Beer Line How Long What Make Is The Best ?

[Pumpy]

I was planning on replacing my beer line which is the best and how long do you use about 1.5M ?

Pumpy

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I use 3 meters of the OD 8mm

But I have my fridge running fairly warm - 6*C and need the extra length to balance

Cheers

 

[Pumpy]

Wow 3 metres!

 

[mxd]

there's a spreadsheet somewhere but it all depends on temp, carbonation level, height of tap above keg.

For me, around 2 mtrs (could be a bit long as it's a slow pour) 1 Deg, 2.6 carbonation (70 Kpa), tap about 1 mtr above center of keg.

cheers
Matt

 

[under]

Here you go comrade

View attachment co2_and_keg_balancing_v1.1.xls

 

[under]

I use approx 2.3m in my run. 5-6 deg. Centre of keg 600mm to tap. 2.4-2.5 volumes. Works a treat.

 

[Sammus]

I have 3 vastly different length lines in my fridge, and i just turned the reg up so the medium one pours at a decent rate. The shorter one pours a bit quicker, the longer one a bit slower. I don't even know what the pressure is, but carb is spot on every time.

I used to work out all that balancing nonsense till I got lazy when I rebuilt my fridge. I didn't do any of the calcs, just turned it up so it pours right, and I cant notice any difference whatsoever.

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

Pumpy, haven't you been paying attention for the last 5 years?

 

[justsomeguy]

One thing that you need to consider as well is the inside diameter of the line. Bigger line means more of it required to get the same pour, all things being equal.

I had a pile of trouble when I initially set up my system. Some taps poured foam, others were really slow and I had piles of line all over the freezer. I'd bought the beer line from a variety of places and all had sold me different diameter line. Me, being the noob at the time, didn't realise there was different diameter line available.

When the freezer I was using died I decided to redo all of the line and used 4mm line throughout. The difference between 4 and 5mm line worked out at around 1 metre less line required when I used 4mm line. Thats around 2 coils less line to wrestle with in the fridge. Now I've got 8 taps so that works out at 8 meres of line LESS I have to deal with. Now I don't have the beerline octopus monster trying to break out of the fridge and attack the kiddies anymore.

justsomeguy

 

[Pumpy]

Pumpy, haven't you been paying attention for the last 5 years?

:lol: Vlad ,
Just going t order some beer line and so many different types ,I thought I must have mssed something .

Thanks Under

 

[Tony]

Pumpy, haven't you been paying attention for the last 5 years?

I use 3 or 4 meters of this........... 6 meters for a well gassed wheat at 150KPA.

I used less than half of this as 4mm ID line.

If you have a fan circing cool air to keep the lines at the same temp as the beer in the keg.......... its not a problem

cheers

 

[PistolPatch]

Pumpy, haven't you been paying attention for the last 5 years?

Good on ya Vlad!

And good on ya Pumpy!

Pumpy, old mate, this is the funniest thread ever! I thought you for sure already knew this stuff. I am too inebriated and tired to link you threads but I reckon you need to just know the following and we all love you anyway ...

1. Beer lines at our scale are usually 5 or 6mm inside diameter with an outside diameter almost always of 8mm. So, we have thin-walled beer line or thick-walled. I reckon go for 5mm ID as I once bought some other stuff that had an imperfection in the wall, burst and then flooded my fridge. Bugger that!

2. Someone (I think several) people have posted charts/tables on what length to cut your beer line at depending on your pressure and the kegs height. I followed these tables religiously but I reckon at our scale of things then height should be of absolutely no consideration. Just cut the *******s at about 1.5m - 2m as other people suggested or better still................

3. Cut your Lines Short - If you do this, you will need tap/s with a flow control. It is a good option.

Main thing is to make sure that your cylinder pressure is at a constant say 100kpa and you adjust everything else to suit either via beer line length or flow controls on your tap. 100 kpa is what affects your carbonation. All else just affects how quickly or slowly your beer comes out of the tap.

The 100kpa seems to be a good compromise on my system for lagers and ales but I doubt any gauge is accurate enough for me to say that. It could be 90 - or 110 on yours. 100 should get you in the ball-park though.

Spot ya mate and am looking forward to our next beer,
Pat

 

[PistolPatch]

Forgot to say that apart from your keg pressure, the tap is your ultimate flow control. Every tap varies hence my suggestion to have a tap with flow control. Some taps without flow control might require x metres of beer line whilst another might require y even with the same keg pressure.

Taps with flow control are more expensive of course.

Thems the brakes!

 

[Pumpy]

Good on ya Vlad!

And good on ya Pumpy!

Pumpy, old mate, this is the funniest thread ever! I thought you for sure already knew this stuff. I am too inebriated and tired to link you threads but I reckon you need to just know the following and we all love you anyway ...

1. Beer lines at our scale are usually 5 or 6mm inside diameter with an outside diameter almost always of 8mm. So, we have thin-walled beer line or thick-walled. I reckon go for 5mm ID as I once bought some other stuff that had an imperfection in the wall, burst and then flooded my fridge. Bugger that!

