Question: Beer left in Beer line

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How's it going everyone! I'm new to HBT, I've been directed to your website a few times from Google after typing random homebrew questions into the search engine. I finally decided to create an account and join the community.

Anyhow, I have looked through quite a few of the threads inside the Kegging section and can't seem to find an answer to this question anywhere, and it's not a HUGE deal but being as I'm new to kegging I was just curious. After I draw a brew out of my keg, there is left over beer in the beer line, does this beer go flat, or aquire a funky taste after being left in the plastic tubing? And if you have 4-6ft of beer line and go to draw another beer a few hours later or even the next day, the first HALF of your glass would be leftover from that beer line. Has anyone given any thought to this?

Let me know!
Brian
 
The beer doesn't go flat, it's under pressure all the way to the tap itself. I've never noticed any off flavors form the tubing I use. That being said if your tap lines extend outside of your kegerator very far, they might not be staying very cool.

Often cheaper draft towers are not cooled and could be poorly insulated. this means if you had a 2 ft tall draft tower sticking out of your kegerator, the 2 ft of hose inside the tower is almost room temperature. Some draft towers are glycol cooled. I use a hose and fan to blow cold air up into the tower but the beer up there is still warm.

The one drawback is that warm/hot beer foams up pretty bad when it flies out of the tap. Expect the first half a pint to be all foam if you don't keep your lines cool. Additional pints poured after the first will be fine until you stop drinking for a while and the tubes warm back up.
 
The others have answered your questions well, also depends on the type of set up that you have. If you have a collar then the beer is cold to the tap. The beer will stay good not matter what...I use 10 feet of beer line to keep the foaming down, had use shorter lengths in prior systems and that was an issue. :mug:
 
The only time when beer sitting in your line is a bad idea is when you've disconnected the keg and let it sit for more than a week without putting a new keg on. That gives time for "funkyness" (yeast sediment and spoilage) to occur inside your beer lines.
 
I have a 1 tap tower keg box, no fan and can confirm my line gets very warm up to the tap. I'm pouring out my first half pour to get the funky beer out of there. I know exactly what you are talking about, I've got about 5ft of 3/16". Carb is about the same, but def warm and off tasting. I've decided to move to a newer setup, keezer, and not put any more money into the older kegerator. I'll have more room, better cooling, and it'll be all around badass. ;]

If you want to stay with the kegerator you have, I would search around here for tower cooling mods or kegerator fan additions that will help with the cooling. I've even seen some folks on here run copper tubing over the line to the shank as well. Good luck!
 
Deezy,
I've got a keezer already but im currently using it as a fermentation chamber for this Pale Ale i'm making. My keg is sitting out in the open in my garage which usually stays about 60 degrees. Once the Ale is done I'm gonna put the keg back inside and drop it to 40.
 
I have been having a problem with my beer being all head the first one that I pour. I see that it was mentioned earlier that this might have to do with the tower being uninsulated and the beer getting warm. I have beverage air 23 with a single tap tower, the fridge comes with a tube from the circulator fan that pumps air directly into the tower. The whole tower feels really cold but when the keg has been sitting for a couple hours the first beer comes out 75% foam. I have adjusted the regulator from 5-11psi. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

P.S. I am pouring a Ft. Collins Chocolate Stout with a sankey tap.
 
What temp is your stout sitting at? It's my understanding that if you're keeping your beer chilled (40 degrees or so) the psi should be about 3-5 for stouts, other beers are different. But it's all personal opinion :)
 
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