Well......I'm still learning about this, but there's a carbonation chart here that gives different pressures for a given carbonation ratio at various temperatures:Frisp wrote:How do you work out your carbonation ratio's or is it a case of start with a lower pressure and "Sup it and See" as you adjust the pressure up to meet you desired level of carbonation.
so if we are aiming for 12C and say 10 - 12 PSi then I should have around 6 feet of 3/16th line. is that correct
Is it worth using an inline flow restrictor in the setup ( isf there is such a thing) to fine tune the setup
http://www.ebrew.com/primarynews/ct_car ... _chart.htm
So that lets you set the carb ratio (but i think the whole point is that you first need to determine how much you like your beer carbonated. Typically more for lagers and less for ales). Once you know that, plus the storage temperature of the beer, you can determine the pressure needed at that temperature to achieve that level of carbonation.
The other part to the equation though is setting the beer line up to achieve an even pour without too much or too little foam - and this is done by selecting the diameter and length of the beerline to the tap.
I think the rule of thumb is that 3/16 beer line has a resistance of 2lbs per foot - so if your keg is pressurised at 12psi, then you'd need about 6 feet of 3/16 beer line to balance it. It's actually a little more complex to get it spot on, as there is also resistance caused by the vertical distance from the keg centre to the tap, but in my set up it's not worth worrying about.
To fine tune, you can either adjust the line length, pressure or - as you say put a flow restrictor in the line - I have a couple of taps from Dalex with "flow control", which do just that!