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How long are your beer lines? And what diameter? Shorter lines can sometimes lead to foaming.
Are you using a tower for your taps? If so, those lines will probably be warm in those towers which can lead to foaming.
What temperature is your beer? Preferred carbonation is a function of not only psi, but also temperature (among other things).
Are you using a tower for your taps? If so, those lines will probably be warm in those towers which can lead to foaming.
What temperature is your beer? Preferred carbonation is a function of not only psi, but also temperature (among other things).
If you pour a few glasses in a row do you still get excess foam? If so, you probably have over carbonated. If not, it is probably a temperature difference between your beer and the lines/tap. Everyone goes through this when they first start out, learning their systems and how to make them work the way you want them to. Your lines sound long enough. See this article: http://beersmith.com/blog/2011/07/14/keg-line-length-balancing-the-science-of-draft-beer/
Kegerators can be fickle. You have probably heard people talking about 'balancing' their kegerators and that is probably what you need to do. Firstly, a couple questions.
- Is this a homebrew or commercial keg?
- How are you carbonating the beer if homebrew? And to how many volumes of carbonation?
- When you pour your first beer today, is it foamy again?
You say that you have the keg at 10 psi at 3 C or about 37.4 F, and dispensing through 4' lines.
Now onto the common causes of foamy pours/determining what the cause probably is:
1) First thing, when you are near your kegerator today, before pouring a beer do the following.
A) Touch the tap, is it Cold? Cool? Warm?
B) Open the door, look at the lines, is there a pocket of 'air' or bubbles in the line?
2) Now, close the door again, and pour a beer, or half of one. Foamy?
A) Open the door again, look at the lines. Do you see bubbles forming anywhere? Near the tap? Throughout the lines? Seeming to come out of the keg?
Okay, for what the answers can mean.
1A) Temperature of tap. You want this Cold/Cool. If it is warm, the CO2 is able to break out of suspension. The first pour will be foamy, but it will cool the tap and the remaining pours will be warm.
1B) Air Pockets will be one of the reasons for your foamy pour. This is often due to one of a few things.
2A) The location of the bubbles forming tell some of the problems possibilities. If bubbles are forming all over or at the tap side of the line, you most likely have temperature stratification. This will be harder to determine as it takes a little while to warm up and happen. If there are bubbles coming out of the keg coupler (either sankey or ball/pinlock) you most likely have a pressure/carbonation level/temperature problem.
To prevent warm tap problems and other temperature problems, the easiest fix is to put a small fan in the kegerator to move the air around and prevent stratification (warmer air up top, colder on bottom). Aim this at the taps if possible.
If you are suffering from the bubbles out the keg coupler, you probably have your keg carbonated at higher volumes than your serving pressure is set to. See a carbonation level chart at the following location http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php
If it is a commercial keg, see if you can figure out the carbonation level they use for it and match your serving pressure to that to prevent the CO2 from breaking out of solution and forming the pockets in your lines.
Warning, though. Increasing serving pressure can cause other foaming problems. If the pressure is high, the beer will flow out of the tap much faster. This more violent pour will effectively 'knock' the CO2 out of solution and cause a glass of foam. Usually this is solved by adding resistance to slow the flow of beer. The most common ways of doing this are to either use a flow control tap/faucet (which can be costy), or the cheaper method is to lengthen your beer serving lines to provide more resistance. Most use about 10-15' of beer serving line to slow the beer to a reasonable pour speed.
Phew! Long post. Hope I didn't drown you in information and helped answer your question. Let me know if anything needs clarification or if I have gone way too technical for the Beginners section.
- Is this a homebrew or commercial keg?
- How are you carbonating the beer if homebrew? And to how many volumes of carbonation?
- When you pour your first beer today, is it foamy again?
You say that you have the keg at 10 psi at 3 C or about 37.4 F, and dispensing through 4' lines.
Now onto the common causes of foamy pours/determining what the cause probably is:
1) First thing, when you are near your kegerator today, before pouring a beer do the following.
A) Touch the tap, is it Cold? Cool? Warm?
B) Open the door, look at the lines, is there a pocket of 'air' or bubbles in the line?
2) Now, close the door again, and pour a beer, or half of one. Foamy?
A) Open the door again, look at the lines. Do you see bubbles forming anywhere? Near the tap? Throughout the lines? Seeming to come out of the keg?
Okay, for what the answers can mean.
1A) Temperature of tap. You want this Cold/Cool. If it is warm, the CO2 is able to break out of suspension. The first pour will be foamy, but it will cool the tap and the remaining pours will be warm.
1B) Air Pockets will be one of the reasons for your foamy pour. This is often due to one of a few things.
2A) The location of the bubbles forming tell some of the problems possibilities. If bubbles are forming all over or at the tap side of the line, you most likely have temperature stratification. This will be harder to determine as it takes a little while to warm up and happen. If there are bubbles coming out of the keg coupler (either sankey or ball/pinlock) you most likely have a pressure/carbonation level/temperature problem.
To prevent warm tap problems and other temperature problems, the easiest fix is to put a small fan in the kegerator to move the air around and prevent stratification (warmer air up top, colder on bottom). Aim this at the taps if possible.
If you are suffering from the bubbles out the keg coupler, you probably have your keg carbonated at higher volumes than your serving pressure is set to. See a carbonation level chart at the following location http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php
If it is a commercial keg, see if you can figure out the carbonation level they use for it and match your serving pressure to that to prevent the CO2 from breaking out of solution and forming the pockets in your lines.
Warning, though. Increasing serving pressure can cause other foaming problems. If the pressure is high, the beer will flow out of the tap much faster. This more violent pour will effectively 'knock' the CO2 out of solution and cause a glass of foam. Usually this is solved by adding resistance to slow the flow of beer. The most common ways of doing this are to either use a flow control tap/faucet (which can be costy), or the cheaper method is to lengthen your beer serving lines to provide more resistance. Most use about 10-15' of beer serving line to slow the beer to a reasonable pour speed.
Phew! Long post. Hope I didn't drown you in information and helped answer your question. Let me know if anything needs clarification or if I have gone way too technical for the Beginners section.
paperairplane
Well-Known Member
Just the warm tap making the first beer foam a little.
