Pouring glasses of foam, Don't know where I went wrong.

[ShutTheFermenter]

I forced carbed at 30 psi for a few days, tried a glass, it was good but needed a little more fizz. left it for another day and am now pouring little more than foam that condenses into flat beer. I tried disconnecting the gas and burping the keg a few times a day but that hasn't seemed to help. I am also noticing bubbles in my line, especially right by the beer out post on the keg. I don't know what I am doing wrong. Ive got 10 feet of beer line, my fridge is at about 37F, and serving with about 10psi.

 

[SEndorf]

Sounds like a gas leak.

 

[ShutTheFermenter]

Sounds like a gas leak.

Hmm I hadn't thought of that. I checked all my regulator connections but it never occurred to me to check the disconnects.

 

[helibrewer]

Pressure for carbonation, line length for rate of pour. 37F at 10 PSI =2.42 volumes of carbonation. However, force carbing your beer probably has the keg at a higher volume of CO2, this causes the beer in the line (10 psi/37F = 2.42) to come out of solution because 2.42 volumes serving pressure is LESS than the actual volume the beer is carbed to, it also causes foaming at the faucet. You need to keep venting the keg until the beer is actually at 2.42 volumes.

Download this manual, it is everything you ever wanted to know about draft systems: http://www.draughtquality.org/wp-content/uploads/DBQM17.pdf

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Bubbles near the out post could be an obstruction in the dip tube creating turbulence and foam. Disconnect the dip tube and check for a clog. Blow out with compressed air if you can to be on the safe side.

Retighten all connections, could be a leak also

 

[SEndorf]

Pressure for carbonation, line length for rate of pour. 37F at 10 PSI =2.42 volumes of carbonation. However, force carbing your beer probably has the keg at a higher volume of CO2, this causes the beer in the line (10 psi/37F = 2.42) to come out of solution because 2.42 volumes serving pressure is LESS than the actual volume the beer is carbed to, it also causes foaming at the faucet. You need to keep venting the keg until the beer is actually at 2.42 volumes.

Good point. But FC at 30 psi for a few days (2 or 3)? shouldn't normally do this.
The description of lack of carbonation, foam and line bubbles seems to indicate a leak.
Now I'm curious what the problem is! Please post back how you resolved it!

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Define "a few days" at 30 psi

Three?
Then another day....4 days at 30? could very well be overcarbed.
Tried an true methods are
30 psi for 36 hours
40 psi for 24 hours
Both at serving temps

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I'm guessing overcarbed plus outgassing. With the serving pressure at less than the pressure of the CO2 in solution (at serving temp), the CO2 comes out of solution and fills the serving line with gas/foam.

One sure way to detect this is this: Does it pour the first glass all foam, then one poured immediately after the first pours well? That's usually a classic outgassing symptom.

The other question is this: Have you used this keg serving system before successfully? Is it a true kegerator (with a tower)? I had issues with mine until I put in a recirculating fan that sends chilled air up the tower. The beer in the line was getting too warm and would pour foamy.

 

[ShutTheFermenter]

Thanks for all the replies guys! This is a used kegerator and this is my first time using it. I replaced all the gas and beverage lines as well as the disconnects.

I tool took the keg off the gas the other night and have been burping it a couple times a day. I'll also check the beer tube and make sure it's clear.

Several of you have said I probably have a gas leak somewhere which I'm guessing means check the gas disconnect?

 

[bobeer]

What kind of beer are you pouring? Dry hops sometimes can clog the popits and cause foaming. Kind of a pain to check since the keg is already carb'ed but if all else fails it might be a good place to check.

 

[ShutTheFermenter]

What kind of beer are you pouring? Dry hops sometimes can clog the popits and cause foaming. Kind of a pain to check since the keg is already carb'ed but if all else fails it might be a good place to check.

It's an IPA but I didn't dry hop it.

 

[ShutTheFermenter]

I'm guessing overcarbed plus outgassing. With the serving pressure at less than the pressure of the CO2 in solution (at serving temp), the CO2 comes out of solution and fills the serving line with gas/foam.

One sure way to detect this is this: Does it pour the first glass all foam, then one poured immediately after the first pours well? That's usually a classic outgassing symptom.

The other question is this: Have you used this keg serving system before successfully? Is it a true kegerator (with a tower)? I had issues with mine until I put in a recirculating fan that sends chilled air up the tower. The beer in the line was getting too warm and would pour foamy.

After burping a few days and and not finding any more leaks, outgassing seems to be the problem. It never occurred to me to pour another pint right after a glass full of foam but the 2nd one is near perfect. So to correct this I should burp for a few more days, right? Raising the serving pressure from 10 to 15 psi doesn't seem to help at all.

 

[stieg000]

I usually shut the gas off to the keg and pull the blow off valve to drop psi down to around 3ibs. I have a 12ft line and it pours great. When I'm done pouring I open up the gas valve.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

After burping a few days and and not finding any more leaks, outgassing seems to be the problem. It never occurred to me to pour another pint right after a glass full of foam but the 2nd one is near perfect. So to correct this I should burp for a few more days, right? Raising the serving pressure from 10 to 15 psi doesn't seem to help at all.

If raising to 15 didn't help, then it could be a combination of things. One would be over carbed as well such that it's still outgassing at 15 psi. One other way to detect out gassing is to look at the hose inside the kegerator. Afer pouring a beer, you'll see the

After burping a few days and and not finding any more leaks, outgassing seems to be the problem. It never occurred to me to pour another pint right after a glass full of foam but the 2nd one is near perfect. So to correct this I should burp for a few more days, right? Raising the serving pressure from 10 to 15 psi doesn't seem to help at all.

OK, we're making headway here. It's possible that raising the pressure to 15 psi stopped the outgassing but then it's serving too aggressively and generating foam because of that. Or it could be that you're that over carbed. You can also detect outgassing by looking at your liquid line hose after pouring a beer (assuming the lines are clear). With out gassing, you can see the bubbles forming in the hose and rising to the highest point. If you see that, you're still outgassing.

I can't remember where, but there's a sticky here about how to quickly and easily get CO2 out of solution when you're over carbed. I think it involved hooking the gas line up to the liquid out port and giving it a blast of CO2. The CO2 bubbling through the beer causes CO2 in solution to come out too (kind of like mentos in coke...it provides nucleation points for the CO2). You can then vent that. I'm not sure if you do it multiple times or what...I'll try to find the sticky.

The other things that lead to foamy pours are:

1. Temperature - you want to serve at or blow 37 degrees.
2. Warm tap tower - I had this problem. The air in the tap tower is warm, so the beer in the hose outgasses due to the warmer temperature (recall that, at any given pressure, more CO2 comes out of solution at warmer temps). I got a kit with a fan and hose that circulates the air in the kegerator...up the hose into the tower where it comes back down around the hose and generally keeps air moving around the kegerator. This made a huge difference for me.
3. Hose length and diameter. I'm no fluid dymanics expert, but my understanding is that the resistance to flow in a hose increases with length or with smaller diameter. I run a longer and smaller diameter hose to keep the flow down at any given temp. I think I have a 8' hose and I think it's 3/16" inside diameter.