My neighbor across the street got a used kegerator on the cheap. Most of the hardware is pretty gross, and I'm going to recommend to replace all the fittings and hose. I'm not super familiar with sanke setups though. The current one doesn't look like a 3/16 fitting/line that I'm used to seeing. It looks closer to 3/8. Would I be okay to replace it with a 3/16 setup? Say something like this, this, and this? The kegerator is going to be in a garage, in Texas: the faucet will heat up quickly after serving and will want to foam after every pour. Would having a longer beverage line to increase resistance and slow things down help to limit the foaming effect? Maybe 9 foot?
Those are the parts you want to order. Longer line will not have any effect on temperature related foaming.
I was hoping maybe if we slowed the flow down with a longer hose, it might mitigate the foaming a little. But I see why it wouldn't make a difference. What length would you suggest? 7 foot @ 10 - 12 psi?
It depends on the beer. You need to know the volumes of CO2 for the beer (v/v), the temp the beer is at and then you refer to a force carbonation chart for the proper applied pressure. Longer line will not solve unbalanced beer. Longer lone slows the flow of properly balanced beer. Start with 10’ and if it pouring too slow cut it back.
Replacing the 3/8" with 3/16" on a coupler is easy. I have 2 suggestions. 1.Use a 1/4" barbed nipple and beer nut and not the 3/16" nipple. Though the 3/16" is made for choker I like that the 1/4" is just a bit bigger OD and the PVC will stretch over it making a nice tight fit. Though if it is sold as a apckage, no worries. 2. If the equipment is worn or really gunked, maybe just get a new coupler. A Krome brand D Sanke, with S/S probe is around $23. It's a steal and an excellent product. All SS beer contact too. I don't see which brand Austin HBS is supplying, and that is not a good sign usually. Or confirm you are getting a name brand. Bonus #3. Do you have a tower wrench? Because removing and replacing the shank is a special kind of hell without one. This one from amazon is $6.50, probably adequate and useful even if you only need it a few times. No good way to keep 1' of line cold in a Texas garage I'm afraid. A good tower fan and live with it. You can try to slow down the pour but like @DougC123 said it's not going to make the beer colder. You'll be pouring a few ounces of foam, but it will be slower. The choker length will help prevent foaming from velocity, that is to say if beer whips out of the faucet too fast it is hard to control. Tell your friend the way it is and he won't be dissapointed. Physics man. Physics. Bonus Bonus #4. One of our vendors sells a copper extension for this situation. I generally do not believe in using copper to help transfer heat in a kegerator tower, because blowing a 38F air on copper does not make the copper any colder than 38", ever, and blowing that 38" air on the choker has the exact same effect. Now, smash a length of 1/4" refrigerator copper tubing flat, attach one end to the cold plate (with gorilla glue?) and zip tie the choker to the copper so that it makes 100% contact, now that will help. I haven't tried it, yet. But it sounds like a pretty good hack to me. And still use a good tower fan. Good luck.
Thanks for the info friends. I don't think my neighbor is going to homebrew anytime soon. I think she's is going to fill this thing with commercial beer. I would presume that there are some variances of CO2 volumes in commercial beer, I bet they are more similar than different. And I presume they are probably around what, 2.5 +/- ...? Thanks for the info Bill. A keg didn't come with the cooler. That's an interesting idea with the copper pipe.
