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Maximum length of beer line.
I want to convert the fridge in my basement to a kegerator and place the tap in my bar located directly above on the first floor. Will this work? Is there a maximum vertical travel of beer line relative to the keg?
KJ
It'll go as far as you want it to go, as long as you have enough pressure behind it pushing it.
kjames wrote:
I want to convert the fridge in my basement to a kegerator and place the tap in my bar located directly above on the first floor. Will this work? Is there a maximum vertical travel of beer line relative to the keg?
KJ
Your other challenge will be keeping it cold. When temp changes so does pressure causing foam, (why we burp when drinking beer) so there is a lot of dialing in to do to get the right pressure to serve and push a nonfoamy beer. then you have to look at the idle beer sitting in that line while not being poured. Some good insulation should help fix the first issue, but will not keep the beer cold too long.
With those long lines, you will just have to drink a lot of beer really fast so the beer never gets a chance to get warm. I use picnic taps on two foot lines that are still inside of my keezer, so I don't have that problem. Someday, maybe I will have the funds to install some real taps.
Some serious advice for you. Temp in your system, with a single line and a single tap so that you can proof the system, stabilize the pressures necessary, and make sure thing actually do work without spending a lot of money on a equipment you end up replacing. I use to run my beer through a pop machine where the beer was chilled right behind the taps in a refrigerated ice bath. I had replaced all the plastic lines and put enough PBW through the system that I didn't have any off flavors, but I never succeeded in solving the foam/pressure balance. I really worked on making the system function but finally came to the conclusion that it was not meant to be. Part of the problem was not having the kegs chilled, but also part of the problem were the feed lines in the ice bath and/or the taps themselves. Somewhere in there was an enlargement or something that was simply a massive inducer of foam under anything but a tiny amount of pressure, and ten minutes drawing a pint of flat beer was never going to please me. My LHBS owner tried to gently talk me out of a pop machine system, but I persisted and ended up with a lot of extra parts, pieces, and lines, and ended up scrapping the whole thing in favor of a keezer build that I have yet to finish but that works just fine. In your case, at least the kegs will be chilled which will help. You will still have problems keeping the beer cold in the feed line and balancing the pressure in the system. Many, probably most, bar systems have a line chilling setup where the beer feed lines are run with a refrigeration line run intertwined and then the whole thing significantly insulated, and they serve lots of beer. Some faucet tower keggerators even have a cooling system for the tower, where air is circulated up through the tower from the keggerator to keep the beer lines cold and there is really very little beer in those lines. The basement feed you are talking about will mean extra pressure to feed beer through the system due to the vertical distance, seriously complicating the foam potential due to the pressure drop from keg to tap. Like I mentioned earlier, try a single temporary line as you put this together so that you can adjust things as you build without having too big an investment in equipment or lines that you end up replacing. Once you get it temped in, let it stabilize for a few days. With a keg in the system, increases or decreases in the CO2 pressure take some time to reflect in the beer. It is a frustrating process, and like I mentioned, I never solved it and eventually gave up. I hope it works for you.
Fritz
This is a phenomenal resource for anyone trying to perfect their draft system:
www.kegman.net
www.kegman.net/balance
The math in the balance section is pretty straight forward, and I applied it myself to my own system - And my pour is picture perfect, every time.
Make sure your rig is balanced.
Ironically the balance link did not come through, but the website ad did!
thirsty wrote:
Ironically the balance link did not come through, but the website ad did!
Try this:
http://www.kegman.net/balance.html
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