Foaming beer help needed

[McKenziebrewing]

Ill start this with I know there are heaps of threads and discussions on this topic of which I have read plenty, but have been unable to fix my problem.
I will also say that I am certain that the beer is not the issue, as it serves everywhere else fine, the problem only exists on my two tap keggerator at home. The keggerator is your standard fridge with a two tap tower on top, and can fit a 1/2 barrel or 3 cornys. The problem is the same regardless of coupling used and keg type.
Middle of kegs to tap height is a little under 3 feet, beer line is low density polyethylene at a lenth of 5 feet (4.7mm /0.187" ID (5/16" line)). I had some cheap chinese faucets on there but have replaced them with perlick flow control faucets in the hope of fixing my issue. The shanks are plated brass with a 90 degrees tube on the inlet with the poly over the top and clamped. at the coupler end its push fit fittings so i could swap between either d type or corny. Tower is insulated but not cooled.

My aim is to have my kegs set at a balanced carb pressure of around 12 psi giving us a carb of 2.5-2.6 vols.

Now currently the first pour would be over a liter of foam before settling down, even if the co2 pressure is anywhere in the range of 10-15 psi. I get less foam when the pressure is down at 7 but still an undesirable amount.

So for all you Kegging gurus out there some help in getting this setup once and for all would be greatly appreciated. I have some new stainless shanks that can go on if that will help, and also some fittings to go from 5/16"OD to 1/4" OD if that helps possibly to create a choker before the shank.

What I currently think is the issue is that the CO2 is coming out of solution in the lines, but am open to suggestions.

Thanks in advance and i look forward to the ideas presented.

 

[day_trippr]

5 feet of 5/16" poly line is your biggest problem.

This page will cure your ills - and provide an education as well
http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

Refit with real beer line as well, not some Big Box Store crap...

Cheers!

[edit] Use our favorite carbonation table to verify your beer temperature versus CO2 pressure results in your desired carbonation level. Once you determine the ideal CO2 pressure needed, plug that into Mike's line calculator...

 

[McKenziebrewing]

Sorry should have added that we have tried lengths from 5 feet to 12 feet in 1 foot increments with no better results.

I will give that line lenth calculator a go, and try with a .170" line length and see how that works.
Definitely one of the better line length calculators I've seen.

Cheers

 

[day_trippr]

Sorry should have added that we have tried lengths from 5 feet to 12 feet in 1 foot increments with no better results.

Using what ID line?

Seriously, if you were doing all your testing with 1/4" ID tubing at 12 psi, you'd need to hang around 40 feet of that tubing to get close to a decent pour.
And 5/16" ID would require 115 feet!!!!

ID MATTERS.

Trust Mike.

Cheers!

 

[McKenziebrewing]

All ID up until today has been 0.187" just changed one side out to 0.170" with a change at the shank back to .187 to facilitate attachment.

So i have just changed out the shank, found to be leaking slightly (dry beer on line below shank) and from the calculator, have added 10 feet, of .17 id and we will see how that goes, in theory the line will need to be reduced by 3-4 feet.

Will advise on the results

Thanks for the help so far

 

[Elkobrewer]

My kegarator tower is also not cooled so all the beer in the tower will be warm so as soon as that beer hits the glass it starts foaming, so one little thing I did was I ran my beer lines in the tower in pieces of copper pipe that stick down about 8 inches inside the fridge this keeps the beer cold in the tower so I have way less foam. Also increased my beer line to 8 feet

 

[timdillon36]

'First pour is all foam, tower is not cooled' I see this and everyone else jumps to line length and size with flow control faucets. If the spout of your faucet isn't cool to the touch u will get foam.

 

[McKenziebrewing]

I thought the tower not being cooled would be having an affect, but the problem is a bit more than that as once the tap ware cools the problem persists.

I have been making a plan for cooling the shanks by running some copper pipe over the shanks and using a small bilge pump or sump pump to pump cooled water from a bucket inside the fridge through that line and back, so as to chill the taps before use, the idea is probably a little more complex than it needs to be for this instance but it is going to be a trial for a 4 tap tower setup for events that will be running a cold plate chiller, i figured that a 12volt battery will run the pump and keep my taps cool that way, eliminating the risk of warm towers creating wastage.