Beer line length vs beer style

[nacnud]

Hi, I've been kegging for a few months now with a single regulator connected to 3 kegs with 3 identical length beer lines all sitting at a middle of the road serving pressure. I'm now looking at upgrading a little by adding 3 secondary regulators so that I don't have to have my Stout just as carbonated as my wheat beer for example. But theoretically, greater vols CO2 needs higher serving pressure needs longer beer line or else foam...

So, does that mean I will need to change the beer line every time I change the beer and therefore serving pressure? Is there an easier way? I guess one solution would be to have a dedicated tap for each of 3 different styles but I would like it to be more flexible than that.

Thanks

 

[dannymars]

I've thought about this too. You could use JG fittings and then the lines would be easy enough to swap out. Or extend

 

[bouncingcastle]

There is always the option of flow control taps. Then your wet line can be the same length a you can dial the serving speed at the tap

 

[Rocker1986]

Get a gas manifold. This way you can turn off gas supply to individual kegs. I have one and my plan for stouts/porters that I want carbed lower than others is to simply hook the keg up at serving pressure, leave it for 4-5 days then try a glass each day. Once it's where I want it I'll simply turn off the gas to that keg and only turn it on to maintain that level as needed. It's not exactly perfect but I daresay it'll be a lot easier than swapping out lines or going to the expense of 3 secondary regulators.

That all being said, I do have flow control taps as well.

 

[schtev]

I've recently bought a secondary regulator to do the same thing. Haven't set it up yet though...still trying to find a hose reducer to step down from the 8mm barb on the secondary regulator. Anyway...

My plan has been to have 3 lines set up for 3 different styles. One ale, one lager, and one "high carb" that I will use for wheats, saison, or soda water. I do like dannymars idea about John Guest fittings though.

 

[nacnud]

Yeah. the JG fittings might be a good solution. Does anyone know if they have much of an affect on resistance in the beer line?

How about these things? http://kegking.com.au/in-line-regulator.html

Apparently they do gas and liquid so could put one each side of keg. Cheap option maybe?

 

[Rocker1986]

The speed at which the beer is poured has no effect on the carbonation level of it, to a degree anyway. I mean, if you pour a glass of foam really quickly, it's gonna be flat compared to a slow pour with little foam. However, slowing the pour rate down won't decrease the carbonation level, so I can't see any point in having an in line regulator on the beer line. You need to do this in the keg itself by not pumping as much gas into it to begin with.

You could have a separate regulator on every keg, you could possibly use those in line things on the gas lines, or you could go with my manifold idea. I find the manifold quite versatile; I can use it for stuff like this (not perfect but good enough for me), I can turn off all but one keg in order to hit it with high pressure for a day to carb it quicker without affecting the other kegs, and I have a spare line with a liquid DC on it for the other quick carb method if needed. But it's up to you in the end of course.

Whichever way you go you should be able to keep the beer lines as they are. All three of these options are probably easier than faffing about changing different length beer lines around all the time or whatever.

 

[unwrittenlaw]

So I've been away from brewing for a few years but recently gotten back into it with some Fresh Wort Kits from my new LHBS and using my old temp controlled ferment fridge. Got tired of bottling pretty quick and built a keezer recently.

2x19L corneys, 1x intertap SS FC, STC 1000 Temp controller on the collar and a PC fan under the lid. Second hand mk2 KK reg & 2.6kg bottle. Line length is approx 3.6m of flexmaster 2 OD8mm/ID5mm.

I am being patient and have gone for a balanced setup as opposed to rapid forced carbonation. Aiming for 2.6 vol of co2 for an american pale ale. Worked it out to be 13psi @ 4deg serving temp. I tapped it after 1 week and poured nicely with no foaming issues. Now into second week, It's carbonated but a bit low I rekon. Tastes great but doesn't retain it's head... so I think I have 2 options. Shorten the line by a few hundred mm or crank the gas on a bit more. So I've bumped it up to around 14psi (1bar).

I've got the temp controller set to 4deg, but not sure how accurate that is either. As that has relationship to pressure. I've got a temp logger that has a flat battery I'm trying to replace (1/2AA 3.6v). need to get to battery world. And who knows if the gauge on the reg is accurate either although it doesn't creep...

As I have been going halves with a mate and fermenting at his place, he is still bottling and im filling the keg up to 11.5L (23L batch). I've been transfering to the keg at around 18deg (ferment temp) and putting the gas on around 13psi and purging o2. I then take the keg home and chill down with the gas on. Could this have anything to do with lack of carbonation?

Sorry for the long post.

 

[Rocker1986]

I don't think putting the keg in warm and then gassing it while it chills down would cause a lack of carbonation. I do this myself, although I carbonate them much quicker at 45 PSI for about 20-22 hours, then let them settle with the gas off for a while before hooking up again at serving pressure. It works well and I don't have to wait a week or two but I never have problems with the beer going flatter.

Head disappearing could simply be due to the glass having oils or detergent residue on it, which will kill the foam pretty quickly. I have had kegs that have refused to carbonate properly in the past, but could never work out why. On one occasion, re-fitting the keg lid seemed to fix the issue. I haven't had anything like that happen for over a year now though.

 

[moonhead]

I'm struggling with this very issue right now. I've got a lager on tap, I like to keep nice and spritzy, so plenty of pressure there, but its' a right pain in the ass to get a glass of beer poured out of it, instead of just a glass of foam. I've tried both flow control and normal taps, long and short line lengths (short with the flow control). The only thing that works is killing the gas pressure, bring it right down to say 5-10 PSI, then I can get a half a glass, after running through another pint or so to cool down the tap. Awful.

I'm going to be trying some really long beer line next, try and get a heap of resistance in there, 4 metres of 4mm ID line I think. See how that fares.

Also, push in fittings are the devils work. So sick and tired of leaky push in fittings. Why can't they make MFL connections instead? They're just as removable!