Ultra Barrier Silver ID tubing resistance and line length

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thehopbandit

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I have always used vinyl tubing in my keg setup and recently purchased some of the Ultra Barrier Silver 3/16" tubing.

I can't seem to find a definitive resistance rating on the tubing. Some sites say it is the same as vinyl at 3 psi/ft and others say 2.2 psi/ft. Does anyone have the official number?

For those that use the tubing and perhaps have also used vinyl, how do they compare to each other? Did you have to use a longer line length to achieve the same result? What length and numbers are you using in your setup?
 
I've been wrestling with the ultra barrier for a week now. On the very same keg the 10ft vinyl line I'm replacing is pouring fine but 15ft of ultra barrier is all foam. I've seen other people having problems that stabilized over time, but I haven't seen it yet.
 
I've been wrestling with the ultra barrier for a week now. On the very same keg the 10ft vinyl line I'm replacing is pouring fine but 15ft of ultra barrier is all foam. I've seen other people having problems that stabilized over time, but I haven't seen it yet.


Wow, really? That's disappointing to hear. What PSI are you at? At 10psi in my current system with vinyl, 5 ft of tubing seems to generally be fine so I'm unsure what length to go with with the Ultra Barrier Silver.
 
I'm at about 12PSI at 38F. I the end I've just replaced everything with new 10ft vinyl lines and the pour is perfect again.
 
I don't know anything about this particular line, but if it is similar to the Bev Seal Ultra 235 series barrier line, folks have used as much as 2X what the only beer line length calculator worth using would recommend for presumably vanilla pvc line.

So, instead of the 12' of Bevlex 200 pvc line I use for 12 psi, they'd be up around 20 to 25 feet of the Ultra 235 tubing...

Cheers!
 
Interesting. Yeah it seems like with every article I read has a different opinion on what should be done and the resistances of each. This tubing was relatively expensive so I'm looking to get it right on the first try. I plan to go longer than necessary and trim back, but I'm trying to minimize the wasted tubing since I can always use the extra length for other things.
 
There is no 3/16" beer line that actually provides 3 psi/ft or even 2.2 psi/ft flow resistance at reasonable pouring rates. Standard vinyl 3/16" beer line provides closer to 1 psi/ft flow resistance. Not sure where the commonly seen 2.2 psi/ft numbers came from, but too many people have had foam problems relying on these values (even tho they show up in suppliers' literature.)

Brew on :mug:
 
Hi all,

Long time lurker first time poster. Anyway, to the point.

I switched out all of my lines with 12' each of the ultra barrier tubing. They did seem to take a while to settle in before the foaming stopped but, now I get perfect pours every time with about 1/2 inch of foam. Currently running at about 40 degrees and 13 psi.
It seems the foaming settled down after about 1/2 keg.
 
There is no 3/16" beer line that actually provides 3 psi/ft or even 2.2 psi/ft flow resistance at reasonable pouring rates. Standard vinyl 3/16" beer line provides closer to 1 psi/ft flow resistance. Not sure where the commonly seen 2.2 psi/ft numbers came from, but too many people have had foam problems relying on these values (even tho they show up in suppliers' literature.)

Brew on :mug:

That's so weird. You think the manufacturers would simply just test their product and provide a clear rating instead of leaving it up in the air. Doesn't seem like it would be that hard for them to scientifically test, even if it was just an estimate.

Hi all,

Long time lurker first time poster. Anyway, to the point.

I switched out all of my lines with 12' each of the ultra barrier tubing. They did seem to take a while to settle in before the foaming stopped but, now I get perfect pours every time with about 1/2 inch of foam. Currently running at about 40 degrees and 13 psi.
It seems the foaming settled down after about 1/2 keg.

Thanks for the info! What type of gravity/distance are you looking at from your keg to your tap/faucet? I currently use about 5 ft of 3/16" vinyl tubing with a picnic tap at 10psi. Although not perfectly balanced, it's definitely manageable. I'd hate to have to about double it! Good info, though. :mug:
 
I've been using 10' lines of the Ultra barrier silver in both a chest freezer with picnic taps and a minifridge kegerator with a 3 tap tower with perfect pours at various serving pressures.
Are you opening the tap fully when you pour? My wife kept getting foamy glasses until I asked her if she was opening the tap fully.
Also, Is this beer that just been burst carbed, or beer that sat for some time at stable gas levels?
 
I know this is an older post, but I use 10' of ultra barrier, serving at 12 psi and about 38*F beer temp. Are people posting their keezer temp or their beer temp?
 
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