I can’t explain it. Maybe the picnic tap offers less resistance than a real tap? Yea my picnic taps are like 2-3 ft at most. They do pour much faster.
That’s it… Time to ditch the perlicks and have the picnic tap hang out the port… Case solved! 
Sneezles61
2 Likes
@brew_cat I had to carefully pour myself a beer while pondering your question.
You hit on two things - shorter one first: The initial foamy pour with the line out of the fridge is because CO2 comes out of solution as the beer warms while sitting in the hose. The carbonation chart says that at your 8 psig and fridge temps, about 2.2 volumes of CO2 will dissolve into beer. At the same pressure and room temps, that beer will only hold about 1.2 volumes in solution. As the cold carbonated beer from the keg warms in the line, CO2 comes out of solution and you have a line full of CO2 gas and flat beer, which pours as foam. Keeping the line cold, and/or keeping the warm section of line as short as possible, solves that issue.
As for cold line length, its a balancing act. About 5’ of 3/16" line happens to be a decent balance for a keg at 8 psig. What we really want is for the pressure to drop gradually along the line as the beer flows from keg pressure to the room pressure of 0 psig. The higher the keg pressure, the more pressure drop desired along the line. Friction along the line is what causes pressure to drop as the beer flows - smaller hose diameter means more pressure drop as does longer length and higher flow rate. All 3 need to be balanced. For example, if you open the tap only very slightly, flow rate is low so there is minimal friction along the line - all the pressure drop happens at the tap and you get a glass of foam. At the other extreme, if we poured beer at a high flow rate from a short, large diameter fire hose, we’d also get a glass of foam.
A good pour is just another one of life’s balancing acts. 
1 Like
Glad I could give you a reason to pour a glass. Thanks for the explanation.
1 Like
Good info but doesn’t really answer his question which was: Why a short line works on a picnic tap and not a perlick?
Did I mis-read? I think @brewcat said he has about 5’ of line on the picnic taps and at most 5’ of line running to taps on the fridge. According to the line length calculating tool I noted above, 5’ is about right for a keg at 8 psi if it’s 3/8" line.
No you are correct. I reread his post. Apparently I misunderstood his question.
Well you did give me a reason to pour myself another brew, purely in the interest of scientific experimentation, of course. In my keezer, I have a 10’ line between a Perlick tap and a keg of pale ale at 12 psi. I replaced it with a cold 2’ line and picnic tap. All I could get out of it was foam.
That’s interesting…I have a pilsner that I kegged just about 2 weeks ago. I put it in the lagering fridge and on gas. The liquid post leaked so I put a picnic tap on it until I can get new poppets. So…of course I was tempted to taste it since it’s got a tap on it…I moved it to the serving fridge when my pre prohibition lager keg kicked. Serving off a 2’ line picnic tap, it’s got great head and pours incredibly fast but not excessively foamy. It’s not fully hydrolized yet though.
@Steve that would be what I would expect. 12 psi with 2 feet of line should never work…as predicted by the Soltys article you tagged above. How you guys can use one inch of serving line and get perfect pours defies the laws of physics 
1 Like
" I never had any luck with kegging (too much foam)."
30 psi? way too high,
crank it back down to 10.
Then once beer is fully carbonated,
turn the CO2 off. Turn it on again periodically when you need more psi.
I’ve never understood the urge to turn the gas off an on… Makes no sense.
4 Likes
Yes and no on the gas off and on for me. Where we are now the closest CO2 dealer is about an hour away and expensive. I prime the kegs because they remain warm so force carbing doesn’t work well. Due to a leak I lost one tank and after finding it I became very careful to turn off the gas when not in use.
Up north with a dealer within a few miles and a couple of spare tanks it stays on. No leaks of course when it’s not a problem.
1 Like
It makes perfect sense as if you don’t, your beer will turn into foam city.
Me force carb. Than set to serving pressure. But. Leave the co2 on. Never turn it off
1 Like
If you’re getting foamy beer when your gas is turned on, either you have it way too high or you have a bad low pressure regulator. I never turn mine off and have no issue with overcarbed or foamy beers.
1 Like
In my situation (3 tap upright beer frig), my cut off values are right in front and the CO2 tank is in back so it is easier for me to just cut it off once proper CO2 has been reached. It can last for a week like that while serving fine. A quick CO2 Charge for 10-15 seconds is all that is needed once a week., It also protects against loosing all of your CO2 if you have a bad/leaky disconnect. I have had to replace a few bad disconnects so I guess I don’t always trust them… I set my CO2 to 10 psi then forget about it and control it by my cut off value.
1 Like
whatever works for ya, right? You’re the one that pays for the CO2 refills!
1 Like
