I thought I would get Northern Brewer’s Draft Brewer keezer kit for each tap for my keezer build. Essentially its the faucet and everything all the way back to the ball lock connector, so the liquid side. Each kit has 5’ of hose. Is this considered enough or am I asking for foamy pours with this?
It depends. How much pressure are you trying to balance?
Five feet isn’t a whole lot of line.
Also, having just switched over to it myself, I would consider this silver barrier draft line over the regular liquid tubing: Keg Tubing & Hardware
+1. Hey, meant to ask, did you get the foamy pours at first?
I actually meant to ask if there was a more premium draft line. What are the benefits?
Antimicrobial qualities first and foremost. Also, no plastic/vinyl flavor in the first pint. No carry over of flavor from a strong beer to a milder one.Also, this stuff is less rigid (softer) when it’s cold, so it’s easier to re-route lines when necessary. The beer tastes really clean from this line. Supposedly keeps its antimicrobial ability for 2000 pints. I don’t know, I like it.
2000 pints huh? I’m not sure I want to change my lines every weekend 
Also, about the pressure I’m trying to balance: I’m new to this and thought there was a recommended serving pressure. What’s the deal there?
Nice ;) Thing is, every draft system is a little different. Ideally, it’s nice to be able to serve at your carbing pressure. At my serving temp (~ 40F for most beers), 12 psi will give average carb level for most beers at that temp. A good thing to do is to start with more beer line than you need, then cut it down in 6" increments until you’re pouring with just the right amount of foam at your carb pressure. For me, using the silver barrier line, it’s 9 ft of line using 12 psi @ 40F to get a perfect pour.
Thanks Jon, good info. I think I’m going to get a manifold that handles 4 lines but only start with 2 faucets and expand if necessary. Until then I’ll have two ports to carb while a beer is on deck. And I’ll get the lines you suggest, maybe 10’ for each to start. I “get it” now.
Sounds like a plan!
I agree with all the above. One thing to add. I had horrible foaming troubles early on and eventually figured out that my tower was warm so essentially all the beer in that rise was warm and foamy until the cold beer from the keg chilled the line.
I bought one of those CPU fan chillers for my tower and it made all the difference. Now when I come home I see condensation on the outside of my tap. The tower is cold (not just cool) to the touch and my beers have 2 fingers of foam poured straight down the center with zero waste.
I decided to go as simple as possible and not use a tower. I’ll build a wooden frame on top and attach the door to that and put the faucets through that frame. Should be able to do it Saturday morning. Also it’s going in the cellar so it shouldn’t get too warm.
Yeah the faucet itself shouldn’t be an issue indoors - it’s just that line run up the tower that was getting warm and causing me grief.
Your path sounds like it will work out great. I know plenty of others here have gone that route with success.
Balancing a system is fairly straight forward: decide the temperature at which you are going to keep the kegerator, use a carbonation chart like the one below to figure out how much psi to apply, and use enough line to balance the pressure. 3/16" draft line provides somewhere around 2 psi of resistance per foot.
If you balance it properly you can carb and dispense at the same pressure, so you really don’t need to mess around with regulator very often.
Yes, carbing and dispensing at the same pressure is my goal. I’m into getting all the work done up front with minimal fuss later. Delayed gratification is where it’s at.
I upgraded to a two way regulator and put a four place manifold on one of the lines. That way I can carb a new beer, or fill w/my beer gun while not affecting other beers on tap.
I like your plan the only recco is to make sure you have check valves for each line and quick connects throughout.
You might want to check out some forward sealing faucets.
Funny you should say that. I was going to get the keezer ready set up NB sells for the liquid side, then I decided to get better tubing, and then figured it made sense to get the parts separately, and then I saw the perlick faucets. I think I’m going to get them.
You’ll love them. Great faucets.
I would. I’ve regretted not buying them in the first place.
Did vent-matic go belly-up again?
Good to know: big price jump.