Serving too warm?

[veritas524]

I ordered a dual ball lock setup last night from kegconnection.com and I realized this morning that it comes with only five foot lines. After reading a bunch of HBT and playing with some calculators I figured it would be best if I had them adjust my order for 10' lines (which their awesome customer support did for free). However, the owner said that the temperature I'm planning on serving is really too warm for proper kegging. My beer fridge only goes down to a max of 44 but likes to sit at 46. I'm assuming since I have to increase my serving pressure to hit the same volume of CO2 as I would at 38 degrees that the longer beer lines would help. He said it shouldn't hurt the beer, but it will make it pour slowly. I'm personally not too concerned about slower pours. I plan on carbing to roughly 2.5 volumes (most of the time) at around 46 degrees until I get my keezer built in the summer. Anyone have any input or thoughts on this?

 

[scottland]

You're skirting the lines of too warm if you want to serve most styles of beer.

To hit say 2.6 VOL of c02 which is about average for your standard beer, you'll need 16PSI, which might be ok with 10 feet of line. Might.

For 3.0 Volumes of c02 you'll need 20.5PSI which is way too high to dispense with 10 feet of tubing.

 

[veritas524]

Is it considered too warm because of the additional pressure that's required or because of something else? I just plugged my numbers into a calculator and it said my beer won't last long due to spoilage?!

 

[scottland]

haha, run far and fast from that calculator. If your sanitary practices are good, your beer will last decades at 45*,

Serving pressure is the problem. To keep beer carbonated at 46* you need more C02 than if the beer was 36*. Cold liquids hold more gas. So you'll need like 16PSI to keep the beer carbonated. At 36* I only need 10PSI for the same level of carbonation.

The trouble is getting your beer out of the keg, and into the glass without it foaming up like crazy at 16PSI or more.

 

[veritas524]

That's what I thought... I'm assuming the 10' hoses and holding the line about 2-3 feet over the keg while pouring will prevent foam. Sound about right?

 

[malkore]

Instead of lone lines, why not get the epoxy nozzle inserts for your dip tubes?

Its the thread called "the cure for your short hose troubles".

I tried the 10' tap line thing and it was just an annoying snake of hoses in my keezer, even when coiling and zip-tieing half of the length.

4' lines and dip tube inserts is sweet.