The right Beer / Gas line

[acott]

Hey all, I hope to start kegging soon and have been busy buying bits and pieces over the last few months.
All I've left to get is the Gas / Beer line and I want to make sure I get the right stuff!

On my JG fittings it says 3/8", I take it this is the outer diameter?

Will this be ok for both the gas and beer line or should my beer line be smaller?

Also, do I need hard line for gas and soft line for beer?

Should I buy a decent length, say 20ft?

Any help is greatly appreciated, I want to hit the ground running and have everything in working order before my IPA is done fermenting....I'm like a child at christmas!

 

[Psylocide]

I use 3/8" OD Eaton Synflex Flavor Shield hoses for both the tap lines and the gas lines.

Works great for me. I run 10' @ 10-12psi on the tap lines and seems to work well.

 

[thekraken]

You can give this a read to see what length of tubing you might want: http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

 

[m00ps]

Most research I read seemed to suggest 10ft lines of 3/16in ID tubing for beer and 5/16in for gas, but the gas doesnt really matter as much. It can be any length you need. The length for the beer lines is to minimize foaming though which most keggers have issues with when they start. Go with 10feet and cut it down from there. If you have an all john guest QD setup, checkout farmhouse brewing supply. I got the shank connectors and disconnect QDs along with 100feet of premo beverage tubing thats made to fit the jogn guest fittings

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, wrt gas line, if you do one size smaller ID than the barbs used, warm up the tubing and slide them on the barbs, clamps are virtually redundant...

Cheers!

 

[acott]

Thanks so much for your info folks! I'll go with the 3/8" at 10 ft to begin with, and take it from there. I did buy a reducer fitting from 3/8" to 5/16" just incase I need that 3/16" inner diameter

 

[thekraken]

Thanks so much for your info folks! I'll go with the 3/8" at 10 ft to begin with, and take it from there. I did buy a reducer fitting from 3/8" to 5/16" just incase I need that 3/16" inner diameter

Be careful, according to that calculator I posted earlier you would need 320 feet of 3/8 tubing. No personal experience with 3/8 tubing so I could be wrong, but you may consider saving some $$ and just start out with 3/16".

 

[masonsjax]

After many leaks over the years, I have been using 3/16" ID beer line and 1/4" barbs for all connections both gas and liquid. As day_trippr mentioned, it makes the clamps redundant, will never leak, and since everything is standard, changes are simple. Also, you can buy the tubing in bulk and potentially save some money and have extra when you need it.

 

[acott]

In bulk I bought 10 meters of 3/8" and 5/16" so I'm going to run the gas as 3/8" and the beer line as 5/16" - the fittingsI have are John Guest quick disconnects so I hope there won't be any leaks

I went for the bulk buy so I have plenty of line to chop and change without worry