Draught Equipment and System Configuarations > Essential Draught System Components > Beer Line

Between coupler and faucet, beer travels through beer line selected to fit the needs of the specific draught application. Options range from vinyl to specialized barrier tubing and even stainless steel.

Most draught systems use clear vinyl tubing for all or part of the beer line.  In picnic and direct-draw systems, beer often runs most or the entire route from coupler to faucet in vinyl tubing. In long-draw systems, beer commonly passes through two sections of vinyl hose but travels most of the way in special barrier tubing (see Chapter 4). While vinyl tubing is highly flexible, it is best used where lines are not secured in place and where it can easily be replaced.

In later pages, we will encounter other types of tubing such as:

• Colored vinyl and braided vinyl used for CO₂ gas
• Stainless steel tubing found in jockey boxes and tap towers
• Barrier tubing; a low-resistance, easy-to-clean beer line for long-draw systems
• Polyethylene tubing used to carry glycol coolant

Vinyl Tubing (left), Barrier Tubing (center) and Polyethylene Tubing (right)

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