CO2 Beer Line Length Calculator

About this calculator

A “balanced” draft system is one where beer pours smoothly with a proper head instead of gushing foam, which requires the beer line's resistance to fluid flow to match the CO2 pressure driving it, accounting for the height difference between the keg and the tap. Vinyl beer line has a known resistance per foot (commonly around 3 psi/ft for standard 3/16″ tubing), so the required line length can be worked out from the applied pressure minus the resistance created by any rise in elevation.

Get the line length wrong and the pour is either an oversized foam mess (too short/too little resistance) or comes out flat and slow (too long/too much resistance). Bar owners, brewers, and kegerator hobbyists use this calculation whenever they're building or reconfiguring a draft system to size the beer line correctly for their specific CO2 pressure and keg placement.