Gas Line Length?? Does it Matter?

[Inkleg]

Have to ask. Did you weigh it with the regulator on it?

[BlackDuck]

No, I didn't weigh it with the regulator on. Come on man!!

Papa, kind of what I was thinking. I'll leave it at 14 psi for another day or two and see what happens. But then again, I may just test it again tonight.


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[alb]

Chris,

Gas line length should not matter... But here is what might...

Are you using one way valves after the regulator or y-adapter?

If not, all three of your kegs will attempt to equalize.

This could cause issues when trying to force carb one keg while two others are already carbed...

At serving pressure, that third keg will take a long time to carbonate, just as it would if it was the only keg on the regulator...

Turn up the output pressure and now all three kegs have more so while you are force carbing the third one, you are also adding pressure to the two previously carbed kegs causing them to over carb.

I have a one way valve on each of my outputs as well as a shutoff valve so I can isolate each gas line at a specific pressure...

In your example, I would shut off the valves at the lines that feed my previously carbed kegs while set to serving pressure.

Then open the line to the keg I want to force carb... And raise the regulator pressure to say... 20-25 p.s.i.

Then close the valve to keg 3 (trapping 20-25 p.s.i in the keg)...

I then lower the regulator back to serving pressure and open all three shut off valves.

Since I have the in-line one-way valves on each line after the splitter, they only allow gas to flow to the kegs, not back to the y-adapter... So, each keg stays at it's pre-defined pressure!

I repeat the pressurization of keg 3 in this example a couple of times over a four to six day period as gas is absorbed into the beer and then, when I feel it should be ready I release the pressure and set it to serving pressure as well and voilá... Good to go.

This is a pic if the units I use... It is a combination shutoff and one-way... I have one on each gas line after the splitter but before the keg feed line. As such, I can play with pressures using a single regulator.

Just remember when lowering pressure to release the pressure in the keg you are lowering, then reattach the gas line and set pressure (else the regulator dual will be reading the high pressure between the regulator and the one-ways)... Not a problem when increasing pressure as the dial reads what it is outputting... But one the line has that high pressure, it will stay there until one of the outputs is lowered, dropping the pressure in the little section between the dial and the one-ways to a lower value for the line you are adjusting.

Where’s the emoji that indicates my head just exploded?

[BigPapaG]

Where’s the emoji that indicates my head just exploded?

[BlackDuck]

I didn't have a chance to pour one last night, but I did tonight. It was much much better tonight. It poured with a one finger head, but it didn't last long, however, the glass had pretty decent legs. I think it's pretty much where it needs to be.

I remembered that it didn't have the normal 2 row that I'm used to. I looked back at the original recipe and it has 11.5 pounds of Malteurop American 2 row and 8 ounces of crystal 20. In order to hit my numbers, I added 1.5 pounds of Briess 2 row and another 3 ounces of crystal 20. I've never used the Malteurop 2 row before, and I'm wondering if that grain doesn't form a head as much as Briess 2 row. If so, maybe that contributed to the slow carb also. Time to do some googling to see what I can find out. Has anyone else had any experience with Malteurop American 2 row?

[ScrewyBrewer]

Balancing my kegging system was one of the most rewarding accomplishments of my brewing career. I've added a picture of the regulator outside, but inside the refrigerator the 2 gas lines are split into 4 gas connectors, using 2 tee fittings. The gas lines run to each of the connectors are at least 7 feet long. One of the gas connectors can have another 10 feet of gas line attached to it to connect a beer gun too. All 4 of the gas connectors are in balance and their pressure is controlled by a single Co2 regulator. For me carbonating beer using the 'set n forget' method takes 7 to 10 days, but during that time I can also get great pours from the taps using the same 12-14psi.

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