Controling foam with kegs?

[Butcher]

I got my keg, carbonated it, hooked it up and all was good. I took my temp controling unit out and relied on the fridge thermostat for temperature control and now am getting a little less than 50/50 foam to beer despite multiple PSI settings. Is there some basic rule of thumb with temp, PSI and foam?

I had it set to 42-43 degrees at 11-12 PSI and it was perfect. I am back about 41-44 degrees with about 9 PSI and it is still too much. Less PSI and it is painfully slow.

 

[outside92129]

So even if you go back to your original settings you're still getting foam city? What else changed? Are the lines/tap clean?

 

[Brewnoob1]

You have painfully slow pours at 9psi? That doesn't seem right. How long are your beer lines? Your temp/pressure settings sound fine. The only other solution is to balance your system. Most people have found that the magic number is 10' of 3/16 beer line. I have my keezer set at 40 degrees and serve at 12psi. I can pull a pint in about 10 seconds give or take. Perfect pours each time.

 

[kgalle]

There is a serving line pressure/length calculator here.

Enjoy!

 

[Brewnoob1]

I'm going to slightly disagree with that calculation. I have read time and time again that with my setup with 40 degrees and 12psi, I'd need around 5-6 ft of line. I had 5 and had foaming issues. I went to 10' of 3/16 line and have had no issues since. Slightly slower pours than preferable, but it works perfectly. I pull a pint in less than 10 seconds. I have read that a lot of people have also had issues following the calculations. The solution, 10' of 3/16 beer lines fixed their issues. You could probably get away with a little less than 10' in most scenarios. However, the line costs about 50-60 cents a foot. So why not just spend 2 dollars more to ensure you have proper pours each time?