Excessive Foam with Perlick Flow Control Faucets?

[sidepart]

I went the extra mile to grab 2 Perlick Flow control faucets. I was led to believe that this would give me some flexibility in the beers I'd like to pour and negate the need to really balance my draft lines. Everything I've poured so far is almost total foam though, no matter how much I'm restricting the flow.

My lines are currently balanced for a CO2 setting of about 10PSI (around 2.6 vols of CO2). I have a hefeweizen on tap now that I've carbed to around 3.5 vols. Normally this would require a longer line to pour, but my understanding was that with flow control faucets you could simply turn down the flow and this would prevent foam. Not my experience so far. I blew through nearly a gallon of beer just trying to unsuccessfully fill a growler.

Maybe I was mislead or my expectations were too great and you need to have a slightly more balanced draft line? This is my first kegerator/draft setup, so maybe I'm putting this together wrong? I did note that It sounded like there was some cavitation at the interface between the nipple with the beverage line and where that presses to the shank. The beer in the actual line is solid, no bubbles that I can see. It just foams up somewhere in the shank.

 

[day_trippr]

Observe the beer line while pouring. Is it solid beer or solid foam?

Cheers!

 

[sidepart]

Solid beer as far as I could tell. I was concerned about a dip tube o-ring at first, but that didn't add up since it wasn't solid foam in the line.

 

[trimixdiver1]

It's far cheaper and less hassle to just do long beer lines, mine are 10ft and I have the non flow control perlick faucets at 12psi. No foam!

 

[LLBeanJ]

I think your problem is the 3.5 vols. Even with flow control, you're likely beyond the upper limit of what your system can deal with. You will need either longer lines or less carb.

 

[sidepart]

Thanks for the advice all. Someone in our club just said they just apply more back pressure (turn up CO2). That doesn't seem right, and didn't work. I'm going to get more line length and see what happens. The calculator I'm using suggest using an 8ft line. Mine are about 5 or 6ft.

Seems like the flow controls are really nice for different applications of serving. Small taster glass? You don't need a giant head, so turn down the flow. Filling a growler? You don't need your pour to have a head on it at all, turn it down more. Pint? Turn it up. Maß? Turn it up more. Seems like you have "some" leeway if your line isn't 100% balanced. But it should probably be 90% balanced.

I'll report back on what I find. Would be nice to know if other flow control users are balancing their lines or not and what their experience is.

 

[beernbourbon]

Just a thought, only because I happened to see them when I was checking out the Perlick faucets recently..... there is a different Perlick that does just that, creates more foam, it's called the "Creamer Faucet" (nope, not touchin' it). Not sure why, but it appeared to have a different internal valve? Dunno, just and idea. Here's the link

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005Q0YI2A/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[sidepart]

Nah, double checked that to be sure, but good thought.

I tried increasing the line length, but then I ran out of beer in the keg...so no word on if that would have solved it. In other news, my new keg of beer at about 2.4 vols is working perfect in the faucet and the flow control is a dream for growler filling.

So maybe just the hefeweizen? I really am not sure.

 

[day_trippr]

Makes sense. Hefe's are traditionally carbed high and will test any system balanced for less boisterous brews...

Cheers!

 

[pforsber]

Same line, same pressure, swap out regular perlick for flow control model and what used to be ~50 % foam is ~95% after swapping for the flow control model. Messing with the lever just changes the speed and doesn't seem to help the foaming. This is a highly carbonated beer... ~3 volumes. I am thinking the additional turbulence that the flow control mechanism causes is knocking co2 out of solution. I am going to be setting up a longer run of tubing to better match the carbonation levels. I'll probably try both models again to see how well it does with a better balanced line. First impression is it actually makes foaming worse.

 

[gnef]

This is really curious. Are both of your faucets exhibiting the same poor pour?

I have 14 of these faucets, and they have been fantastic to work with. In fact, I built two direct draw keg setups using these (though I need to buy another two, as I put them on the walk-in), and for a properly carbed beer, it was able to pour it with the desired amount of head - slower than a regular pour, but it could do it.

