Another bloomin keg thread

[Harbey]

I'll be transferring the beer this weekend, possibly tomorrow, and then I guess about a week to get carbed so hopefully, I will be posting some findings and results next weekend. Please do let me know how you get on @jayk34 as we appear to be at a very similar stage in proceedings.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

It does sound like trial and error. There is a formula to work out line length based on the diameter of beer line and I will be starting with that and adding on a margin of error before reducing the line to suit. The line that came with my keg starter kit is 3m 3/16" beer line and when i tried to get a beer from that, it came out as a trickle. Would have taken quite a while to fill a glass art that rate.

The problem you have is caused by the resistance or back pressure of such a long tube. Make a metre one up and retry but make sure the id is 3/16” not 3/8”.

 

[jayk34]

I'll be transferring the beer this weekend, possibly tomorrow, and then I guess about a week to get carbed so hopefully, I will be posting some findings and results next weekend. Please do let me know how you get on @jayk34 as we appear to be at a very similar stage in proceedings.

Yes, will do. I'm trying it tomorrow. This is the second week in keg and when I checked at the end of last week it wasn't quite carbed up yet. Had a sneaky drop yesterday and I would say it's close to being carbed.

 

[jayk34]

The problem you have is caused by the resistance or back pressure of such a long tube. Make a metre one up and retry but make sure the id is 3/16” not 3/8”.

Yeah. Didn't realise at the time and then had posted on here. I think the rough calculation for me is just over a metre for 3/16" line. Will leave it a bit longer than that and then modify accordingly.

 

[jayk34]

@Harbey couldn't resist going out to get the keg setup. Line length calculator gave me 1.1m line length for 3/16" for my setup.

With this in mind I cut my 3m line to 1.3metres to allow for modifying if the calculation wasn't right. It's spot on for me at the length and will be leaving it at that. Nice pour and carbed nicely. It's a bit cloudy but didn't taste too bad at the minute.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

@Harbey couldn't resist going out to get the keg setup. Line length calculator gave me 1.1m line length for 3/16" for my setup.

With this in mind I cut my 3m line to 1.3metres to allow for modifying if the calculation wasn't right. It's spot on for me at the length and will be leaving it at that. Nice pour and carbed nicely. It's a bit cloudy but didn't taste too bad at the minute.

View attachment 61203

Well done.

 

[Harbey]

@Harbey couldn't resist going out to get the keg setup. Line length calculator gave me 1.1m line length for 3/16" for my setup.

With this in mind I cut my 3m line to 1.3metres to allow for modifying if the calculation wasn't right. It's spot on for me at the length and will be leaving it at that. Nice pour and carbed nicely. It's a bit cloudy but didn't taste too bad at the minute.

View attachment 61203

Great work pal. Can't wait to start pulling those pints.

 

[Harbey]

1. As the keg pulls beer from the bottom of the keg, how does it avoid pulling up any sediment? I'm assuming the beer pipe is slightly off the bottom?

So, in answer to my own question, I stumbled across this (11:14 onwards). Now this guy (dude) won't be to everyone's taste but I did find what he's saying about cutting an inch off the beer pipe makes sense. Too late for my current batch as I got that kegged yesterday but I may revisit if it's an issue.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Looking in the keg you will see it's concave and the dip tube sits to the side, any sediment settles in the middle so if your beer is clear going in there will be very little sediment, i don't see any reason to cut an inch off as you will be wasting good ale i have yet to have a cloudy glass when the keg kicks it's normally the first one that's a little hazy

 

[Harbey]

I'll not rush in. Just my initial enthusiasm kicking in. I've since watched a few more vids and this seems more of a practice if fermenting in a keg under pressure.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I'll not rush in. Just my initial enthusiasm kicking in. I've since watched a few more vids and this seems more of a practice if fermenting in a keg under pressure.

Now that makes sense, there will a ton of sediment

 

[Harbey]

It's all worked out well. Carbonation is just right @ 12psi and I cut 1.5m of beer line. Tastes great too - although I suspect I may already be well down it as I've been sampling quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. Never mind, I have a wheat beer that will be ready to keg next weekend and I'll be upping the psi for that one.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Looking good there Harbey

 

[jayk34]

Looks good, enjoy

 

[Harbey]

Well, Kegged brew #1 is amazing. Thanks for all the helpful tips. I'm kegging a Blue Moonish wheat tonight. I want his to be significantly more carbed than the pale. Do I just bang the psi up for carbing and then reduce it back to 10 psi to serve? Also, am I probably going to need a longer line for serving this?

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Well, Kegged brew #1 is amazing. Thanks for all the helpful tips. I'm kegging a Blue Moonish wheat tonight. I want his to be significantly more carbed than the pale. Do I just bang the psi up for carbing and then reduce it back to 10 psi to serve? Also, am I probably going to need a longer line for serving this?

Glad it has worked well!
Regarding your question, it seems anecdotally that people fall in to two camps:

1. Carb at the required pressure (from carbonation chart), then drop pressure for serving
2. Carb at the required pressure (from carbonation chart), then use a balanced beer line to serve, not changing pressure (set and forget).

Forgive me if you know already, but balanced beer line is essentially using a long(er) length of 3/16" (for example) of beer line between keg and tap.
I favor option 2 myself as I don't want to mess around changing the pressure constantly. My keg goes on at the required pressure for carbing, and I don't touch it until the keg is done and the next one is going on. All preference, of course, and option 1 is a valid option.

 

[Harbey]

That's brilliant! Many thanks for the input. Wasn't aware of balanced beer lines but makes perfect sense. As an aside, how many beer lines do you end up having in reserve for different styles? I'm guessing about 3?

 

[AnimatedGIF]

That's brilliant! Many thanks for the input. Wasn't aware of balanced beer lines but makes perfect sense. As an aside, how many beer lines do you end up having in reserve for different styles? I'm guessing about 3?

I'm still currently in the 'development' stage of my dispense system (I won't bore you with the details, but I keep changing my mind as to what I want). In short, I have two - one for lagers which is longer, and one for ales. The one for ales forms part of my keezer. The one for lagers is this, which I keep meaning to cut a bit shorter as it's a very slow pour at the moment.: Deluxe Party Tap Kit
I was pricing up a load of fancy SS taps to make a 4-keg kegerator but I now think I'll just get 3 more of these. If I have a party, I can just have them dangling our of the door.

 

[Victor Churchill]

All the calculations I have seen for beer line length have temperature as one of the variables - does this mean that if I don't have a kegerator and my keg is at 'room temperature' then there's no perfect beer line length, and the delivered beer may be too lively or too flat depending simply on the room temperature value?

 

[Harbey]

I'm no expert, as you can tell, but I believe that warmer beer will create more foam. I would think that a long line would help combat that but mean you have a very slow rate of pour. I don't have a fridge sorted yet but the kegs are in my brew room in the garage so are pretty cool at the moment.