line length needed to bottle from keg with super low flow?

[General_Jah]

Hey guys,

I bottle for competition and friends but keg all my beers. I am not great at the physics behind things so was hoping some of the experts on the forum could direct me to a good resource or help me with the math.

If my kegs are at 12 PSI, what line length would I need for keg out hose to get a really low flow to keep foaming to a minimum?

Similar to if I burbed my kegs and had the pressure super low while filling directly to the bottle with a beer gun.

Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

You could try the only beer line length calculator worth using to see the effect of various line lengths (and varying pressure, if you wish) on flow rate and see if a solution makes sense.

I expect you'd need a couple of feet of 3/16" ID line per PSI...

Cheers!

 

[General_Jah]

You could try the only beer line length calculator worth using to see the effect of various line lengths (and varying pressure, if you wish) on flow rate and see if a solution makes sense.

I expect you'd need a couple of feet of 3/16" ID line per PSI...

Cheers!

great resource thanks. Any suggestions on the flow value for filling bottles from the keg?

 

[day_trippr]

I don't have any experience filling bottles directly from a keg, but if I was going to give it a try I would start with 24 feet of 3/16" ID line (basically, double the length of my existing beer lines) to get the resistance way up, and chilled but not frosted bottles. And see what happens...

Cheers!

 

[MagicMatt]

I bottle from a keg all the time, and I believe you're overthinking it. Whatever line length you use to serve your beer (provided it pours correctly) is the same length you'd need to fill a bottle. For me, that's about 10ft.

What keeps the carbonation from coming out of solution is having really cold beer, lines, and bottles, and then dropping the pressure to 2-5psi. Also stick a plastic raking cane in a plastic picnic tap (fits perfectly) and insert the cane into your bottles, all the way to the bottom. Drop the regulator's pressure, vent the keg, and then open the tap, filling the bottles from the bottom up. Cap on foam and you're good to go.

Never had a problem doing this. I've even forgotten to lower the pressure and was still OK pushing at 12psi.

 

[masonsjax]

I do this all the time. First off, put your bottles in the freezer for a bit. That will greatly reduce the amount of foam. I slip a piece of tubing over my taps and fill bottles from the bottom up without worrying about reducing pressure. I fill over a bucket and let a little foam over the edge if needed. It's never much. Cap on the foam and rinse off the bottles. Done.