Beer Lines

[nic0]

I am getting alot of froth when I pour beer from my keg system. I have been using chilled glasses and I have tried a range of pressures from 20 to 150 kPa. The brew shop I bought the system from recommends dispencing at 50 kPa. The beer line supplied with my system is only 180 cm long and has an inside diameter of 5mm, is this too short?

What lengths and diameter lines are you guys using? (serving pressure?)
Would 3 meters of this 5mm line and a serving pressure of 100 kPa fix my problem?

I used the shake/rock method at 300 kPa to carbonate the chilled keg, disconnected it and let it settle for 24 hours before I started playing with it.

Cheers
Nico

 

[Bobby]

i would drop the pressure down to 8psi and then see how it pours

 

[Doc]

The beer line sounds a bit short for that sort of pressure.
I'd wind the pressure all off on the regulator and then release the head pressure from the keg.
Then open the beer tap and wind on a little pressure on the regulator until it starts to pour nicely.

Beers,
Doc

 

[BigAl]

Nic0

I used to have about 3m of 5mm line on my setup. I would think 1.8m would be okay with 4mm line.

My guess is though, since you used the high pressure and shake method that you have overgassed the beer. I have done this many times and no matter how much beer line or how low pressure you dispence with it still foams, if that is the case then yes i would say its overgassed.

Best thing to do is warm it up a bit (so the gas wants to come out of solution) relieve the pressure a few times, then chill and then try again.

Cheers.

 

[nic0]

I overgassed the keg I think I will only shake it for about 60 seconds next time. I had a fall back pressure of 220 kPa (31 PSI) i should of picked up on it then. On a side note every bloody crimp that the home brew shop did leaked. I am now using hose clamps with ploy pipe reducers on my gas line and I am going to start with about 3.1 meters of 5mm inside diameter beer line with no crimps, the max pressure will be 100kPa (14 PSI) so I should get away with it.

Has anyone trimed there product spike? I read that it can also cause the beer to froth if its too long.

 

[sosman]

What lengths and diameter lines are you guys using? (serving pressure?)
Would 3 meters of this 5mm line and a serving pressure of 100 kPa fix my problem?

I use 4m of 4mm ID tube.

There are a few pointers at http://brewiki.org/KeggingAndCarbonation

 

[jaytee]

Hi Nic0

I worked through this a month or so back and I did make sense but it took a while for it all to make sense. Sosmans link will provide a heap of great information.

The dynamics of level of carbonation, temperature and line lengths work together and this is how I interpreted it

Work out what temperature you want the beer at, then what level of carbonation you want.
That determines what your pressure should be.
Then your pressure determines line length

Divide pressure by the restriction of the line.
Restriction of 5mm line is about .33

So in my case .69 kpa (or 10psi) divided by .33 is 2.09 metres line length

Your 1.8m would require pressure about .6 kpa (8 or 9 psi)

Edit - I used restriction of .33 - but see In Line Flow Valves/compensators topic where there's mention of restriction being .38
Guess different line, different restriction. If you don't know what the value is for your line, take the cautious approach

But .. and there's always a but, each set up has it's own foibles and it's better to start with a slightly longer line and work backwards, you can cut line but can't stick it back together

 

[nic0]

I got it working a few days ago, I had a leak in the beer line and the keg was overgased. I had to remove it from the fridge for a couple days and burp it a few times. It pours nicely at 9 PSI and starts to foam at around 13 PSI, so you are spot on with you calculations.

I read through Sosmas link and a few others I found in other threads, I havn't touched the product spike and I don't think i will. It amazing how much better the beer tasts coming from the keg.

 

[sluggerdog]

I have been using a party tap on my kegs since I started and this will continue until I get my proper keg fridge organised.

I have found I that no matter what the serving pressure I am getting foam (except when it it nearly dead in gas)

Has anyone used the party taps and worked out an approx serving pressure? it is 3 ft long and 1/4 inch think (I think)

 

[nic0]

Try 3 PSI slugger

1/4 inch is just under 6mm so it would have a resistance of 23kPa per meter.

If i modify jaytee's formular I end up with:-

Length(m) x resistance per meter(kPa) = Serving pressure(kPa)

(3ft) .915m x 23kPa = 21kPa or 3PSI