Beer line maximum length with chiller

[stephenfranks]

I am considering placing a chiller in my brew shed next to my corneys, and running beer lines underground (in conduit) to my kitchen. I would then go through the wall into a beer engine on the wall. The distance would be 4-5 metres. What effect would this have on temperature & frothing anyone?

The buried lines would stay cool (like mains water) as the trench depth would be 450mm?

Anyone have any experience/views?

[Parva]

That's a bit of an unknown. Long pipe runs from chillers are usually lagged in foam to keep the pipes cool in pubs and to help prevent condensation. The issue you have here is that we're not constantly hitting the beer pump every two minutes like they do in pubs and with that length of line and a handpump on the end you could have upto a pint of beer stood in the pipes between uses and most of this will end up being served at whatever ground temperature is for that first pint.

I suspect it could probably work but your first pint maybe somewhat warmer than subsequent pints. It would also depend on the external pipework into the house, how much more exposed pipework there was and whether you lagged it. I think the majority of homebrewers that use chillers only use short runs of line (as you've seen in my setup) and it's never an issue. Doing it over a long distance isn't an issue for pubs due to the quantities of beer dispensed. As for doing it homebrew as you suggest, you might just get away with it but I'd wait and see if anyone has experience of trying this because I'm really not sure how well it would work.

[stephenfranks]

I slept on it, and think that I might shelve this idea..

I want a perfect pint at the perfect temperature (bit like Wetherspoons guest ales - never fail to impress me) so maybe I need to look at a jacket for my corneys? I dont want to have to walk out to my beer fridge every ..erm.. 15 minutes on Friday & Saturday nights for a refill.

Wife would not allow cooler + gas in the house.

[kfm]

Reading this I wondered if using the cold water recirculation might help, like running the beer lines through a python that's linked up to the cold water recirc.

[stephenfranks]

How does that work (I've never used a chiller)?

[kfm]

Some of the flash chillers come with a cold water recirculation facility. There is an IN and OUT where cold water can circulate in a continuous loop (ie it leaves the chiller cold from contact with the ice bank and then travels round the loop gradually getting warmer until it reaches the chiller to be cooled again). They are used in pubs for cooling the beer all the way to the taps, the one covered in condensation. Your beer lines would be inserted in the python to contact with the cold water recirculating thus keeping the beer cool to the dispense point. The python recirc tubes would need to be connected at the dispense point to form a loop. I don't know whether you would have to leave the chiller on all the time (Parva will know more about actual chiller performance) but in theory this would provide some form of cooling along the length of the beer line so you don't have to chuck a pint until cool beer comes through. Guessing you should insulate the python for underground installation too.

[kfm]

Chris for the purposes of working out the carbonation level how long are the coils in the Cornelius flash chillers?

[kfm]

Cheers for that

[stephenfranks]

I shall check out the links, thanks everyone!