Attaching tap directly to keg without tube

The line length you need depends mainly on your serving pressure, which in turn depends on the temperature of the beer and the level of CO2 you want to maintain.

That said, 0 length is not enough. You would get nothing but foam out of it, unless the faucet has a built-in feature to severely slow the flow of the beer (or unless you're willing to relieve the keg pressure and reset it to a about 2 PSI every time you want to pour a pint). The ones I've seen at LHBSs do not have a flow control, and I don't know if there's a "direct to keg" faucet that does. If you're not ready for a kegerator/keezer setup, I'd recommend at least looking into a cobra tap. They're not great, but will work.

 

Those taps that go directly to the keg are made for parties as a “nicer” version of a picnic tap. You basically precarbonate the keg then pressure relieve down to a serving pressure of 2-3. For long term use it will be a burden. Actually anything shorter than 6ft is a burden to me.

 

I use a a faucet with regulator directly attached to the keg, with no line in between, and it works like charm.

 

By regulator do you mean an adjustable flow faucet?

 

Yes exactly.