Just tasted my first two kegged beers - baaad... what the heck happened??

[Rev2010]

So I installed the Ultra Barrier Silver lines last night. God I hate changing out beer line! Anyhow, I left them in the kegerator overnight before connecting to the keg to cool. Each line is 12' length and I cleaned with BLC, flushed the lines with warm water, then ran StarSan through them. This morning I connected the line to my Belgian Saison and drew a small amount just to get beer in the line. Came back an hour and drew a sample, not to taste, just wanted to check the pour. Tons of foam. Tried another pull, Tons of foam. I'd read foaming being the biggest complaint with these lines but I've seen others on here and in reviews with my line length or less say they have no foaming. Anyhow, I'm off to work and will pull another sample tonight to also taste the beer after it's been sitting for 12 hours. If it's still foaming I don't know what the heck I'm going to do as it was so much foam that just sat there not really going down which is even worse than having to pour off the first 2oz using the vinyl lines. I know, Bevlex (or Bevseal, whatever it's called), but I really can't deal with 20-30 foot rigid lines inside my triple tap kegerator. I'll report back tonight.

Rev.

 

[wardens355]

Tons of foam. Tried another pull, Tons of foam. I'd read foaming being the biggest complaint with these lines but I've seen others on here and in reviews with my line length or less say they have no foaming.

I had foam issues with this line as well. Too expensive to have 15' or longer per keg, which is why I switched to the smaller 1/8" Tygon tubing that I showed in an earlier post. I bought a 50' roll of it and it will probably last me for a couple years or so with good line cleaning and about 2-3 feet per keg.

 

[dnslater]

Did you have foam issues prior? In my setup, foaming was caused by uneven temps inside my Kegerator. The lines were coiled on top of my kegs, which I found was around 48-50 degrees, while the lower half was 38. I installed a small fan and problem was solved.

 

[Rev2010]

Did you have foam issues prior? In my setup, foaming was caused by uneven temps inside my Kegerator. The lines were coiled on top of my kegs, which I found was around 48-50 degrees, while the lower half was 38. I installed a small fan and problem was solved.

No issues whatsoever prior except for the plastic taste when beer sat in the lines for 2 hours or more, but no foaming at all. My kegerator has a built in fan. Went through my whole pumpkin keg with a perfect pour everytime and having a little of my belgian saison a little at a time also with a perfect pour. Just don't drink too much of the saison since I hit 91% efficiency with it (my typical is 81%) and the yeast attenuated even further down than average. So it's 8.6% ABV, not very sessionable

I was talking with Motobrewer who also has these lines and his issue appears to have resolved itself. He'd mentioned having to just let it since for a while once you get some beer in the lines and then purge a gas bubble that forms in the lines then it's been good since. So I will see what I get tonight when I get home.


Rev.

 

[Rev2010]

The results are in! Came home, beer has been in the line for approximately 12 hours.

Started pouring first point, foam. BUT, I noticed there was more beer in the bottom of the glass than this morning - more liquid to foam ratio. Took a taste... perfect! ZERO plastic taste/smell.

So, I figured let me fill a little more and put this glass aside and let the foam settle and pour another. Result? 100% perfect pour! I'm so psyched right now. I'd PM'd with Motobrewer on here earlier today as he has these lines too. He told me it just needed to sit cold at first a few hours and that the foam should go away and he was right. Below is a picture. The beer on the left was the foamy first pour after a little settling and refilling a little. The beer on the right is the second full pour.

After giving this tubing a bit more time and testing I'll post a thread about it rather than continue on here as it would be more helpful to those searching online about it.

 

[Callacave]

Glad to see everything is working out for you Rev.

When you get a chance. Let beer sit in the line for 24 hrs, and pull two samples. First one, just enough to clear line, and the second coming fresh from the keg. Just curious to see if anyone else can detect what I was getting. It's not as foul as your old lines, but was definitely affecting the aroma/flavor for me

 

[Rev2010]

When you get a chance. Let beer sit in the line for 24 hrs, and pull two samples. First one, just enough to clear line, and the second coming fresh from the keg. Just curious to see if anyone else can detect what I was getting. It's not as foul as your old lines, but was definitely affecting the aroma/flavor for me

I'll do this tomorrow evening which will be a full day of beer sitting in the line and report back.


Rev.

 

[The_Bishop]

Just installed Bev-Seal ultra lines in my keezer yesterday. Bought the John Guest fittings for the keg/MFL side. Had to put it on the tower shanks on the other end. If you have a bench vice to hold the fittings, it's not that hard to install. It was more of a pain dealing with the 3 15' lines. Might have to shorten them up a bit; the pour is slow.

Did the install and clean/sanitize/flush routine in the morning. Poured a beer in the evening, about 8 hours later. I never really noticed an 'off' flavor in my kegged beer, until I made an ESB and kept detecting a slight plasticy note in the background which is why I swapped out.

The flavor is *gone*. Not only that but all three taps now have a noticeably 'cleaner' flavor. I'm very happy with the bev-seal line. This afternoon I'll pull another pint and see how it goes.

 

[Rev2010]

The flavor is *gone*. Not only that but all three taps now have a noticeably 'cleaner' flavor. I'm very happy with the bev-seal line. This afternoon I'll pull another pint and see how it goes.

I noticed that too with these silver lines, the beer just tastes clean. Funny too because one of their advertising slogans popped into mind, "to serve beer the way it was meant to taste" or something to that effect. I have the Cream Of Three Crops ale I made kegged and carbonating but it will be a week from Saturday till I start drinking it. Not going to create a review thread on these lines until I try that beer through them as well. I think it will be a good test subject being a lighter styled beer.


Rev.

 

[motobrewer]

Good stuff. These lines are wonky. But the end result is good.

 

[Rev2010]

When you get a chance. Let beer sit in the line for 24 hrs, and pull two samples. First one, just enough to clear line, and the second coming fresh from the keg.

OK, I pulled a small sample (2-3oz) just a few minutes ago, the beer has been sitting in the line for I'd say 23 hours since my last pull last night. Smell - perfect. I could actually now smell the light mintiness in the nose that I'd originally noted when I tasted the FG hydrometer sample. Taste - perfect. No detectable off tastes whatsoever.

So, I pulled a second small sample to then compare to. They taste and smell exactly the same. I still had a little bit of foam but it was no more than an inch which I have no problem with whatsoever. The beer is carbed at 14psi.

I am very very happy with the swap to these lines. I plan to post a review thread but in the spirit of fairness, as I noted earlier I am going to wait until I've also tested them with my cream of three crops beer (got the recipe on here) since it's such a light bodied beer I figure if there's any off tastes it should be even easier to detect.

Rev.

 

[Callacave]

Thanks Rev for the update. Glad to hear those lines are working for you

 

[Rev2010]

Last update before I write a review tomorrow morning. The Ultra Barrier Silver lines are still working out awesome. I've had my Belgian Saison after beer sat in the lines for a few days and still no off tastes at all. Also, no foaming problems. I just tapped the Cream of Three Crops I brewed tonight and had some initial foaming for the first half pour but that was the pour I dumped due to the initial yeast pull. The line also wasn't at kegerator temp since I sanitized it first. Been pouring good since but I think it will probably foam first pour tomorrow then stop like it did with my other beer/line. I think with these lines beer probably needs to sit in it for a number of hours at first introduction of beer into them. Not sure if it's initial reaction to the silver particle lining needing to react to the beer for the first time or what, but once that quick initial first use stage is past it seems they flow normal. I'm really reeeally glad I found these lines. Review in a new thread to follow sometime tomorrow.


Rev.