Ask The Brewmasters

Is the faucet coming through the door? What temp is the fridge? What diameter is the beer line, and how long is it?

Hi Warren, yes the faucet comes through the door, the temp is about 30 degrees, and my line is 10 feet. Also, the diameter of the hose is 3/16 

check your liquid line hose is long enough, 8' minimum.  Check the diameter of that hose, smaller is better.

Liquid line hose has no minimum requirement. In fact the shorter the distance between the keg and the faucet the better in any draft system. The longer the run, the more factors play a part in problems.

"Let's say, then, that you are using 1/4" inner diameter (ID) vinyl beverage line. According to the chart, it supplies 0.85 psi of resistance per foot of tubing. If you need to overcome 11.4 psi, then you'll need 11.4 psi ÷ 0.85 psi/ft = 13 feet of beverage line or so."

Line length very much is a factor and can't be too short.

So your refrigerator temperature and the carbonation volume are very important factors to let us know about. Also sometimes excessive foam on a draft system can be attributed to dirty lines, dirty faucet, or other problems with the keg itself or the coupler and might not have anything to do with the carb volume, temperature or pressure. If you can offer more specifics for the whole system and product the community should be able to help.

Draught beer requires appropriate calculations in order to have manageable foam production and carbonation. Go to the website at https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/a-balancing-act-how-to-balance-your-home-draft-system/ which will go through the basics of how to calculate how much hose is needed between the keg and faucet on a direct draw system (kegerator) based on your specific serving parameters. The summary of the article does a good job of telling you the basics of an appropriately designed system. 

I would agree with Keith on that link to get an overview of the basic concepts, and where you will see why as Ivan states, there are indeed minimum requirements for line length. Then you can use this handy dandy free tool from McDantim to quickly do the math required. Putting this on your phone can come in handy when in the field (or your home bar!). https://mcdantim.com/tools/calculator . On home systems, I'd would usually cut the line an extra foot longer than the calcs, since you can always trim it down (I've never had to). You'll need to have a line length that adds enough restriction to equal the PSI number. Restriction charts are all over the interwebs. 

We haven't really heard about the source of the beer or carb level, but throw a good thermometer on top of your keg and leave it for an 30 min- 1hr. without opening the door, then read that temp. If you are buying commercial US brewery kegs, the carb level will generally be between 2.50-2.65, so with temp and carb level, you can manipulate the value in the calculator (or look at a chart) to reach that line length. Typically in a fridge system, you'll want 3/16" ID line (choker line), so you won't need so much length as 1/4", but 1/4 is often the smallest diameter at your local homebrew store. If you foresee occasionally getting a higher carb Belgian beer or German hefe, either go a little longer, or (preferably) have separate piece of hose for that. Choker has restriction of ~3 PSI/ft. The calcs may tell you ~5' is the length you need, but I've always still had some foaming at this length on a standard faucet with no restrictor. Ideally you just splurge for a faucet that does and your draught beer will get a lot simpler. Cut a 5' length of choker and put whatever on you want, and adjust the restrictor as necessary. 

The quick and dirty answer with easy numbers is: I have always found 38F (A temp I prefer), 6-7 ft. of 3/16" vinyl line, and 12 psi to work great. If you like your beer colder, you'll be around 10-11 psi. 

Cheers