How To Balance A System

[mistatecj]

This is a long question, but requires a yes/no answer. I just read on a help regarding a balanced system. I have heard that it is important to have a 6 foot beer hose when serving draft beer. I have a kegerator and am using 6 feet of 3/16 beer line. I keep the beer at 34 degrees. As I read your directions for a balanced system, I think I am in need of shorting my beer line to 3.5 feet but I wanted to see first if I am correct. Here is my calculation.
My target guage pressure should be 11 psi because I have be temp at 34 degrees. My resistance with 3/16 would be 2.7 and my height from center of keg to faucet is 2.5 feet. In order to balance my system, I assume I would vary the beer line length to meet the target pressure on my regulator?
11psi=3.5 * 2.7 + 2.5 * .5
Would this be correct?
Thank you so very much for the information.

[lhall]

Six feet of 3/16" ID will work great, relax and have a homebrew. If it comes out too slowly, try cutting off a foot at a time.

[Sir Brewsalot]

Wow, that's a low serving temp - at least for my tastes.

I'll concurr with the last post, as one who has never measured a beer line for a home setup. I like them as short as is managable in the setup, as it's that much less to clean regularly. Haven't had a foaming problem yet, but I'm not saying you won't.

I'd just recommend trying short runs first, and adjusting up if there's a foaming problem.

Cheers,
Scott

[mistatecj]

Update

I forgot to say this in the original post. All I am pouring is a glass full of foam. I have tried averything else with no luck. The kegs that I have now were filled by a brewery. Also, It is that temperature at the bottom of the kegerator, about 4 degrees cooler than it is at the top. Thank you.

[lhall]

Try this:

1. Set the regulator to 12 psi. Make sure the gas valve on the CO2 tank is wide open.
2. Start with 6 feet of 3/16" ID beer hose. Make sure there are no kinks in the beer line, and that the tap is fully engaged on the keg.
3. Pour about 2-3 ounces of beer, then shut the faucet again. Let the faucet sit for about five seconds. This will cool the faucet down to help minimize foaming.
4. Open the faucet ALL the way and pour the beer against the side of the glass with the glass held at about 45 degrees. Tilt the glass upright towards the end. The faucet has to be all the way open, trying to throttle the flow will make it foam much worse.
5. The beer should completely fill the opening of the faucet. If it is only half filling the opening of the faucet, youhave too much restriction for the 12 psi pressure. If so, cut about one foot off of the beer line and try again.
6. This way you will get it right without starting with too short a hose.

[mfos]

Balancing Lines

Hey there,
It is important to balance the size of the lines (ID) with the distance traveled, and height the beer is raised to the tap with the CO2 pressure supplied. A good explaination can be found many places such as the following site: http://kegman.net/balance.html
Good Luck,
Michael

[mistatecj]

Thank you, I will try your suggestions. I raised the temp to around 39-40. The faucet pours foam so there is no beer aven coiming out. I am now wondering if my beer went bad or the keg was not clean when I got it filled. But thank you for the tips, I will definately try them. Everything that was mentioned above has been followed except that my CO2 tank valve was not opened all the way.

[Sir Brewsalot]

Also, make sure you bleed off the keg's pressure. At those lower temps, you were probably force carbonating the keg a bit if you had the pressure up in the system earlier in your trials. This may take a day or two for the CO2 to come back out of solution.

Good luck!
S

[mistatecj]

I have turned the pressure off to the beer keg on a couple of occassions and bled the head space to take some carbonation out. At that point beer beer seems flat. I have heard that I should go longer and then I hear that I should go shorter. I can just buy a longer hose and try it, if that does not work, I will cut it shorter than what I have now.

Also, I have air bubbles building up in my beer line at the top where it comes out of the keg. I would assume that is carbonation coming out of the keg to the highest point. Could that cause problem?

Attached is a picture of what my wonderful foamerator produces. Keep checking back as it may be for sale shorlty.

[mistatecj]

Oops, here is the pic

[Desolationrow]

Your Line length at 6 feet is correct for a regulator pressure of 11psi @34 degrees. There are several areas where you can look to solve the foaming issue. First your tower looks rather tall but none the less the beer lines inside the tower need to be kept cold. I would make sure that my keg is actually at 34 degrees by placing a cup of water in the fridge overnight with a good thermometer and record your reading. Next I would pour a glass of beer or foam in your case and take that temperature as well and record it. If you temperature are drastically different it will cause Co2 breakout. The fix would be to get some of the cold air in the fridge to come up through the tower either with a fan or by opening the cap on the top of the tower allowing cold air to escape fridge will run more but cold beer lines.

Another issue you maybe having if all your temperatures are good is that you could have a bad keg seal allowing Co2 to mix with beer. This is an easy check. disengage your coupler and look and feel around the keg seal for cracked,chipped rubber which if there is will not create a good seal allowing Co2 and beer to mix. Only fix I know of is to get another keg.

Last for now anyway is that you could have a bad coupler. Like the keg seal it to can allow Co2 and Beer to mix. Cheap couplers are just that cheap and fail in my experience quickly. Buying a quality coupler like Micromatic and not the $16 dolllar coupler maybe the fix. Hope that helps a bit if you need more info let me know as I deal with these things daily.

[mistatecj]

Thank you for the help Desolationrow, I appreciate it. Those tips are ones I have not considered yet. I am currently using a fridge thermometer. I believe it is accurate, but will try a new thermometer and the cup of water. I will also check the seal on the keg. It is a used keg and I was unaware that sankey kegs were subject to bad seals, but is does make good sense. I am also using a new taprite coupler that came with my used foamerator. I do agree with you when you buy better quality, that it whhat you get in return, I will look into a better coupler. I am planning on having another keg filled this week, so I will try this again.

I talked to the brewer who filled the keg at a local brewery. He mentioned that all I should have done when I got the keg home is put just enough pressure to the beer to push it out the faucet. He also mentioned that I probably have flat beer now and I should try to force carbonate the beer back up and only use 3-5 psi on my regulator.
Is this a common practice for when I get a keg in the future?

[BigWilley]

foam

If you see bubbles breaking out in your beer line you dont have enough pressure on the keg. If you were at equilibrium you wouldn't have breakout. Also check your pour rate which sounds hard if all you get is foam. You want around 100 oz's per minute, just pour for 10 seconds and X by 6. Make sure you have real beer line and not cheap hardware line also in my experience the longer the line the better on a short draw system. Too much restriction generally leads to a slow pour, but your not a bar so who cares, too little restriction gives you foam and too fast a pour rate. That is why jockey boxes with the coil usually pour great, the 50' coil provides a ton of restriction and even at the 30 psi you need to push it you get a good pour.