Serving line length

[kdbentz]

I am trying to dial in my kegerator. All is well, but the local home brew shop has recommended I use a 15' serving line.
I am using 3/16" ID poly tubing, the temp in the fridge is 40 degrees, the co2 is set to 12 psi and the rise to the tap is only about a foot.
All of the online calculators that I can find recommend no more than 5', but I currently have the 15' that was recommended to me......i feel like there is a lot of beer being left in the line between pours.......any input from anyone with possibly more experience than me?
Thanks a bunch!

 

[Quaffman]

I have 10 foot lines with those same conditions and my pours are great. What do you mean by "I feel like there is s lot of beer left in the line between pours"? There'll always be beer left in the line until the keg is empty and only dispersing co2 gas.

 

[kdbentz]

Does the beer in the line maintain carbonation? It seems to go flat......maybe Im wrong but that was what I saw as a concern with a lot of beer being left in the line......im new to kegging my brews as I have bottle conditioned every batch I have brewed to this point.
Thanks for the help!

 

[doug293cz]

The beer in the lines shouldn't go flat, unless the lines are somewhere they can get warmer than the keg. You need the line length to drop the pressure between the keg and tap, so that the pressure at the tap exit is not much above atmospheric. However, the pressure drops along the line only when the beer is flowing. When the tap is closed, the pressure in the line quickly returns to the keg pressure, so will maintain carb level, unless for some reason the beer in the line is warmer. Warm beer holds less CO2 than cold beer at the same temperature.

Ignore all the beer line length calculators you find on line except this one:

http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

He's the only one who gets the science right, and he explains it on his web site as well.

Brew on

 

[day_trippr]

I am trying to dial in my kegerator. All is well, but the local home brew shop has recommended I use a 15' serving line.
I am using 3/16" ID poly tubing, the temp in the fridge is 40 degrees, the co2 is set to 12 psi and the rise to the tap is only about a foot.
All of the online calculators that I can find recommend no more than 5', but I currently have the 15' that was recommended to me......i feel like there is a lot of beer being left in the line between pours.......any input from anyone with possibly more experience than me?
Thanks a bunch!

Your 15 foot line holds 1.6 ounces of brew.

One rule of thumb is a foot of 3/16" ID beer line per PSI of dispensing pressure, so you could probably cut your line down by 3 feet or so without negatively affecting the pour quality. I wouldn't go as short as 5 feet lest your next thread begins with "Help!"...

Cheers!

 

[shortyz]

i pour at 5psi, anything higher seems to make a mess

 

[doug293cz]

i pour at 5psi, anything higher seems to make a mess

What's your line length and and keg temperature? If you need to turn the pressure down that much for serving, most likely your lines are too short. For typical keg temps of ~40°C, and 2.5 volumes of CO2 (about 12 psi), you need 10 - 12 ft of 3/16" beer line to prevent overly fast pours and foaming. If you leave the beer at 5 psi your carbonation would drop to about 1.8 volumes over time.

Brew on

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Beer line length and their calculators confuse me. All these calculators seem to hold stock in vinyl tubing manufacture or something. I carb to about 2.5 (for most beers), temp is about 35°, serving pressure is 9 psi., and my lines are 3/16" ID and about 4 feet long. By these numbers I should get a glass full of foam and nightmares. Quite the contrary. I get a nice beer in about 7 seconds that is about as pretty and fun to look at as nipples.

 

[kdbentz]

Ha that must be a nice pour
They confuse me too....I understand the vinyl tubing is more rigid and so provides greater resistance......but so far I have found that both carbing and serving at 12 psi and with the 15' poly line at about 40 degrees keeps me from having to ever change my psi......im running 4 kegs all at 12 psi and each with 15' of serving line.......maybe the reason for the lhbs recommending 15' of line is so I can set the pressure and never have to change it from the time I rack to the time I drink?

 

[MrHopScotch]

The one thing I would say is you can shorten your line more easily than you can lengthen it.

Try the 15 feet first as you will be much less likely to have foam problems than with shorter lines. If you decide that the pour is too slow, then cut out a foot or two of line and try again. It's really frustrating to realize 10 or 12 feet isn't as much restriction as you need and need to go buy 15 more.

 

[seigex]

Here's the link I used to tune my beer line http://beersmith.com/blog/2011/07/14/keg-line-length-balancing-the-science-of-draft-beer/

It explains it well and worked for me and I had perfect pours. I have a static line length, and just adjust the PSI portion of the calculation to get it right depending on the beer.

Also, I get my line from morebeer, and they now have an anti-microbian version now, here's the 3/16th version: http://morebeer.com/products/ultra-...c-free-beer-tubing-316-id-foot.html?site_id=5

 

[shortyz]

What's your line length and and keg temperature? If you need to turn the pressure down that much for serving, most likely your lines are too short. For typical keg temps of ~40°C, and 2.5 volumes of CO2 (about 12 psi), you need 10 - 12 ft of 3/16" beer line to prevent overly fast pours and foaming. If you leave the beer at 5 psi your carbonation would drop to about 1.8 volumes over time.

Brew on

ya, ive been meaning to lengthen my lines. they are only like 3ft. gonna do that this wekeend. newbie here!