Kegging - Ber line length:

[Crusader-Rob]

Any advice on Beer Line lengths?? I had issues with leaks etc, so I'm a little concerned its overcarbed, After sitting at 8/9/10psi, I'm getting large amounts of foam.

I'm down to 1.3metres of Beer Line length after cho[pping some off to try and balance.

Help?! 

P.S the Beer hasn't gone to waste, I may end up a bit drunk.

[Scott H]

How long did you start with Rob. Everyone's lines seem to be different. Mine are almost 4m long to get good pour at 5c @ 10psi. Was this the beer you forced carbed overnight?

[Matt Downer]

There is no proper sort of one size fits all length it seems - There are formulars about this if you search online. I honestly just settled with what I was given. I purchased my keg all connected etc. With the foaming, could it have been disturbed by wsrming up and cooling down or even s bump?

[Crusader-Rob]

yes forced overnight, it seems i should wait a bit for good equilibrium? started with 2 metres?

[Peter Smith]

I run 5m of beer line to act as a choke,   you get foam with force carb often...       more time at 12 ish seems to solve this....

[Stephen Mackey]

1.3m sounds way to short, you've been chopping where instead you should have been making it longer.

The goal is to brings the beer from keg pressure down to about atmospheric pressure in a controlled way.

The length of your line depends on it's diameter and it's resistance (which is related to what it's made from), as Matt Downer said there's heaps online about it. 

I run vinyl tubing of 6mm (internal diameter) at about 4m of length, and unless I've overcarbed the beer by too much force carbing, 8-10 psi at 3-5 degrees gets a good pour.

Good luck

[Matt Smith]

Agree with above, if in doubt, make it longer. I've found 3m of 5mm ID line is the minimum to get a good pour at 4 degrees and 12psi (for 2.5 volumes)

[Ralph]

Yep. At about 6 deg and 14 psi or so I find 2.7m of 6mm ID tube works for me.

[Crusader-Rob]

I'll be picking up 3metres on thursday to re-size the beer line, this gives the beers plenty of time to condition at 2 degrees and 10-10.5psi-ish.

I'll then length the beer line from 3 metres, and use the existing 1.3metres to run the gas for keg #2, I'm actually getting 6 metres, and this should be enough for keg #2 as well.

3 metres would be enough by the looks in most cases.

[Ralph]

Yes. Should be. By the way you can have your lines too long as well... if the pressure drops too much the CO2 starts to come out of solution and you will get bubbles in your lines and foam at the tap -  kinda like what happens if your lines are too short...

[Crusader-Rob]

Haha. Well I guess I'll have to make sure of it this time then.

[Crusader-Rob]

Looking at  the beer line calculator on the beersmith and brewers friend website, it suggests i only need about a metre of line?

3/16 line is 5mm, with a resistance of 3psi per foot.

the faucet would be a max of 1 psi, and height (for those who take it into account) is another 2 ft, which would be around 1 psi, its set at 10.5 psi, and at 2 degrees c

so therefore 10.5 psi -1(tap) - 1 (height) = 8.5psi

8.5/3 = 2.84 feet of beer line, which equates to 865mm, just under a metre...

Thoughts?

[Druid]

That sounds about right - it's cheap enough that it's worth trying anyway, even if you start with double the length and gradually cut it down.

I spoke to some bar tap installation specialist guys in Tauranga when I was setting up a couple of years back when I was trying the line length calculators and having all of these same issues - they told me to run a 2m length of 1/4" line on all my kegs and it's been fine ever since - that's about 4mm ID.

Using the smaller diameter line for short runs like we do is so common to them, they just called it a 'choke'. It's completely sorted it out for me and I have never had to think about it again.