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One Keg, Two Taps - Draft Line Balancing

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  • One Keg, Two Taps - Draft Line Balancing

    Setting up my draft lines and trying to simplify my Keg setup by having each Keg serve to two locations (each short draw) from the cold room. The tasting room and warehouse bar are right caddy corner from each other so I currently have Kegs going through 12' of Ultra Barrier Silver 1/4" which is supposed to provide .65 lbs of restriction per foot (ends up at 7.8 lbs resistance), serving the beers at 8-11 psi so I figure the added resistance of a shank and the nipples as well as Perlick Flow Controls should be plenty to balance the difference. This was working fine for the most part but once I threw on the Beer "Y" Adapter http://i.imgur.com/XRQkzJu.jpg co2 pockets seem to build up in the line and cause substantial foam and flow problems even with each line being the same size as the original hose. I realize the Y might be adding a slight restriction but I should still be well within range unless theres a part of physics I'm missing here? Is there a better/more efficient way to run this?

  • #2
    I run two taps off of one keg using a wye. The only time there are problems are the usual, not having used the faucet for a while. Perhaps there is not enough pressure on the beer for your carbonation level. I have used the restriction calcs for draft line balancing before and found that I needed a lot more line than the calcs for a specific tubing. I like to start extra long and trim down the line till the pour speed is just right.

    Cheers,

    Rich DeLano
    rich@thebrewinglair.com

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    • #3
      I had a similar problem when I set up our new tap systems. I beat my head against the wall for a week before I solved it. I used barb-splices to join my choker lines (3/16" ID) to the beer trunk lines (3/8" ID). The barbs I used were slightly smaller ID than the choker, and were making a venturi where the beer entered the choker line. Any restriction in the lines with a larger ID downstream of the restriction will do the same, as the pressure abruptly drops after the restriction, causing the beer to "break" and foam.

      I replaced the barb splices with properly sized ones, and the problem was solved.

      We're also running 2 staions/keg, but using beer pumps and long (~45') beer trunks. Balancing the two lines was just a matter of adjusting the length of the choker lines on the shorter run.
      Timm Turrentine

      Brewerywright,
      Terminal Gravity Brewing,
      Enterprise. Oregon.

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      • #4
        I'd check to make sure that the wye's you are using are the same size as your draft line, so 1/4" ID.
        There's a good chance that the wye's are 3/8 and you're getting a pocket of gas in there - particularly if the line coming from the keg to the wye is 1/4
        Its a mistake I've made before but making sure that every bit of the line from the keg to the tap has the same ID, or only drops to a smaller ID and stays that way the rest of the run, makes a big difference in keeping foam down
        Manuel

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