Installed Accuflex Bev-Seal Ultra lines last night

[Rev2010]

Man that tubing is a PITA! Had a fairly easy time getting it on the tower shank barbs, that wasn't the issue. The first one I got on the easiest, the second took two tries and went on. Just the stiffness of the dang stuff is so unwieldy to handle. If it didn't have the convenient feet markings on it and if I had to measure it out manually I think I would've lost it LOL. The markings made it easy to know where to cut. I didn't have any Oetiker clamps small enough to clamp it on the barbs but I seriously don't think it's necessary as it's on there very very tight. I used John Guest fittings for ball lock disconnect side. To those of you that worked so diligently to get the tubing onto the 1/4" barbs I SALUTE YOU! I can imagine how difficult it must've been. I haven't run beer through it yet as my two kegs will be done carbonating and ready to drink this weekend. So Saturday morning I'm planning to clean the lines then tap up the kegs.

So, any of you also not using clamps on the 3/16" barbs? All been ok?

Rev.

 

[Rev2010]

Bueller?...

 

[brew703]

Yeah this tubing is stiff. Looks like you used John Guess Fittings, which is what i did.
But it last and worth it IMO.

 

[shoengine]

I hate barbs. Give me a flat interface and a clamp any day. The Guest fittings are on my bottler and they work great so far. Not sure about longevity though as I am sure they are wear parts.

 

[Rev2010]

I'm mainly curious if anyone else has the tubing mounted to their tower shank barbs without any clamps. Like I said I seriously don't think the tubing can come off without some serious force but of course clamps give piece of mind. Just that the tubing OD is so small.


Rev.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think you want clamps. Everyone who told me they didn't need them drove all the way back to the shop to get the proper oetiker clamps after finding leaks.

FYI, I get this stuff over 1/4" barbs all day using two very specific tools. #1, a Harbor Freight heat gun to warm the end up. #2 a swaging tool. A little keg lube on there to help it not snag the liner and you can expand to 1/4" ID easily.

 

[Rev2010]

I think you want clamps. Everyone who told me they didn't need them drove all the way back to the shop to get the proper oetiker clamps after finding leaks.

What size Oetiker clamps would one use for the Accuflex on 3/16" 90° tower barbs?

*EDIT - Disregard. I think to put on Oetiker clamps it will be a real pain since I already routed the cables down into the tower/kegerator. Guess I'll look at small worm clamps since they can be opened all the way.


Rev.

 

[mongoose33]

I just recently bought this from Bobby along w/ the John Guest connectors to attach to the QDs and shanks.

I've only installed it on one of the five faucets, one where there appeared to be serious degradation of the beer in the lines after sitting for a while.

Only problem now is that the darned thing foams and I don't know why. I have 12 feet of line, as it was indicated on the Brewhardware site that the reduced resistance would require longer lines. Done that.

Can't figure out the foaming thing yet. The only thing that's different is I had to use a second rubber washer on the shank as the shank doesn't stick out far enough.

 

[IslandLizard]

I think you want clamps. Everyone who told me they didn't need them drove all the way back to the shop to get the proper oetiker clamps after finding leaks.

FYI, I get this stuff over 1/4" barbs all day using two very specific tools. #1, a Harbor Freight heat gun to warm the end up. #2 a swaging tool. A little keg lube on there to help it not snag the liner and you can expand to 1/4" ID easily.

That^

Clamps for sure!
Once the line has stretched it won't want to return to its original diameter like (soft) vinyl hose does.

 

[Rev2010]

Clamps for sure!
Once the line has stretched it won't want to return to its original diameter like (soft) vinyl hose does.

Gotta say this line is more involved to deal with than regular line. In searching it up nowhere did I find the information on what size clamps to use with it, I hadn't known the tubing wall was so thin. I have an Oetiker kit from Amazon that has various sizes but even the smallest was too big so I went ahead and just installed the tubing as I'd read one person state how tight it is on the 3/16" barb that it didn't appear to need clamps. Now I gotta go find clamps. Ugh. Gonna see if the nearest hardware store to my job has small enough worm clamps - they unfortunately don't carry Oetiker. I'm tapping up two beers this weekend so I need this to be ready by then.


Rev.

