[skibumdc]

Since most beer shanks, at least the one I have researched, are fitted with 3/16" hose barbs on the end, and I will be using 1/4" beer line, can I simply use a hose clamp to secure the beer line to the shank?
Or do I need to have a coupler to step down the beer line to 3/16" just before the shank?

I plan on having my refrigerator in the utility room behind the wall. The line will rise up about 3 feet and running out the side of the fridge and through the wall to the shank. Shank and faucet will mount to one of those oak barrel fronts. Nifty looking. Yes I plan to run the lines in PVC with blown air to cool the lines.
I figured on having extra line length just in case so 12-14 feet. This works out to be about 12 PSI of CO2, which is around what most brewers recommend.