Newb Keg Foam Question

[HopHeadGrady]

Hello. I did a bit of searching but I still need some advice.
I put two kegs on tap on Sunday. I forced carbed em both. As of today I am still pouring a lot of foam.

My kegs are at 2-5C and sitting at 9PSI. I bought the kegerator at a local craft brew house and they sell a lot of em and even use em on site so I pretty certain I don't have a design flaw in the hoses etc.

Any help would be appreciated. Should i just just off the O2, dump all gas, re set the regulator and re set with new gas? Im 24 hrs out from St Patty's day and have company coming by tomorrow. Beer seems flat too. No bubbles at all. Just a lot of thick head and flat cold beer.

I bottled 10 batches and never had a carb problem. Now I have been struggling with keg fittings, seals, psi, foam, temps etc all week... lol I know once I get this sorted it will be easier than bottling but right now it's much much more of a pita.

 

[badbrew]

Probably flat because the carbonation is leaving the beer. Turn it down to 35 F (2C). If you have a temp controller then have it kick on at 35 and off at 33 (2 and 0 I think). Make sure the lines are as cold as the kegs.

 

[HopHeadGrady]

I actually had my wheat line freeze up last night.
Im not sure it's because it's too cold, warm or what. I am new to kegs but there really only seems like there's a couple variables to work with here. Temp, PSI, keg lines etc.
My keg is reading 3C and just went and poured another test beer, and it's just as foamy as last night 60/40 foam at best. At least it gave me a reason to taste a beer at 10:30 AM. Oh well, it's Fri and ALMOST St Patty's day. HAHA.

Adding to the drama of the impending St Patty's day party, Sens play the Leafs tomorrow night. I really need beer flowing tomorrow... Ahah.

 

[badbrew]

Unplug the gas to a keg and burp the gas down some. Then pour a beer slowly. Does it still taste flat?

 

[Yooper]

I think when you say you "forced carbed", you actually turned up the regulator to a higher pressure and then maybe shook the keg? That's called "burst carbing". If so, that is a sure way to overcarb.

If anything, colder temperatures "hold" onto co2 more, so by lowering the temperature you'd make the overcarbonation worse.

For now, turn off the gas, purge the co2 out of the keg, and turn it back on to like 2 psi. Try pouring a beer and see if it's still coming out foamy. If it is, turn off the gas and keep purging. It should settle down soon.

Next time, if you have patience, put the kegs in the kegerator at 11 psi at 39 degrees and wait a week. Or if you feel you must shake kegs, never put the regulator above 12 psi while doing so. That will overcarb. I don't shake, but if I'm in a HUGE hurry, I'll put the kegs in the kegerator at 30 psi for 36 hours, then purge and reset to 12 psi (at 40 degrees). That gives carbed up beer in about 2 days, but it gets better for a few days after that, finally being perfect in a wekk.

 

[HopHeadGrady]

Thanks Yoop and Badbrew. I will try this out and report back. I hate rushing things too. I had two extract batches I wanted to use as guinnea pigs here so I followed Craig Tubes burst carb video along with some advice from the local home brew club. I usually have more patience but I wanted to play with my new keg toys so bad...

 

[HopHeadGrady]

Update: Ok I just went down and killed the 02 and then burped the kegs. Poured slow, acceptable foam level... but Im still flat. I can see the odd "tiny" pin head size bubble every so often but nothing is really happening.

I will try repeat purging like you said Yoop and keep working on it. Beer tastes great, and its nice n cold. I just need carbonation. My 5lb tank has plenty of 02 still. Why can I see myself passed out, laying on the floor in front of my kegerator hugging the O2 bottle by dinner?

 

[badbrew]

God I hope it's not O2 in that bottle.

 

[HopHeadGrady]

Update. I was able to lose the foam, but hardly any carbonation. People liked the beer though, but it could have been so much better. I thought kegging was easier than what it is. Its either crank up the psi and get lots of foam and flat beer. Or turn down the psi and get no foam and flat beer. I raised my temp to 10C. PSI is at 4 now. Pretty much a letdown Oh, and another poppet started to stick open. Refurbished kegs = 100$ CDN + 40$ in spare parts so far. Im always a glass half full guy, but my experience with kegging sucks the big one real bad so far... LOL Im looking at my capper and bottles and thinking it wasn't all that bad.

 

[DeafSmith]

I had a lot of problems with the first keg I force carbed, too. Slow and steady works so much better.

What length and diameter are your lines to the tap? Lines which don't have enough resistance can result in too much foam, too. I carb my beers at about 12 PSI with my temp. controller set to 40º F (beer at 38-39º F) and use 10 feet of 3/16 diam. line.

 

[badbrew]

It's a lot harder to go backwards with co2 than forward. It's easy to just hook it up to a 9 psi line and chill to 38 degrees F on day 1 of transferring to a keg or adding 3 oz sugar and wait it out for a couple weeks than to mess with shaking it up and trying to speed up the process. Also, the beer will be better after 2 weeks anyway.

 

[HopHeadGrady]

Yeah, I'm never burst carbing again. Next batch that gets kegged will be strictly by the book. If I knew then what I know now, I would never have done this. Live n learn.

 

[Brewnoob1]

I have my keezer set at 4C, set my regulator at 10-12psi and get perfect carbonation after a week or two. I've only burst carbed once and that was right before Thanksgiving. It was acceptable carbonation with 30psi for 24hrs, purge, set at 12psi for 12hrs, then serve. But as Yooper suggest with setting the regulator at your end serving pressure and shaking from there, you'll never overcarb then. Also, check your gas line length. If they are too short, that could cause co2 to leave suspension and cause foaming. I have 10ft of 3/16 and it gives a nice thick head each and every time. Live n learn indeed, just don't give up on kegging. It's A W E S O M E once you get it dialed in!

 

[HopHeadGrady]

For sure. Thanks for the advice. All said and done, this is all my fault. I rushed things and paid the price. Just another bump on the learning curve of brewing. I still fully believe in kegging. I am going to drive over to the craftbrew place I bought this from to inspect the one they use on site. If it's the same keg lines etc as mine then i know for my next batch all I have to do is purge the air and leave it at 10-12 psi for a week. I will check their settings out as I am shooting for the same carb levels as they have with their PA's and IPAs. That sounds simple enough. At least I have a baseline to check against. If I have to buy lines then the lhbs is right along the way. Either way, if this is the worst crisis I am dealing with, life is pretty damn good!

G

 

[msmith92]

I'm getting a bit too much foam right now. Nothing bad but I think the tube from the faucet is only 4'. I still have my picnic tap with about 6' tubing on it and the swivel nut. Is there any way I can connect the two tubes with some type of coupler? I'd rather not detach anything from the faucet right now and was curious about extending the tube length that way.

Thanks!

 

[HopHeadGrady]

My keg lines are about that long too it would seem. I am also curious to know the answer to that question. My suspicion is that there's a couple for a 3/16 hose. Just use ring clamps etc. I dont know what effect that will have on the flow though.

 

[msmith92]

I would think this would work http://www.midwestsupplies.com/kegging/kegging-hardware/1-4-mfl-to-1-4-barb.html

 

[rawlus]

long 3/16 lines can solve many foaming/lack of carbonation issues. start with long lines (10 ft or thereabouts) - you can always shorten the lines if needed/necessary, a too-long line won't have a detrimental effect on the beer other than slowing down the pour.

try to carb it over time (2 weeks) at the temp you want to serve it at and at the pressure you want to serve it at. when you carb high then serve low pressure you have a lot of gas wanting to come out of suspension and that creates these problems.

height of your taps makes a difference - coffinboxes may not require the same amount of line as a collar design.