 

[mongoose33]

Gotta say this line is more involved to deal with than regular line. In searching it up nowhere did I find the information on what size clamps to use with it, I hadn't known the tubing wall was so thin. I have an Oetiker kit from Amazon that has various sizes but even the smallest was too big so I went ahead and just installed the tubing as I'd read one person state how tight it is on the 3/16" barb that it didn't appear to need clamps. Now I gotta go find clamps. Ugh. Gonna see if the nearest hardware store to my job has small enough worm clamps - they unfortunately don't carry Oetiker. I'm tapping up two beers this weekend so I need this to be ready by then.


Rev.

If you can't find anything locally that will help, you might try these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZUX4M8I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I bought some thin-walled vinyl tubing for liquid lines and needed to get these to work as clamps for them. I'm using the John Guest fittings so no need to use these on the new tubing, but I can't see why they wouldn't work.

 

[IslandLizard]

Gotta say this line is more involved to deal with than regular line. In searching it up nowhere did I find the information on what size clamps to use with it, I hadn't known the tubing wall was so thin. I have an Oetiker kit from Amazon that has various sizes but even the smallest was too big so I went ahead and just installed the tubing as I'd read one person state how tight it is on the 3/16" barb that it didn't appear to need clamps. Now I gotta go find clamps. Ugh. Gonna see if the nearest hardware store to my job has small enough worm clamps - they unfortunately don't carry Oetiker. I'm tapping up two beers this weekend so I need this to be ready by then.


Rev.

You can always slip a short piece of some 1/16" wall tubing over the line at the barb position, slit lengthwise, and clamp the 2 layers with a somewhat larger diameter clamp. I've often done that, even with Oetikers. 1/16" wall thickness vinyl tubing should do it.

 

[Rev2010]

You can always slip a short piece of some 1/16" wall tubing over the line at the barb position, slit lengthwise, and clamp the 2 layers with a somewhat larger diameter clamp.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did think of that but the problem is I already threw away my EJ tubing and don't have any other smaller tubing like that to use. I just forked up the money and bought another Oetiker kit on Amazon that has the 8.7mm one's, and even has the smaller 7mm as well as other diameters stepping up higher than 8.7mm. Also plunked down the extra $5.99 shipping so it can be delivered tomorrow so I have the clamps in place for my Saturday dual-keg tapping.


Rev.

 

[Rev2010]

Just an update, the lines have been working great so far. I went with 25' lines to be on the safe side since I often do hefeweizen's that I carb up to 17-18psi. Have two beers on tap, one at 13psi and another at 14psi and they both pour perfectly fine, not too slow and no issues. I think 20' would be just fine but since I ordered a 50' roll I figured I'd go with 25' and cut it down if it pours too slow. I used Oetiker clamps to clamp the tubing down to the tower barbs. I did find however that the recommend Oetiker 8.7mm is too small, if I clamped it down it would've squeezed the living hell out of the tubing and perhaps cut into it. I used Oetiker 10.5mm clamps which are 8.8mm closed and that worked perfectly. Nice and tight but without damaging the tubing. The John Guest fittings are working great, no leaks or issues whatsoever.


Rev.

 

[Bobby_M]

You don't have to squeeze oetiker clamps until they bottom out. You just stop when it's tight enough.

 

[Rev2010]

You don't have to squeeze oetiker clamps until they bottom out. You just stop when it's tight enough.

I know, but when you slide the Oetike 8.7 over the part of the tubing that is over the barb there's no play so even a little squeezing seems like it would be a bit too much. Anyhow, the Oetiker 10.5 worked perfectly. Which Oetiker's did you use, the 8.7?


Rev.

 

[Bobby_M]

No, I think I use the 10.7 also.

 

[Shepington]

Why not get a couple of cheap worm clamps? I've never had any issues on my bev-flex lines with them.

 

[Rev2010]

Why not get a couple of cheap worm clamps? I've never had any issues on my bev-flex lines with them.

My local hardware store didn't have worm clamps that were anywhere near small enough. So I just ordered a multiset of Oetiker clamps on Amazon. I already had the Oetiker crimp tool and have used them in the past. I prefer Oetiker clamps when possible because they don't loosen over time like worm clamps can.


Rev.