Gas & Beer Line For The Font

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BrentonSpear

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Ok, so I am ready to test mount my font into the lid of the freezre so I can start pulling beers while I wait to get the rest of the bar done.

I have 4 kegs which I want to balance using the allenkey screw taps (where doi I get these from?) which will feed my 4 tier font.

What size gas line do I need from the Regulator to each keg disconnect?

What about from the beer disconnect to the font? What size and length should this be?

any advice is appreciated :)
 
I'm using 5mm beer line. Still waiting for my inline beer flow control thingies to arrive from Ultimate Air in Perth. Been chasing them this week and am expecting a call tomorrow to give me the ETA, as they were out of stock and they are waiting for a shipment from the UK.
The length of the line doesn't matter from the keg to tap as you will balance it with the in-line flow controllers. Just need to make it as long as it needs to be to reach.

Gas line I think I'm using 6-7mm, but it really doesn't matter as long as it fits your fittings.

Beers,
Doc
 
Breton

Gas line is 6mm - will need a couple of Tpieces to split the gas line into 4.
Beer line is better off 4mm - but if u are using the in-line flow controllers like doc - use 5mm or 6mm - does not matter.

Length - ensure that beer line gives u some flexibilty in cas u need to move the freezer etc - same with the gas line.
Gas line - make sure u have an extra or a longer one for gassing kegs - esp if u intend to rock the keg.

Cant wait to see pics of the setup.
 
Brenton,

I can only give advice based on my own (very recent) experience, but what I've used is 5mm for gas and 5mm for beer. The beer lines going to my font are 2 metres each, with 1m of that outside the fridge (ie warm). I force carbonate the cold keg at 250kpa for 24 hours, pour at 80kpa and leave the kegs sitting at that pressure. No keg shaking, no line balancing. I don't get any foaming at all.

Cheers - Snow
 
Snow, looking at your figures your system is balanced ;). If you didn't want to shake you could just hook the keg up at 80kPa, leave it for a week and then start pouring-see no adjustments ie. balanced. The 250kPa and shaking thing is just to speed things up but doesn't affect the pour at all, nor whether your system is balanced or not, especially since your bleeding off the pressure back down to 80kPa. So your not exactly using your balanced system to it's full potential but that's your choice, plus it's nice to have a taste of that newly kegged beer asap. :D

FWIW I did the calculations to balance mine and I serve at 5-7C (knowing this temp is important if you want to control you carbonation precisely, however you don't need to be that precise for the most part). I then have 2m of 4mm BEVA beer line. My kegs sit at 100kPa all the time. There are some good sites on balancing your system, worth a read.

Enjoy your new system anyway ;)

Cheer, Justin
 
Fair enough, Justin.

If you have your kegs sitting at 100kpa all the time, do you find they become more (over) carbonated as the keg empties? I'm still a bit green on the physics of gas/liquid/pressure/temperature dynamics.

Cheers - Snow
 
Yeah me too. But no, I don't tend to see much of a change at all. However it does tend to take me a little while to get through my regular 3 beers on tap at once. It's highly likely that I wouldn't remember the exact carbonation level that the beer was when I first drank it. As long as it pours ok and has a nice bit of life in it and a good head I'm pretty happy.

As for gas/liquid/pressure/temp dynamics, you can make it as complex or as simple as you want. I did go to the trouble of learning all this stuff when I was setting my kegs up but now I don't remember. Basically you can get by on not knowing much and using other peoples figures. The hardest trouble I had was finding the resistance per meter of 4mm BEVA line and converting imperial diameters and pressures. I have a table that I found on the net that give volumes of CO2 in beer at various temperatures and pressures and used this to work out carbonation levels and serving pressures.

I am thinking about getting a secondary regulator (probably the low pressure air regulator from Supercheapautos ~$20 that someone spoke of a while back-actually how did that go anyone?). Then I might start to play about with different carbonation levels again as I like wheat beers and english ales and I'm trying to set up a more permanent system. Maybe I'll try and find that table for others to see.

Cheers, Justin
 
that cheap inline reg would be great i have been looking for somthing like that, as i have 4 kegs off the one reg, they are all high or low in carb depending on the setting...

Let the group know if there is further details, as a high carb wheat, and a english ale now might be a goer at the same time on my taps
 
i just pour using the pressure in the head space. when it starts pouring slow (which i dont mind as usually other people decide to help themselves to a beer or three - slow pour save the mess they make) i top it up to 8 psi or so.
 
Ok, so I went to the purple pig last week and picked up some 5mm BEVA line.

It seems very thin. Is the 5mm referring to the external or internal diameter of the tube?

The tube I purchased has an external diameter of 5mm.
 
i thought it was internal... wait i will measure mine

I need to go to PP to buy the barbs, and then set the gauge to suit low carbonatin beer (as the dial is from 0 to 160 psi)

ok my internal was 5.5 mm
 
I thought it should have ben internal as well but at the time I didnt specify internal or external to the sales guy :(

I will just take it back and ask for the right tube.
 
If it's 5mm external diameter then it's going to be pretty close to 4mm internal, which IMHO is an ideal size for your beer line. If your getting 5mm beer line your going to need a lot more length to get the necessary resistance. If it is for you gas line then the 5mm will do fine, as for the gas diameter doesn't matter, provided you can get it on the barbs. Plenty of hot water and patience.

Cheers, Justin
 
I checked the invoice and also measured the line and it is 1.5mm internal and 5mm external. Not suitable at all.

I am going to take it back and get 7mm external and 5mm internal.
 

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