Any idea why I have so much foam?

I currently have a 3.1% ABV Irish Red Ale on CO2. It is only at 6 psi and I still have about 75% of my pint glass full of head/foam. About half of that dissapates after about 5 minutes. I have not had these issues before on previous beers.

I had cleaned out the beer lines and my taps before I hooked up everything to the keg. Not sure if there is somehow oxygen getting in the lines or soemthing else that would cause so much carbonation even at such a low level psi. Any thoughts?

My initial thought is that you have residual cleaner/santizer in the lines. What did you use to clean your beer lines?

From what I have read 6 psi is way to low and you may be pulling the co2 out of solution. Serving pressure should be around 12 psi. I would turn it back up and let is sit for like a day and see if that helps.

Disclaimer: I don't have a keging system yet but i am in the works of get one. I have done a lot of research on them

Thegreatestgray said:

From what I have read 6 psi is way to low and you may be pulling the co2 out of solution. Serving pressure should be around 12 psi. I would turn it back up and let is sit for like a day and see if that helps.

Disclaimer: I don't have a keging system yet but i am in the works of get one. I have done a lot of research on them

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I'm pretty new to kegging, but I've not heard of this. How would the CO2 be "pulled out of solution"? What does that even mean? It's my understanding that the lower pressure would simply take longer to carbonate and would push the beer out of the lines more slowly. Perhaps the effect you mention could happen if the in and out lines were reversed and the OP was pulling beer off the top of the keg, but I'm not sure.

galacticbrewing12 said:

I currently have a 3.1% ABV Irish Red Ale on CO2. It is only at 6 psi and I still have about 75% of my pint glass full of head/foam. About half of that dissapates after about 5 minutes. I have not had these issues before on previous beers.

I had cleaned out the beer lines and my taps before I hooked up everything to the keg. Not sure if there is somehow oxygen getting in the lines or soemthing else that would cause so much carbonation even at such a low level psi. Any thoughts?

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I've been on the keg for about a year and a half now. Took some figuring and trial and error to tune my system.

10 feet of beer line at 10psi is currently working like a champ for me. Perfect pour every time, every keg.

I clean the lines with PBW and rinse with water. I leave the water in the lines until my next keg is added, (1 day or less).

pb

How long is your beer line? If it is under 10', that is likely the cause. I have had the same issues due to short beer line.

Yes, the length and diameter of the beer line are the most common causes of over foaming. For some reason, I assumed this was a draft line that you've used before without any issues when I made my comment earlier.

It sounds like you've served though that line/faucet without issues before, in which case it's likely one of three causes. First is that the keg is overcarbonated. How did you carb it? Second is that the liquid side diptube o-ring is cracked or deformed, and is allowing gas into the liquid line. When's the last time you replaced or inspected and lubed the o-rings on that keg? The third possible cause is an obstruction somewhere, maybe some hop debris stuck in the poppet.

Pie_Man said:

I'm pretty new to kegging, but I've not heard of this. How would the CO2 be "pulled out of solution"? What does that even mean? It's my understanding that the lower pressure would simply take longer to carbonate and would push the beer out of the lines more slowly. Perhaps the effect you mention could happen if the in and out lines were reversed and the OP was pulling beer off the top of the keg, but I'm not sure.

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If your serving pressure is lower than the pressure that corresponds with the carbonation level and temperature, after a pint is poured CO2 will slowly come out of solution as the keg sits. This results in slight loss of carbonation over time, until the carbonation eventually reaches equilibrium with the low serving pressure. Sometimes the CO2 comes out of solution in the lines as well as the headspace of the keg, forming little pockets of gas in the line after a while. These pockets of gas will cause the first pour of each drinking session to be foamy.

Pie_Man said:

My initial thought is that you have residual cleaner/santizer in the lines. What did you use to clean your beer lines?

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After a few weeks the residual cleaner went away and I no longer had any extra foam. I cleaned the beer lines with BLC and diluted it with water, but in hindsight I should have flushed the lines with water afterwards. Thanks.