a couple times and ended up cutting back the section a little to make sure there weren't any imperfections.

~20ft at 11-12psi at ~38-40 degrees gives i nice pour. Slightly slower than my 10ft vinyl lines, but they poured a little to fast for my liking anyways. Despite twice the amount of hose, it really doesn't take up much more room since the OD is smaller than vinyl. I used zip ties to keep it coiled up on top of the keg. Once it gets cold the line is pretty rigid.

Pretty surprising how much discoloration occurs with the vinyl hose, even with regular cleanings with BLC. Here's a quick cell phone pick of a section of my old vinyl hose. You can see the dramatic color difference between the section that was on the barb and the part exposed to beer. Line was rinsed with clean water before the pic

 

[SankePankey]

Is everyone finding that 20 ft is needed? I'm using a 7,8,9...

The 7 is too short, but the 8 and 9 are OK. I might have gone 10 or 11, but 20 at 11 PSI?

Anyhoo, just looking for reports...

Anyone have a seltzer line run yet (30-35 PSI?). That's what my 40 ft is supposed to be for (hopefully overkill)

 

[mb2696]

yea i'm at 10ft/38*F/11psi and it seems pretty good. i started at 16ft and it was so slow it didn't even produce a round stream out of the faucet.

 

[Gritsak]

I'm surprised there is such a wide difference in the length everyone is finding adequate. I believe 7-10 seconds to pour a pint is approximately the proper flow rate. I'll time my pour later tonight, but 20ft/40degrees/12psi gives me a good solid pour.

 

[Boleslaus]

My 22 ft. is too slow, 20 ft. is better but slower than I like. I think around 18 ft. is right for my set up.

 

[chemman14]

so it looks like 20 feet should be the starting point?

 

[Gritsak]

so it looks like 20 feet should be the starting point?

I think that's safe. I recall anyone so far that used more than 20ft.

 

[BirdmanBrewingCo]

I have no doubt they would be based on the activity in this thread alone.

FYI - We are now taking pre orders on our site for 100ft. Limited to the first 20 takers.

 

[jsguitar]

This is a very good deal for premium beer line*. If I didn't just buy the 100ft I'd be all over it.

* that you can't get anywhere else in these quantities.

 

[Rolly]

So I'm a little confused about this product and was wondering if someone could help a guy out.

1. What are the benefits of this product over the standard thick wall 3/16 line that my lhbs sells?

2. Why is everyone using 20' of 3/16 ID line? Shouldn't it be more like 10-12?

3. Often in my lighter beers, I notice a plastic taste/aroma in my first pour if the beer has been sitting in the line for a little bit. Does this new type of line not have this problem or something?

3. If I currently have 12 ft 3/16 ID lines in my setup, would I want to buy the 3/16 version of this stuff?

If this line eliminates any plastic flavor, I think I'd be sold.

 

[Gritsak]

So I'm a little confused about this product and was wondering if someone could help a guy out.

1. What are the benefits of this product over the standard thick wall 3/16 line that my lhbs sells?

2. Why is everyone using 20' of 3/16 ID line? Shouldn't it be more like 10-12?

3. Often in my lighter beers, I notice a plastic taste/aroma in my first pour if the beer has been sitting in the line for a little bit. Does this new type of line not have this problem or something?

3. If I currently have 12 ft 3/16 ID lines in my setup, would I want to buy the 3/16 version of this stuff?

If this line eliminates any plastic flavor, I think I'd be sold.

Pretty much all of these answers are somewhere in the thread.

1. See the product description

2. There is less resistance in this line compared to vinyl, hence the longer lengths needed

3. Yes, this line should eliminate the plastic off-flavor.

4. Yes, you want 3/16", but see #2.