Air pocket in beer line

[rkbarnes82]

Just as the title states I have consistently forming air pockets in a new beer of mine. It causes lots of foaming and is becoming quite frustrating. I carbed it at 24 psi for a week and then down to 12, no shaking. This has been my normal practice for about 10 beers now with no issues.

Ive seen a few threads regarding this topic but no resolution. Anyone solved this issue?

 

[slarkin712]

I've seen this with a few of my beers. This occurred when I carbed to some pressure and then backed the pressure down. When the serving pressure is lower than the keg pressure gas can come out of solution and form bubbles in the line. If there is a large difference in pressure this can take a while to go away. But if there is just a small difference, 6 or 8 pints and the pressure will equalize and the problem will go away. Otherwise you can bleed the pressure from the release valve a few times over a couple of days with the gas in valve closed.

 

[rkbarnes82]

That make sense but I've followed the same process for awhile now. Also I took the high pressure down before it was sufficiently carbed.

 

[Rockn_M]

Make sure that all of your connections are tight and your ball locks have a good connection. It might be sucking in air from a bad seal or a loose connection.

 

[jbaysurfer]

Make sure that all of your connections are tight and your ball locks have a good connection. It might be sucking in air from a bad seal or a loose connection.

It won't suck air in from a bad ball lock connection-or anywhere else in the out line, it would squirt beer OUT that connection. I used to think this too, but someone else pointed out the flaw.

Every time this has happened to me it's a simple result of the serving pressure being lower then the keg pressure. OP, regardless of the fact this hasn't happened before, based on the process you described you need to either vent the keg until the over carbonation is solved, or increase serving pressure at the line. Lengthening of the line could also help. But IMHO, you've got an overcarbed beer in the keg.

 

[sctocinci]

If you're leaving it for 2 weeks anyway, just leave it at 12psi. I think you're probably overcarbing leaving it at 24psi for a week and thats causing the issue. I have a set up similar to yours and I normally leave it from 10 to 14 psi for a couple weeks depending on style and it works well for me.

 

[rkbarnes82]

Ok, I'll give it some time to equalize and we'll see.

 

[JuanMoore]

I've seen this with a few of my beers. This occurred when I carbed to some pressure and then backed the pressure down. When the serving pressure is lower than the keg pressure gas can come out of solution and form bubbles in the line. If there is a large difference in pressure this can take a while to go away. But if there is just a small difference, 6 or 8 pints and the pressure will equalize and the problem will go away. Otherwise you can bleed the pressure from the release valve a few times over a couple of days with the gas in valve closed.

This.

That make sense but I've followed the same process for awhile now. Also I took the high pressure down before it was sufficiently carbed.

It's possible that the carbonation hadn't reached the beer in the lines, and your sample wasn't as carbed as the rest of the keg, causing you to think it wasn't carbed yet. When I try to rush carbonation, I only leave it at the increased pressure (25-30 psi) for 48 hrs. I'm not sure what your serving temp is, but in two weeks it would have equalized with 24 psi, which means you're going to need to bleed a lot of excess gas off to get it to pour properly at 12 psi.

 

[winvarin]

I did have an issue with a bad o-ring on my liquid post a few weeks ago. I don't know the exact physics of what was happening, but I was getting significant foaming in my liquid line. I broke the keg down and the only thing that was noticeable is that the liquid o-ring was misshapen (I had tried tightening the post earlier with no results).

I swapped out that o-ring with a new one, reassembled and everything was fine.

It's my understanding that the o-rings on the posts seal in 2 ways. The bottom of the ring seals against the threaded side of the post. The top of the ring seals against the "lip" at the top of the dip tube.

My assumption (and it's just that, an assumption) is that the o-ring was just slightly defective enough that the top of the ring was not sealing properly against the dip tube, allowing air to be pulled in through my liquid QD when I was dispensing beer.

 

[JuanMoore]

My assumption (and it's just that, an assumption) is that the o-ring was just slightly defective enough that the top of the ring was not sealing properly against the dip tube, allowing air to be pulled in through my liquid QD when I was dispensing beer.

Almost. The top wasn't sealing against the diptube, which was allowing CO2 from the headspace of the keg to push into the stream of beer inside the post. If the OP hadn't carbed at 24psi for two weeks and then reduced the pressure to 12, then I would have suggested they check for the same thing.

 

[rkbarnes82]

I carbed at 24psi for a week, 6 days really, not 2 weeks.

 

[rkbarnes82]

Just an update


Realized my refrigerator's temperature ha been slowly rising. It was sitting at 50 yesterday on the coldest setting so finally figured something had to be wrong. Emptied freezer and took apart, the entire chilling mechanism was covered and rock solid ice to include the vent to and from the refrigerator area. I melted all the ice and restarted the fridge and its sitting just above freezing now.

I assume the gradual rise in temp may have been causing the Co2 to come out of solution?

 

[501irishred]

Absolutely that can cause foaming issues. Did your other keg have the same issue? If not you may still have an issue with your keg. Since its not leaking beer, it really only leaves the interior of the keg as a source. Lucky enough that only leaves two heavy hitters to check - cracked/broken dip tube, or dip tube o ring.

 

[rkbarnes82]

All kegs started doing it, I'm pretty satisfied it has been resolved. Thanks all.