How to Balance Kegerator Beer Lines

In this video we help you to understand the concepts of balancing kegerator systems and beer lines, then we walk you through how to balance your own system perfectly.
If you are designing a kegerator or have difficulties with foaming beer or flat beer from your kegerator then this video is for you. If this video is helpful, please let me know in the comments.
This is a part of a series on draught system maintenance, so please, check out the rest of the playlist for other how-to and tutorial videos.
CREDITS:
Music: Benjamin Tissot - bensound.com - Creative Minds
Title slide backgrounds and beer taps image: www.freepik.com/free-photos-v...
Product photographs: kegland.com.au, kegking.com.au
Beer Font Animation: pixelanim from fiverr.com

[@bigsqueegie]

Clear and concise. Excellent video, thank you

[@geoffdickinson1310]

Best description I have seen in over 20 years of home brew kegging with regard to kegorator line length tuning and adjustment. Subscribed and following. A great job, thank you.

[@davewebb8777]

Thank you for such a detailed explanation. great work

[@dcrennify]

Thank you

[@CameronSouthall]

Great video. Thanks for taking the time to explain this in detail.

[@oldrustycars]

I've read everything from 10 feet of 3/16 line to the bare minimum of maybe three feet, just enough to let you attach it to the keg. Everyone certain they are correct. Thank you for actual math.

[@oldrustycars]

Thank you! Finally a good explanation.

[@Mysay9962]

Mate I must say best advice I’ve had so far keep The advice going I actually understand about that shit now cheers mate

[@dannyarcher6163]

Thanks, best description yet.

[@leehaslam7231]

Thank you - great video !!!!!! It really helped me set up and balance my system.

[@simo6123]

Spot on thanks mate

[@scottstevens1919]

Great info. Thanks!

[@craigwalker3256]

Great stuff nicely done!!

[@barry1903]

Nicely explained! Cheers! 🍻

[@ckeati2]

Great video!

[@Mr.SourPatchMan]

Thank you! I'm building a keezer, I hope it works well.

[@wideglidebry]

Very helpful thank you

[@shaneglanville6773]

Thank you I am in the process of getting a new kegerator setup couldn’t work out why the hoses were a different ID regards Shane 11:17

[@carlwyatt5036]

Hi m8 , top vid . Bare ith me . You say the chart is the holding pressure but how do u get to the desired pressure in first place . I like 2.6 or even 2.7 but never how to reach that perfectly . ,PLEASE HELP MAN 👍

[@jwbjwb999]

Hi there. This is excellent stuff, however I can't make the calculations make sense to me. Using your example figures but a 1/4 inch inside diameter tube, I would have to divide 10 by 0.65psi, giving a line length of over 15 feet. Your tubing at 3/16 is only a tad smaller and you end up at 4.5 feet. I can't make that make sense sorry, unless I'm doing something wrong?

[@davidwalsh3734]

Great to the point video and well explained. So with my kegerator @ 4 C my line length works out the same as your example, but what if I run a stout at a 1.7 vol (4 psi) which would require a 1 ft line? Do you need different length lines for the different beers you want to run? Thanks

[@campbellthomson2781]

What are these measurements in mms? I work with metrics. It was a good video though and very useful

[@zorangjurovski9913]

My kegerator is made from deep freezer (with controler I set it to 4C) and the beer lines (3/16") goes out from refregerator about 30 cm. I made calculations and the beer lines are estimated to be 1.4m. I use longer lines, about 2m. But the results are bad, only foam goes out from tab althougt line is without bubbles. I try with different pressure from 12-18 psi but no results.

[@djchrisryan]

Hey dude. Just wondering if this could be reverse engineered.. let me explain.. my Home brew is run off a home bar in my garden pub. The problem i have is that my beer line is a set length from "the brewery fridge" to bar.. could the maths be done backwards to give a operating pressure maybe?

[@brianspye1]

Hi, I have a building that was once a pub, it has a beer cellar, if my kegs are kept in that cellar, then they would be 10 ft below the dispense tap, your line length calculation doesn't work out when I put the figures in. Regards Brian (UK)

[@coldazbrewery3930]

Hi Brian, I am not sure in what way specifically you are saying it doesn't work out. However, in the case that you are doing a very high lift (such as to an upper floor), you will drop much of the required pressure simply by height, so you need to start with larger diameter line (so that you get lower line losses), otherwise you could end up with a line too short to reach your tap. Have you tried running the calcs on a larger line?

[@markdumbovich6751]

Great Video. I also run a 75 nitro / 25 Carb mix for my porter. what PSI would I use for the calculation? using 38deg F and 3/16 line and 2 ft tap height?? Thanks in advance

[@coldazbrewery3930]

Nitro systems probably deserve their own video. One of the benefits of using a nitrogen mix is that the nitrogen is not soluble in beer, so the regulator can run at higher pressures with a lesser degree of over carbonation. This is actually one of the primary reasons pubs often use CellaMix for all beer dispensing where there are long runs. In the case of a porter you would usually be looking around 1.7 - 2.2 volumes of CO2, which would mean around 6-7psi at 38F in a pure CO2 system. However, because you are using a 75% nitrogen mix, you would be able to safely double that pressure without being concerned about over carbonation, meaning if you ran at 12psi you would have adequate pressure for maintaining carbonation on any other kegs you many have running off that regulator. Hope this helps!

[@tmarkk99]

I do appreciate you putting yourself out there and trying to help out the brewing community. But all the website beer line calculators seem to contradict the final beer line length I get for your numbers. With your system I get about 4.5 feet. With online calculators I get about 9 ft. Big difference. Which one is right?

[@davidmorris5374]

Great video but here in the UK all beer lines are sold quoting the outside diameter of the tube. These diameters relate to the John Guest push-fit fittings that are used to connect them. i.e. Tube sold as 3/8” tube has inside dia. of .265”, and 5/16” tube has I/D of .212”, and 3/16” tube has I/D of .117”. Please could someone tell me what the line resistance is for these three tubes bearing in mind that their inside diameters are 0.265”, 0.212”, & 0.117”. I have scoured the internet for this info. but cannot find it anywhere. I really would appreciate it if someone could help with this information. Many thanks Dave Morris (UK)

[@tmarkk99]

@@davidmorris5374 I would advise you to just use this website. www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/ You can enter any id you want and determine the best length of your beer lines. For home kegerators the best id is usually 3/16" or 0.1875. and usually the length will be around 8-10 feet. But depends on all the other parameters as well. Happy brewing

[@coldazbrewery3930]

Hi Mark, thanks for the comment. Without further information about your specific case it is difficult for me to come to any conclusion about why they aren't lining up for you. The video was designed more to explain how all of the parts of the system come together to be balanced rather than to provide a verbatim method for balancing. My goal was to help people properly understand the principles of balancing which can help with troubleshooting etc rather than just providing a number. That said, this is a method which has been used in industry for decades when designing draught systems for pubs and bars. I do know that variation in line losses per foot has always been an issue for methods whereby you use a lookup table as I did in this video because there are so many variances in material, size manufacturer, etc. There are many calculators out there these days can roughly calculate this resistance based on the attributes of the line. I agree that 4.5 to 9ft is a big variation, and would be interested to know what the variables are that have come to such a wide variation.

[@coldazbrewery3930]

@@davidmorris5374 Yes, this is a bit of a problem I have come across before. There are quite a few sizes out there that I don't currently have lookup tables for, and I have been thinking about doing some tests to determine real world values for these. Alternatively there are a few calculators out there that can be used to calculate loss per foot based on the material, diameter, specific gravity etc.

[@bigjase8709]

😄😄😄🤣🤣🤣