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Hi
According to your beer line calculator, I would need 0.9m of 4mm ID beer line (or 3.8m of 5.4mm ID) to pour an imperial pint of ~1010SG beer at 12psi in 10 seconds without fobbing. I tried 4m of 5.4mm first and it was completely inadequate. I then installed 2.5m of 4mm ID line and this has worked perfectly at 12psi. It may in fact be a little too long (2m may be enough), I will need more time to evaluate. But 0.9m would be way too short, judging by my experience to date. The beer tower is heavily insulated with 20mm thick closed cell insulation – foil backed. Kegerator temp is set to 2°.
The 4mm ID beer line I used was EVA Barrier (OD 8mm).
Hope this data helps refine your calculator. Love this site btw.
Hi Kealan!
Glad you’re finding brewingcalculators.com useful and I appreciate the feedback!
Your problem is certainly interesting. I use PVC in my kegerator, but I see a lot of folks are using EVABarrier these days. I did some digging online and double-checked the calculator to see if I could find some insight into a solution to the problem you’re having. This is what I’ve come-up with.
My assumptions:
(1) The vertical height from the centre of your keg to the tap is 0.75 metres
(2) The temperature is consistent in your kegerator
(3) Your keg is not carbonated over 12psi
(4) There are no kinks in the beer line
(5) You’re using CO2, and not beer gas (not sure if this makes a difference)
I originally thought the issue was might be that the material is different from PVC, since PVC is an assumption I use in the calculator. The inner barrier in EVABarrier tubing is made from a proprietary polymer, so there’s no public information on the internal roughness I can find. The marketing says it’s really smooth, which helps avoid bacterial growth, beer stone, etc. So, to test the amount of influence of the internal roughness in the equation, I changed the variable to zero (i.e. frictionless) – this changed the recommended line length for EVABarrier from 0.90 metres, to 0.97 metres. So, not much of a change!
Looking on some of the beer forums, I saw a couple other folks with the same issue you’re having. One said that there’s a rule of thumb that if you’re using EVABarier, multiple your line length by 1.5X (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/evabarrier-line-balancing.694182/). Searching through the forum, this number looks like it was pulled-out of thin air, although it does get you towards the right number, but I have no idea why, which bothers me a bit. Doing some more digging, I noticed that the 8mm OD EVABarrier is sold in both a 4mm ID AND 5mm ID. Out of curiosity, are you 100% sure you have 4mm ID and not 5mm ID?
In any event, I hope it all works out and I’d love to know what you found to be the correct length.
Cheers!
Mike
Hi Mike
Thank you so much for your quick reply. First off, your assumptions are all spot on. For the record, the first line I used was 5/16″Lupulus line (quite stiff compared to the EVA Barrier). Dimensions were 5.4mm x 8mm – 4m length per tap. Very cumbersome in the kegerator even when coiled and cable tied. Fobbing was heavy at 12psi and manageable at ~8psi. I figured it would need to be about 6m+ to be able to handle 12psi. (just a guess based on the test at 8psi). The EVA Barrier is definitely 4mm x 8mm – link to where I purchased it: https://brewkegtap.co.uk/products/5-16-od-clear-natural-beer-line?_pos=3&_fid=d366cf6fd&_ss=c.
I read that thread you linked. Very interesting even from just an anecdotal viewpoint. One guy there was using 3m of 4mm EVAB at 32°!!! and 10-13psi.
The reason I went with this line and length is from a kegerator website that I can’t find now and which I think suggested 2.1m of 4mm ID. I have since found a couple of places that recommend using between 1.5-2.1m of 4mm ID tubing. This is one of them: https://themoderncave.com.au/products/series-x-single-tap-kegerator. Kegland in Oz also recommend the same lengths. There’s also a line length calculator on Kegerators.com that comes out with 1.5m (5′) when all my parameters were inserted (I assumed US pints and set pour length to 12s instead of 10). Might be interesting for you to find out what parameters they use.
I installed 2.5m on the basis that it’s easier to shorten than lengthen, so have gone long first and will shorten when I have enough beer in there to test :). I’ll let you know the results.
Thanks again.
Cheers
Kealan