1/2" braided beer engine hose to 3/8" beer line - all John Guest Connections - EVA barrier?

[Gadjobrinus]

Trying to find a suitable hose to go from my beer engine's 1/2" braided hose to 3/8" hose hooked up to my corney acting as a cask. I have all kinds of John Guest fittings - 1/2"-3/8" reducers, hose barb-JG stems, straight couplers, etc. - but coming up empty on the smaller hose. My LHBS only offers crap vinyl for beer hose and I'd thought to look into EVA barrier, but from what I can tell none of them are set up for hose barbs in the 3/8" range. Thoughts on what to use to get from the 1/2" hose to 3/8"?

I'd also ask for those who use a beer engine - I hesitate to get a typical small beer line (e.g., 1/4"), because I'm pulling through an engine and not driving with CO2. I've seen anecdotal info on the web where many people say their engine has a tough time drawing through such restricted line. Thoughts appreciated.

 

[DuncB]

Trying to find a suitable hose to go from my beer engine's 1/2" braided hose to 3/8" hose hooked up to my corney acting as a cask. I have all kinds of John Guest fittings - 1/2"-3/8" reducers, hose barb-JG stems, straight couplers, etc. - but coming up empty on the smaller hose. My LHBS only offers crap vinyl for beer hose and I'd thought to look into EVA barrier, but from what I can tell none of them are set up for hose barbs in the 3/8" range. Thoughts on what to use to get from the 1/2" hose to 3/8"?

I'd also ask for those who use a beer engine - I hesitate to get a typical small beer line (e.g., 1/4"), because I'm pulling through an engine and not driving with CO2. I've seen anecdotal info on the web where many people say their engine has a tough time drawing through such restricted line. Thoughts appreciated.

You definitely will find that biggest gauge line from your corny is better. 1/4 would be tedious.

Vinyl might be crap but better than silicone. It's not a good idea to have your engine connected to the corny and a full cylinder of beer for ages between pulls. It will stale in the engine cylinder after a day or so even if you have a cooling jacket on it.

I'm not sure the material that the braided hose is made from but not EVA barrier that is for sure.

You could find a short piece of tube that will fit into the inside of the 1/2 inch tube and this would then allow you to jubilee clamp onto the barb of an old style ball lock connector.
https://www.kegland.com.au/products...liquid-barbed?_pos=1&_psq=ball+l&_ss=e&_v=1.0

 

[Gadjobrinus]

You definitely will find that biggest gauge line from your corny is better. 1/4 would be tedious.

Vinyl might be crap but better than silicone. It's not a good idea to have your engine connected to the corny and a full cylinder of beer for ages between pulls. It will stale in the engine cylinder after a day or so even if you have a cooling jacket on it.

I'm not sure the material that the braided hose is made from but not EVA barrier that is for sure.

You could find a short piece of tube that will fit into the inside of the 1/2 inch tube and this would then allow you to jubilee clamp onto the barb of an old style ball lock connector.
https://www.kegland.com.au/products...liquid-barbed?_pos=1&_psq=ball+l&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Thanks. One of the reasons I wanted to go with JG where I could was to be able to easily pull lines regularly and clean everything easily, so I hear you. I actually have a short, 3" or so piece of braided directly off the engine, with a JG stem, and from there I have a 12" or so piece of braided if I want to just draw a growler and serve it over a couple hours, letting air get to it, etc. Then of course the plan to join the engine directly to the corny. Thanks on the vinyl comment - I knew silicone wasn't good, wasn't aware it's worse than vinyl. I suppose if I pull the line and wash out the cylinder after every session, not a big deal, the problem with O2 pickup isn't an issue.

Cheers, thanks again.

 

[DuncB]

Thanks. One of the reasons I wanted to go with JG where I could was to be able to easily pull lines regularly and clean everything easily, so I hear you. I actually have a short, 3" or so piece of braided directly off the engine, with a JG stem, and from there I have a 12" or so piece of braided if I want to just draw a growler and serve it over a couple hours, letting air get to it, etc. Then of course the plan to join the engine directly to the corny. Thanks on the vinyl comment - I knew silicone wasn't good, wasn't aware it's worse than vinyl. I suppose if I pull the line and wash out the cylinder after every session, not a big deal, the problem with O2 pickup isn't an issue.

Cheers, thanks again.

If you fix the tube with inner tube to ball lock the line cleaning is easy using the kegland
https://www.kegland.com.au/products...mm-duotight?_pos=2&_psq=carbonat&_ss=e&_v=1.0

I just put this in a container of water warm initially when cleaning the line and engine to flush and then pull some PBW through, then starsan.

Incidentally you can Decant from Corny into a 2 litre pet bottle and then attach above red thing and pull beer through. This works a bit like beer in a bag and the bottle just crushes down so you don't have to open it to the air. Or fill the bottle with the above mentioned cleaning fluids.

Agreed oxygen pickup not really a problem, but wide diameter silicone tube does collapse under draw from beer engine if the input is a little slow.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

If you fix the tube with inner tube to ball lock the line cleaning is easy using the kegland
https://www.kegland.com.au/products...mm-duotight?_pos=2&_psq=carbonat&_ss=e&_v=1.0

I just put this in a container of water warm initially when cleaning the line and engine to flush and then pull some PBW through, then starsan.

Incidentally you can Decant from Corny into a 2 litre pet bottle and then attach above red thing and pull beer through. This works a bit like beer in a bag and the bottle just crushes down so you don't have to open it to the air. Or fill the bottle with the above mentioned cleaning fluids.

Agreed oxygen pickup not really a problem, but wide diameter silicone tube does collapse under draw from beer engine if the input is a little slow.

I actually have the carb adapter, off an idea by @McMullan for soft spiling a PET bottle overnight to emulate a cask with some degree of oxidation. Cool idea and I will use it from time to time.

Here's what I have - this short line can be easily taken on and off due to the JG, and that's what I actually do, what you're describing - a gallon pitcher of warm water followed by PBW followed by Star San. One thing I'd like to ask - is there a way to dry these out between sessions - a handle position or something like that?

 

[DuncB]

No way I know of to dry.
I think the pubs pull through fresh water prior to reattach to flush out sanitiser remnants. Then discard first half pint.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

No way I know of to dry.
I think the pubs pull through fresh water prior to reattach to flush out sanitiser remnants. Then discard first half pint.

Ok, thanks.