Silver Barrier Tubing

Interesting. I don't recall flushing mine with anything more than several volumes of hot tap water (pushed through from a keg) when it was new, and I don't recall any off-flavors at all.

 

Ultra Barrier is NSF 51 and 61, but I do not see where the Silver is NSF. It is FDA compliant however. I think Krusty may be correct regarding the cost to get the NSF certification. The NSF 51 is for Food Equipment Materials and 61 is for Drinking Water System Components.

If you are concerned enough about plastic, Silver is plasticizer free. Also, and this is pretty big, beer is great. Alcohol is natural. Avoid chemicals, especially petro based chemicals, wherever possible. But if you are drinking beer and the poly tubing is your health concern, re-evaluate introducing beer into your body. (There always seems to be one or two people coming in from smoke break that question the office air quality whenever we are doing an IAQ investigation.)

One other thing about poly tubing. This tubing has bonded layers. You should avoid excessive bends as best as possible. Even if it doesn't kink hard bends will delaminate the material due to cracking. The outer bend stretches and the inner curve cracks. This can delaminate the material.

Or just use vinyl.

Cheers.

 

Yes, that's exactly right. But don't forget which is which. EJ 3/16" tubing is a claimed 2.2 pounds per foot. PVC is often cited as higher than that (up to 3 ppf). So in theory, you need LONGER lines with the EJ Ultra Barrier Silver than you would with a more conventional PVC tubing of the same diameter.

In theory.

In practice, the theory gets you pretty close - but there's almost always a bit of trial and error. Takeaway? Buy a bit more than you think you need and shorten if necessary.

 

Yeah, I used both line cleaner and star-san prior to using it.

I also bought the proper connectors for the accuflex stuff, so no hot water or heat gun required for install... I also have the Perlick 650ss flow control faucets, so the line length really isn't a big deal... I was using 4ft of the ultra barrier with no issue at all when I probably needed 8-10ft line if I had standard faucets.

 

Bill, where did you see that Ultra Barrier is NSF 51 certified? They certainly don't boast about it on their website or sell sheet:
https://d2jug8yyubo3yl.cloudfront.n...745D/9862a056-bae9-47b4-8783-a5bb23cc2d94.pdf
I inquired with EJ on multiple occasions and never heard a peep from them…hope that isn't their general customer service rep towards the beverage market. New Age on the other hand was extremely helpful.

 

http://www.foxxequipment.com/parts.php?id=5684
from our supplier Foxx.

Cheer.

 

That's a different tube…that's Accuflex's. Different than the ultra barrier. I don't think EJ Bev does NSF certs.

 

you know, it looks like it is not the same stuff. there is EJ Ultra and there is Accuflex Ultra. same barrier properties, but you are right. our supplier doesn't differentiate! not on the website. how about that.
You are correct.

 

I just got my bev-seal tubing in yesterday... Glad I bought the proper connectors, setup was a breeze! I could see how trying to apply to a shank would be a PITA...

Cut my line lengths to 7' and tested my two finished beers at this time... No issue what-so-ever. The real test is pulling a sample after work today and checking for off-flavors... Will advise when I do.

 

Definitely confusing…I do love the color coding on the Accuflex tubing. I use duct tape and it works, but doesn't quite have the same appeal when I pop the keezer hood for folks.

 

yes, my kegerators can get really twisted and I have a hard time determining what keg is on what faucet or regulator.

you can also use different color electric tape. a box of 5 or 6 colors is a few dollars and works pretty well. you can double the colors too, so after you go through the 6 colors you can have red/blue etc. we use this trick for different gas blend lines. one color at the blender, same color at the end connection and maybe one in between.

Cheers.

 

I just numbered my taps 1-6 and put a small piece of tape on each disconnect with a corresponding number.