2. Someone (I think several) people have posted charts/tables on what length to cut your beer line at depending on your pressure and the kegs height. I followed these tables religiously but I reckon at our scale of things then height should be of absolutely no consideration. Just cut the *******s at about 1.5m - 2m as other people suggested or better still................

3. Cut your Lines Short - If you do this, you will need tap/s with a flow control. It is a good option.

Main thing is to make sure that your cylinder pressure is at a constant say 100kpa and you adjust everything else to suit either via beer line length or flow controls on your tap. 100 kpa is what affects your carbonation. All else just affects how quickly or slowly your beer comes out of the tap.

The 100kpa seems to be a good compromise on my system for lagers and ales but I doubt any gauge is accurate enough for me to say that. It could be 90 - or 110 on yours. 100 should get you in the ball-park though.

Spot ya mate and am looking forward to our next beer,
Pat

Thanks Pat , Tony & Guys there is always room for improvement and I can always learn something.!!!

for every blantently obvious question I ask, I am sure ther are a lot of others who read the answers to the post,
Who also get something out of it . :huh:

Pumpy

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

Pumpy you've got Celli's , , you only need enough to go from Keg to back of tap with the door open... less than a meter each ... dam your setup is almost the same as mine ,,,

On another point hows the gold holding up on yours ???

cheers

 

[breaky]

On another point hows the gold holding up on yours ???

cheers

I've had gold chellis since Ross got em in and the gold across the horizontal part is wearing badly - wish I bought the ss ones, but he didn't have em when i was in the market

Cheers

Mark

 

[np1962]

Pat's suggestion that you should set the gas pressure to 100kpa and be done with it is where kegging on a small scale gives us the biggest problems.
100kpa @ 6C will give a carbonation level of 2.5vol CO2. There is no way that I want to be drinking my English Bitter or Mild at that level so what do I do?
Then SWMBO wants a fizzy Lager or even a keg of soda available for which I need maybe 120-150 kpa to give her the carb she wants.
It becomes a constant compromise.
If we had a pub we would have several regulators but in the home this becomes impractical. Yeah, there are dual regs but that is more expense so we compromise as per Pat's suggestion or we find different workarounds. I have taken to carbing my English beers then removing the gas so they don't overcarb. Then I have to open the keg freezer and give them a squirt of gas occasionally making the freezer work more.....
Then when we think we have it sorted we are presented with the problem of line length.
I have used JG line that is 4mm inside diameter so I can run reasonably short line lengths through micromatic taps as that is all I can afford at the moment.
There seems to be no end to this brewing thing!
Then again is that the point?
We are always finding new solutions to problems, we learn more each day, we stay interested!
To me the perfect hobby/ obsessionn.
Now, what will happen if I just.......................?

Cheers
Nige

Pumpy... keep asking stuff, make us think, keep us young

 

[Pumpy]

Pumpy you've got Celli's , , you only need enough to go from Keg to back of tap with the door open... less than a meter each ... dam your setup is almost the same as mine ,,,

On another point hows the gold holding up on yours ???

cheers

FNQ Bunyip ,

Yes your right , I do have cellis and that helps me deal with it however I watch others pour and think I could make things easier for me .

when I clean the Cellis them gold come off from the inside into the beer for a couple of days after
The outer finish is starting to show signs of tarnish .

But overall they are good .



Pumpy

 

[Pumpy]

Pat's suggestion that you should set the gas pressure to 100kpa and be done with it is where kegging on a small scale gives us the biggest problems.
100kpa @ 6C will give a carbonation level of 2.5vol CO2. There is no way that I want to be drinking my English Bitter or Mild at that level so what do I do?
Then SWMBO wants a fizzy Lager or even a keg of soda available for which I need maybe 120-150 kpa to give her the carb she wants.
It becomes a constant compromise.
If we had a pub we would have several regulators but in the home this becomes impractical. Yeah, there are dual regs but that is more expense so we compromise as per Pat's suggestion or we find different workarounds. I have taken to carbing my English beers then removing the gas so they don't overcarb. Then I have to open the keg freezer and give them a squirt of gas occasionally making the freezer work more.....
Then when we think we have it sorted we are presented with the problem of line length.
I have used JG line that is 4mm inside diameter so I can run reasonably short line lengths through micromatic taps as that is all I can afford at the moment.
There seems to be no end to this brewing thing!
Then again is that the point?
We are always finding new solutions to problems, we learn more each day, we stay interested!
To me the perfect hobby/ obsessionn.
Now, what will happen if I just.......................?

Cheers
Nige

Pumpy... keep asking stuff, make us think, keep us young

Phew everyone has there problems thanks Nige for the encouragement

Pumpy

 

[PistolPatch]

for every blantently obvious question I ask, I am sure ther are a lot of others who read the answers to the post,
Who also get something out of it . :huh:

Too right mate. This is not an easy subject either. I just always thought there was nothing you didn't know because you always give top advice.

I have also found that if you drink enough beer, everything seems very funny even though in reality it may not be. Doh on me

Cheers mate,
Pat