Can the line to my Beer Engine be too long?

[DaveGillespie]

In my Kegerator build I'll be storing one or more 5 Litre Polypins on the top shelf of the Fridge to accomodate any brew length over 19 litres for a suitable beer. So, for a given 23 litre brew 5 litres will go into the Polypin and the remaining 18 litres will go into a Corny. I'd like to serve both the Polypin and subsequently the Corny of these beers through my Beer Engine which will be located on a ramshackle wooden construction beside the fridge. The Corny will be conditioned at around 5PSI.

Beer line will run from inside the fridge through the drain hole, into a Check Valve and then to the engine and since I plan to route this line through the drain hole of the fridge I would like to use 3/16" line. I've seen all the various pressure calculations for line length to avoid foaming but what I don't know is the effects of my line being too long with a Beer Engine?

It seems logical to assume that with a standard beer tap you would either get a very slow pour or no pour at all if your line was too long as there would not be enough pressure to push the beer out of the tap. Since the Engine is pulling the beer I assume I won't have this problem. However, will there still be enough pressure in the lines to keep the beer up to the Check Valve?

[Cazamodo]

I think with longer beer lines, you may struggle to actually pull the beer through, as its simply a pump at the end of the day.

We use gas assisted pumps for longer runs of beer line to our hand pumps.

[paulg]

probably depends on line length .I use 3/8 line about 1.5 metres to my 1/2 pint engine with no problem just means you need to pull slowly and it requires slightly more effort.
my check valve is about 6" from the beer engine and yes you need to have the beer at a low pressure otherwise the beer engine will shudder and bang when you pull it,I use a cask aspirator on mine so have atmospheric pressure but previously used cornies at 5 psi without problems

[paulg]

probably depends on line length .I use 3/8 line about 1.5 metres to my 1/2 pint engine with no problem just means you need to pull slowly and it requires slightly more effort.
my check valve is about 6" from the beer engine and yes you need to have the beer at a low pressure otherwise the beer engine will shudder and bang when you pull it,I use a cask aspirator on mine so have atmospheric pressure but previously used cornies at 5 psi without problems

[Mattpc]

The line from my beer engine to the corny is over 10 metres and it seems to pull through just fine. Don't forget the with the corny, the liquid will want to escape from the vessel as the gas is pushing it. Therefore on one side of the check valve the beer will always be pushing and the other side your beer engine will be pulling.

[Mattpc]

What I don't know about is the polykeg thingy... I have used a beer engine to pull beer out of a king keg that was open with no pressure at all and this worked just fine also. In this case my beer line was only 1 or 2 metres tho not over ten like my regular setup.

[DaveGillespie]

Tried this out on Sunday night with 8 feet of 3/8 line. Pull is fine, not much foam at 6PSI/3C - perfectly viable.

[orlando]

Tried this out on Sunday night with 8 feet of 3/8 line. Pull is fine, not much foam at 6PSI/3C - perfectly viable.

Got any pictures of the fittings you used?

[rpt]

Since the whole point of a beer engine is to be able to pump beer from the cellar to the bar (rather than cellar boys carrying jugs) it must be able to work over a reasonable distance.

[DaveGillespie]

Nothing particularly interesting orlando - just a standard Black threaded disconnect with a 3/8" John Guest attachment, 8 feet of 3/8" line out the side of the fridge up to a Check Valve which has a 3/8" input and a 1/2" output. 1/2" of food grade Silicon Hose with a jubilee clip attached on each end goes from the output of the Check Valve to the inlet of the engine.

I've noticed that if the Corny drops below about 5 or 6 PSI it will lose seal so the Gas will need to be on it while serving. Might need to invest in some keg lube to help hold the lid seal. It bears mentioning that my kegs came used and I replaced all the seals (poppets, PRV, dip tube and lid) with red Silicon o-rings from oringsandmore.