Beer line help, where to find 3/16 vinyl?

[judasegg]

Hey,

Seems everyone in the USA uses vinyl tubing 3/16 and has no issues with kegging.

I am currently using 5/16 MDPE line (hard plastic) and only ever get a full pint of foam. Plus, the MDPE is hard to work with, and I'm told the reason for the foam is that the resistance on the plastic 5/16 is so low that you'd need about 30ft of it. I want to switch to 3/16 vinyl, but am struggling to find it, or any associated fittings (will need JG for quick disconnect, and some kind of reducer for tap...why is this proving to be so challenging?

[cerbera84]

you mean this http://www.stonehelm.co.uk/browser.php? ... d+Fittings ?

[gobuchul]

It's not clear from your post where you are located?

In the UK the answer is easy.

5/16 to 3/8 adaptor:

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... uctId=1628

3/8 to 3.16 adaptor:

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=541

All you need is a short length of 3/8 beer line.

If you're not in the UK then there would be some cost for shipping to add on.

[phil.dadd]

I've also struggled to find appropriate 3/16 ID vinyl beer line in the UK. This is not the same as the 3/16 tubing you see for sale in the UK, which is OD.

I imported my beer tower from the US - back when it was significantly cheaper to do so - that came with 6ft of 3/16 ID - which luckily is about right. I did manage to find a supplier on ebay that would ship here, but ended up being rather expensive (and you had to buy like 100m or so to make it worth it).

[edit] Found it: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Beer-Line-3-1 ... 0896000577

[Kev888]

Years ago I tried the PVC/Vinyl stuff for similar reasons of flexibility. It was more flexible, and the clarity was nice too. Unfortunately I wasn't that impressed myself, it seemed to give a slight plastic taste to the beer left in the lines even when they were no longer new, and it was my belief that beer oxidised more quickly in the lines. It also needed barbs rather than push-fits, which didn't suit my setup; yours may differ.

IIRC the vinyl size can sometimes refer to Inside Diameter rather than Outside Diameter. I'm not clear if you mean ID or OD, but FWIW the common harder PE beer line is 'much' more flexible in 3/16" OD size than it is in 3/8" OD. It has a pretty tiny bore and is very good for balancing higher pressures at short lengths. Thats with a keg and freeflow tap setup anyway, I never tried it on my beer engines (it wasn't necessary at low carbonations).

(There are other reasons for foaming too, but it sounds like you've already narrowed it down to this.)

[Matt in Birdham]

I went through the same thought process when I was setting up my system. A lot of what you find online does refer to the US 3/16 ID line, which (for some reason) simply doesn't seem to be available in the UK. I ended up going with the 3/16 OD UK line in the harder plastic, and have found this to work brilliantly. I have about 6 foot of it between two 3/18-3/16 reducers and get a nice pour. It just means you can't really use the US line length calculators - a bit of trial and error with a length of 3/16 OD and a scissors did the trick for me.