HELP! Kegging - Silver Beer Line

[motobrewer]

I just replaced all my lines with ultra barrier silver beer hose. I have a munich helles I've had on a picnic tap. I've poured that with zero issues. I've been kegging for years. I've always had 10-12 psi and 10' lines. Always worked perfectly. The beer is not overcarbed.

I put 10' of this silver beer hose and I get nothing but foam. I mean pure foam is coming out of the tap. I can see the CO2 coming out of solution in the line.

Has anyone used this line? Any ideas? I'm at a loss and it's incredibly annoying.

I don't have any "regular" line to put on anymore. I got 50' of this stuff...

 

[motobrewer]

more info:

lines were cold, put them in the fridge overnight.

i just realized i had a 14.5 oetiker on one connection instead of a 13.3. Put a 13.3 on and still have foam.

i've poured like 5 pints of foam down the drain. i'm racking my brain here.

 

[wardens355]

I have had similar issues. After combing through the threads, it seems that the barrier tubing must be smoother than the typical PVC serving tubing, so the pressure drop is less per foot. I have read that it requires 50% or more extra length to provide the same resistance as the standard 3/16 tubing. So somewhere in the 15' - 20' range at your pressure. Unfortunately, I have cut several lengths that look to be short, and since the tubing is rather pricey, pretty disappointing. I am considering either going to the standard, cheaper tubing, or reducing pressure on the kegs for serving purposes.

 

[motobrewer]

That's good info, but a fast pour would cause foaming in the glass. I have co2 coming out in the lines as it sits.

 

[motobrewer]

I guess I'm getting closer.

First problem was the wrong oetiker.

Then my second problem seemed like I had too little pressure on the keg. This stuff is pretty flexible even at colder temps. I think that allows co2 to come out of the line because it can expand.

Regular stuff is really ridged at colder temps.

I increased the psi on the keg and it's better. Comes out like a rocket though even with 10'.

 

[wardens355]

So are you now foaming up in the glass? I am going to try 1/8" serving line to decrease my tubing runs to hopefully 3' to 5'. 15' of beer line per keg is just too much clutter and expense.

 

[pvpeacock]

I just replaced 10 feet of regular beer line with 12 feet of this Silver line with no foaming problems. In addition, I built a rolling cooler/kegerator for tailgating and used 10 feet of the Silver line with no foaming problems.

 

[motobrewer]

Poured one today with no issues.

 

[motobrewer]

I put 20' on a tripel. Same issue. Lines are full of foam. This is higher psi at 16. 20' is usually good.

Getting foam in the lines is baffling to me.

 

[motobrewer]

I'm gonna let it sit for a day and see if it fixes itself.

 

[motobrewer]

Cranking the pressure seems to help.

 

[ram5ey]

I have these lines too and have not had these problems. My current lineup is 12psi @ 35F with 8' lines. How weird.

 

[motobrewer]

So I think my core problem was an imbalance issue, on the low side. I think the first inrush of beer at lower than balanced psi caused co2 to come out of solution. I upped the psi and let it sit overnight, the stuff in the lines went back into suspension.

 

[motobrewer]

So I think i've pretty much solved my problems. I just poured a 18psi tripel thru 20' of this line with no issues.

I still think it's strange I'm getting initial foaming in the line on first connect. The lines were cold. I'm having a hard time explaining it. Anyway, leaving it alone for ~36 hours puts it all back into suspension but still it's strange.

 

[wardens355]

My lines seem to be pouring better as well after a couple days - odd. Anyhow, I am still going to test run some 2' or 3' runs of 1/8" tubing to clean up my chest freezer. Eight kegs with 10' to 15' of line each would require a bunch more tubing.

 

[Brewerforlife]

What diameter barrier tubing are we talking about here?

 

[motobrewer]

3/16"

 

[day_trippr]

I wonder if it really is 3/16".

What is being sold as '3/16" ID' Accuflex Bev Seal Ultra Series 235 tubing is actually 1/5" (Kuriyama doesn't make that line in a true 3/16" ID). And if you plug that into the only beer line length calculator worth using it shows just how significant that tiny difference actually is...

Cheers!