CO2 Buildup in Beer Lines

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houseofcole

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Hi Guys... I have a problem that I hope you can help me with.

I have a home made chest freezer type kegerator, and have set it up with a tap on the outside to dispense cold carbonated beer.

I have a problem where the first pint I pour is 80% head...The second pint I pour is perfect.

I read in one of the US brewing magazines about how to balance the beer lines... I have a 4m beer line curled up in loops inside the kegerator from the Keg to the tap, which should reduce the pressure nicely for a keg stored at 1oC and 7 - 8psi.

What I notice is that CO2 builds up in the beer line, and collects in the high points of the beer line loops. This must happen because the beer in the beer line is at a lower pressure than the beer in the Keg. If there was a leak, I would notice beer in puddles on the floor, but there is no sign of this.

If anyone has any advice ion how to prevent this, please can you help me.

Thanks
Paul
 
What size is the piping?
Do you have any flow restrictions from keg to tap i.e any valves.

Sent from my SM-T210 using Tapatalk
 
Not entirely sure on the size (I travel a lot with work and not home)... I think it's 3/8 inch... Basically the size that fits most corner keg John guest fittings.

I have the outlet on the keg going to 4m of beer line (coiled 3 times horizontally) to the tap. No valves.

I do have a John guest fitting attached to the tap to make it easier to remove the beer line, but that is only connected with about 2" beer line and a jubilee clip.
 
Thought that I would update this post incase anyone else out there has the same problem.

In the end the answer was simple... 3/8" tubing was completly the wrong size. I had 3 taps and bought 15m for each...I joined them all together (45M total) and still no good... such a waste of money!

I found a guy on ebay selling 4m coils of 3/16" tubing, with fittings and connectors from the Corney Keg to 3/8" tubing (the taps and Corney Kegs use 3/8")

This worked a treat, but it was very slow. Eventually after a process of trial and error I ended up with about 2m of 3/16" and I get a reasonable pour with about 1" of head.

The 3/16 tubing is no thicker than a kids straw, so the inside of the kegerator is so much neater.

Paul
 
Physics. That was the problem, and you can't deny physics you must comply.

I have beer-line filling with gas and I'm serving at virtually no pressure (beer-pump). So for you (beer chilled, high pressure) the problem will be x10.

You have beer with 2-3 volumes of CO2. Warm the beer to room temp and much of the CO2 gets forced out of solution (that makes a lot of gas even in the very short stretch to the tap). 3/16 tube contains less beer, so less CO2. And there is less "give" in a system of 3/16 tube so no where for any CO2 to go.

Or something like that. The other certainty about physics is you probably get it wrong and there is loads of people who will delight at telling you you're wrong.
 

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