I use the 14 with only 8 ft of 1/4" ID bev seal ultra line, which has only a fraction of the resistance of traditional 3/16" ID line. To properly balance, I would've needed 40-50 ft of line, which is why I am using the 650ss faucets. I intentionally do slow pours because the faucets are in a coffin box, and are warm, so they will foam up a lot initially if I am not careful with any faucet (I had ventmatics, 425ss, and 525ss faucets before changing them all out to the 650ss).

What I would recommend you check is for debri in the back of the faucet where the flow control shuttle. Check to see if there is any gunk or stuff that could cause undue turbulence. That is really the only downside of any flow control design, in that particulate matter will have a much greater impact on the pour quality.

Also check the faucet to shank gasket. I noticed that if I overtighten the shank collar, it causes it to squeeze that gasket so that it begins to slightly interfere with the flow control shuttle at the corners of the shuttle.

If one faucet performs differently than the other, I'd recommend for you to take them apart, and examine each, looking for differences. If you can't find it, begin swapping parts between them one at a time to see if you can identify the piece that is causing the problems. Do this especially if you find a difference to isolate the problem to that particular piece. The ball lever itself could be a problem, the shuttle, or even the flow lever. Also check the o-rings, as this design has a lot more o-rings than other designs. Also check the machining of the faucet's interior as best you can to check to see if you can find rough spots that could be nucleation sites. (this is one area where ventmatics are significantly better, each faucet was polished to a level that perlick never approached on all the faucets I've had, though it never caused me any problems - still something for you to check though).

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any problems!

 

[SixDemonBag]

I can control the foam issue unbalanced system with the FC just by opening the tap with the FC CLOSED. Then slowly open the FC. This seems to force a bit of pressure into the line and reduces the foam thats formed by the time its dispensed.

Once it starts pouring clear (2-4 secs) then I open the FC and presto. A great pour.

 

[Pintabone]

I just installed an Intertap flow control only for it to pour extreme foam. I tried it with a very low carbonated stout and that also pours foam while the normal Intertap faucet pouring the stout is almost impossible to get any foam. Is it possible something inside the faucet is letting out a lot of CO2 from the beer? it's actually audible when it pours.

 

[gnef]

I just installed an Intertap flow control only for it to pour extreme foam. I tried it with a very low carbonated stout and that also pours foam while the normal Intertap faucet pouring the stout is almost impossible to get any foam. Is it possible something inside the faucet is letting out a lot of CO2 from the beer? it's actually audible when it pours.

Have you tried taking it apart to see if there is anything stuck there? Also look for sharp edges or any pitting, as those can be nucleation sites as well which can cause the foaming.

 

[Pintabone]

Have you tried taking it apart to see if there is anything stuck there? Also look for sharp edges or any pitting, as those can be nucleation sites as well which can cause the foaming.

I did and didn’t notice anything or any issues with any of the gaskets. Before using it I recirculated blc through to clean it.

 

[pantherburn]

Back in another life I worked for an AB distributor and was in charge of draft accounts and special events. I also was able to attend “draft school” at AB at their headquarters in St. Louis. I had never heard of flow control faucets until reading about them on this site. I am not saying they don’t have a place, but I never needed them in the past or currently with my draft system. In my experience the causes of foamy pours were:

1. People not knowing how to operate the tap - you should slap it open and shut very quickly. Most know to let it pour down the side of the cup.

2. Heat getting to beer lines and momentarily at the tap until the beer flow cools it, especially outside events in the summer. Of course we were using plastic cups, so the temperature of the cups were not significant, but you will get foam if you pour beer into a hot glass...

3. Very rarely pressure - somebody would mess with the regulator and jack the pressure up too much. We eventually made all of these tamper proof.

I have cleaned some really nasty faucets that had huge yeast buildup that looked like snot, but were still pouring clear beer. We used the cheapest chrome plated brass tapright faucets exclusively and never had a foam issue traced to them. Good luck diagnosing your problem!